Remarks

H.E.Dr. Chan Sarun, Minister

 Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries

 World Food Day 2006 on Investing in Agriculture for Food Security

Monday, October 16^th, 2006 at MAFF, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
(unofficial translation)

• Your Excellencies and Lok Chamteav, Secretaries of State, Under Secretaries of State, and Ambassadors
• Mr. Des Fortes, FAO Representative in Cambodia
• Mr. Thomas Keusteurs, Country Director of WFP in Cambodia
• Distinguished International and National Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Today I am honored and very pleased to be here this morning in the celebration of the 26^th observation of the World Food Day on “Investing in Agriculture for Food Security” and the commemoration of the 61^th anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Meanwhile, many countries and nations in the world are also celebrating this important event. I am pleased to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank the FAO and WFP and all development partners, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), to organize the celebration of the World Food Day. It is revealed in this participation, that we all together support and contribute to the investment in agriculture for food security to ensure the food security for all.

In this regard, I warmly express my support to the message of H.E. Jacques Diouf, Director General of the FAO, for the World Food Day on ‘Investing in Agriculture for food security, jointly fight against and end hunger, and poverty reduction, and removal of disparities and reduction in gaps between regions as well as between the haves and have-nots’, and significantly contribute towards fulfillment of CMDG 1, and its target: 'Halve, between 1993 and 2015, the proportion of people whose consumption is less than the national poverty line.'

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

As you may aware that 26 years ago, right after 7^th January 1979 our Cambodian people had nothing, such as food, clothes, and lived in extreme poverty and chronic illness. Subsequently, we have achieved significant development, including physical infrastructures, socio-economics, culture and religion as the basic development for poverty reduction and right empowerment, freedom and democracy. In fact, our GDP growth reached an average 7 percent for 1999 to 2005 and GDP per capita increased to 4.5 percent per annum. With this regard, agricultural sector increased to about 1.2 % of the total GDP in 2004 due to the implementation of RGC’s water policy and favorable natural conditions. For 2005, our national economic growth reached 13.4 %, in which agricultural growth was 17.3% with an increase in rice production of 27 %. A total of more than 800,000 tones of milled rice were exported in 2005, meaning this was the first time of the Cambodian milled rice exported history since 1968, when the rice export was only 500,000 tones.

Policy platform and the National Strategy Development Plan 2006-2010 of the RGC under the wise leadership of Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the RGC, have prioritized the agricultural sector for improving food security, nutrition status, poverty reduction and economic growth.

The Food Security Goal of the NSDP is to ensure that ‘poor and food insecured Cambodians, by 2010, will have to be substantially improved both physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food at all times to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.’ NSDP states that fulfillment of this goal requires concerted efforts among various sectors, with the focus on (i) increasing and ensuring food availability, (ii) improving food accessibility (involving income and affordability) and (iii) ensuring optimal food use and utilization through health and nutrition education.

In this connection, the MAFF has set its vision in the Agricultural Sector Strategic Development Plan 2006-2010 (ASSDP) to “ensure enough and safe food for all people, contributing to poverty reduction, increasing GDP per capita, and assuring sustainable natural resources management and conservation”, thus it particularly is important to “ ensure food security, income generation, employment opportunity and improved nutritional status for all people by improving the productivity and diversification, and agribusiness of agriculture with environmentally sound protection and food safety.” ASSDP places its emphasis and priority on improving food security, improving agricultural productivity and diversification, and promoting agri-business, through the practice of intensification and diversification of agriculture such as crops, livestock, aquaculture, agro-forestry, and promotion of participatory community-based natural resources management, and empowerment of local farmer communities by developing agricultural development communities, saving and credit groups, promotion of small and medium agri-industry and enterprises, community micro-projects and agro-tourism etc. Furthermore, the MAFF has its policy to promote Cambodia to be an organic food-produced country for the world markets.

Based on the above strategy, we have been committed all our efforts to mobilizing and to allocating resources, such as capital, human resources, water resources and other potential natural resources, and production inputs for enhancing of agricultural sector development. As a result, in 2005 our rice harvest amounted to about 6 million metric tons, with the surplus of approximately 2 million metric tons of paddy which is equaled to 1.3 million metric tons of milled rice. Moreover, to 11 October 2006, rice cultivated area in wet season has achieved about 100.04 % or about 2 million ha. With this trend, we assume that wet season rice production this year could reach or above the level of that in 2005.

However, this surplus is presented at a national level, as some parts of the country remain facing food shortage at community and family level. Based on the latest household survey in 2004, about 35 percent of Cambodians lived below national poverty line, and about 20 percent lived below food poverty line.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

In challenges with these problems, MAFF has put food security issues in NSDP 2006-2010 as well as in the Agricultural Sector Strategic Development Plan 2006-2010, especially we have extended and up-scaled nationwide National Programme for Food Security and Poverty Reduction (FSPR). This program will improve food security for 2 million poorest Cambodians, thus significantly contribute towards fulfillment of CMDG 1. It covers about 60 percent of the total villages in Cambodia that need to be implemented during 2007 to 2011, and the MAFF would like to take this opportunity to make an appeal to all development partners and other countries to provide assistance, financially and mentally, to implement the program.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

In order to contribute and support the World Food Day with the theme ‘Investing in Agriculture for Food Security’, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the following documents to all stakeholders for their kind consideration and support:

1. the Agricultural Sector Strategic Development Plan 2006-2010;
2. the National Programme for Food Security and Poverty Reduction 2007-2011; and
3. the National Medium Term Priority Framework (FAO) 2006-2010.

These documents concentrate on opportunistic activities, especially of improving agricultural productivity to ensure the development of fundamental base of RGC for economic growth, and maintain the sustainability of these growths by mobilizing of private sector investments, and to ensure equity distribution of benefits. In facts, every areas and elements are currently all priority needed for Cambodia; however, our resource opportunities are limited. Therefore, for more effective investment we have to prioritize areas for implementation by setting the reformed agendas and practical action with clear timeframes and conjunction to the availability of resources in order to get success.

Meanwhile, both opportunity and potential of household farming investments should be improved by implementing new appropriate ideas and technologies of agriculture. To achieve these, the following points need to be taken into consideration:

• Livestock, aquaculture, integrated farming
• Saving, micro-credit, and agricultural community development
• Replenishment and conservation of the existing natural resources within the community, i.e. fish, forest, wildlife etc.
• Development of local infrastructures in village and/or commune levels, i.e. rural road, pond, canal, school etc.  

Our public investment in agricultural sector is heavily relied on resources from international and national cooperation financing. Therefore, we have to commit ourselves to discussing and finding out possible solutions by integrating the implementation of donor programs/projects within the national budget frameworks for more effective and efficient coordination and management of public investment.  

On this occasion, I would like to appeal to all external development partners, that all resources given to non-government organizations have to be in line with our priorities and development plans as stated in the MAFF strategic planning (NSDP). With this regard, I would like to propose to all external development partners, donor communities and private sectors for kindly contributing and supporting to the Agricultural Sector Strategic Development Plan 2006-2010, and the National Program for Food Security and Poverty Reduction 2007-201 as does the theme of the World Food Day 2006-“ Investing in Agriculture for Food Security”.

Once again, allow me to express my profound thanks to all donor communities and external development partners in the agricultural sector, for their support to recent agricultural development, especially to the FAO and WFP that have been supporting us in all difficult situations, and please kindly continue such support for our further development towards progress, prosperity and happiness for all Cambodians. 

Finally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen for participating in this World Food Day, and I wish you all the best, and hope to see you all again next year.

Thank you!