Cambodians demand more organic food

Experts are urging Cambodian farmers to diversify their crops and more Cambodians are demanding orga…

Experts are urging Cambodian farmers to diversify their crops and more Cambodians are demanding organic produce.

A recent study from the World Bank shows strong growth in Cambodia’s agriculture industry. This has helped reduce the number of people in poverty from seven million in 2007 to three million in 2012.

Part of this growth has come from increased land cultivation for rice farming. But growth has slowed in the past two years. The World Bank says farmers need to increase their yield and grow more kinds of crops, such as vegetables.

The bank says vegetables earn average returns of $1,575 per hectare for small farmers. This compares to $544 per hectare of cassava and only $307 per hectare of rice.

Organic produce
The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) supports Cambodian farmers with training. The center also provides growers with a connection to the market. It has eight organic food stores in Phnom Penh as well as farmers’ markets held in rural areas.

The center's president Yang Saing Koma says Cambodia is seeing more demand for organic vegetables. The demand is greater than local farmers can supply.

Mr. Koma says that it would take about 10,000 trained farmers to meet market demand. He says the government would have also have to help with promotion of organic vegetables.