Sustainable agriculture production and building a brand for the Cambodian rice market dominated during the 4th Annual Sustainable Agriculture Summit held at the Cambodiana Hotel in Phnom Penh on February 27-28.

The two-day summit under the theme ‘Regenerative Agriculture Practices Towards Low Carbon Farming’, was co-organized by the Cambodian Agriculture Cooperative Corporation Plc. (CACC), Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) and Grow Asia provided practical knowledge on the Sustainable Rice Standard Program, Regenerative Rice Farming Standard and Organic Rice Standard, said Chan Sokheang, President of Cambodian Rice Federation.

Sokheang also said the summit enabled all stakeholders to build better relationships and share knowledge and access to new information on digital agriculture technologies, credits and new agricultural initiatives.

“The program also helped show the world that Cambodian agriculture is on the path to international standards contributing to saving the earth, as well as a mechanism for expanding and building a brand of the Cambodian rice market,” he added.

Yang Saing Koma, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said that the ministry has provided full cooperation and support to strengthen the partnership model with all stakeholders to benefit the farmers.

“The collaboration of all stakeholders for sustainable agriculture, which can provide a good example in the implementation of partnerships in the agricultural value chain, including producers, banks and microfinance institutions, rice mills, private sector, developmental partners and the government with a common goal to achieve environmental and economic sustainability for rural farmers,” Koma said.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries together with the Cambodian Rice Federation and development partners, officially launched the ‘Rice Sustainability Standards in Cambodia (SRP)’ program.

It is an important program to promote rice production to a higher standard, sustainability, and Cambodia’s exports to international markets achieve the set target of 1 million tons per year from 2025.

“This program is very important for the rice sector in Cambodia, especially focusing on strengthening the supply chain and value chain of the rice sector to improve the living standards and economy of farmers, food security in the country and rice exports to the international market,” said Song Saran, CEO of Amru Rice (Cambodia).

The event gathered approximately 350 participants, most of whom are leaders of Agriculture Cooperative, representatives from the private sector, governments, banks and microfinance institutions, development partners, donors and researchers.