The US government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has launched a new private sector competition for agricultural partnerships that address key challenges in Cambodia’s agriculture sector including cold chain, storage capacity and logistics issues.

The competition, launched on Feb 24, will make $3.5 million available in grant funding to private companies.

US Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy said the United States is a long-standing partner to Cambodia and its agriculture sector. He said the competition is designed to challenge local and international companies to come up with innovative solutions that advance Cambodia’s economic competitiveness by expanding market access, improving infrastructure and logistics as well as promote private sector engagement and investment across the agriculture value chain.

“It will also require companies to provide a one-to-one funding match and is designed to work with the private sector to respond to the most pressing needs for agricultural cold chain, storage and logistics solutions,” he added.

Kann Kunthy, managing director of the Cambodian Agriculture Cooperative Corporation (CACC), confirmed the CACC will participate in this competition. He added it will boost the capacity of the private sector and link producers and the private sector the market.

He also said that the private sector will work with farmers to boost commercial agricultural production and forward-planning on agricultural commodities.

Kunthy noted the competition will provide a good opportunity for private sector entrepreneurial know-how to boost the agriculture sector and aid in the seeking of more markets for agriculture cooperatives ACs). He added that CCAC is currently working with around 100 ACs.

Mey Kalyan, Senior Adviser on the Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC), welcomed the move. He concurred that this initiative will support the private sector in driving further growth. Kalyan also noted that the initiative would only generate fruitful results if all the players involved (public sector, development partners and private sector) coordinate their efforts. He expanded on this saying that it is crucial all development partners target this direction in the future.

“If the initiatives do not involve the private sector, development partners, government and all the relevant stakeholders, the initiatives will not work,” Kalyan added.

The competition aims to help Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries achieve the strategic priorities of its Agriculture Sector Development Plan 2019-2023 with market-driven solutions. The competition will close on April 16.

The US embassy is highlighting how its partnerships contribute to Cambodia’s development this year as part of the “AmCam 2021” campaign. During the first quarter of the year, the embassy is focusing on the themes prosperity and sustainability.