GROWING SINOCAMBODIAN COOPERATION IN GROWING FOOD

By Wang Fang

June is the beginning of prime harvest season in China,as is the case in neighboring Cambodia as well. According toKhmerDaily,Cambodia’s paddy rice output in 2017 was 10.27 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.7 percent. More than 240,000 tons of rice were exported from Cambodia in the first five months of 2018, and China topped the list of nearly 70 importing countries. It was reported that Chinese demand has raised the import quota for Cambodia’s milled rice from 200,000 tons in 2017 to 300,000 tons in 2018.

Rice trade represents typical agricultural cooperation between China and Cambodia. In recent years, while promoting economic and trade cooperation, the two countries have also strengthened their cooperation in agriculture.

New Model, New Benchmark

“Cambodia is a vast land with a small population and rich natural endowments,” illustrated Li Qian,chairman of Guangxi Guohong Economic Development Group Company (“Guohong Group”). “It is still in an early stage of largescale development. The market potential is huge and will create plenty of opportunity.”

With construction of the Belt and Road, investment in Cambodia from China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has witnessed an explosive surge.Cambodia has become one of the most important overseas investment destinations for Guangxi enterprises.

Kampong Chhnang Province in central Cambodia is a traditional rice planting area.Guohong (Cambodia) Industry Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Guohong Group,invested in a rice processing plant there, which not only upgraded the rice processing capacity of Cambodia, but also increased the income of local farmers.

As an important enterprise leading Guangxi’s efforts to “go global,” Guohong Group has continuously strengthened agricultural cooperation with Cambodia by working to improve the agricultural production and processing technology in the country and build a bilateral agricultural cooperation demonstration platform to upgrade agriculture across ASEAN.

“Alongside construction of cultivation bases of rice,vegetables and fruit and breeding bases for livestock and poultry in Cambodia, we have built a processing park for secondary products,” revealed Li. “With the byproducts of paddy rice processing, we have built a circular industrial park powered by biogas and organic fertilizer.”

Guohong Group is only a snapshot of Chinese investment and cooperation in Cambodia.An increasing number of Chinese enterprises have invested in Cambodian agricultural projects to promote interactive development of agriculture.Dozens of Chinese agricultural enterprises such as Yunnan International Company, China Agricultural Reclamation Group and China National Corporation for Overseas Economic Cooperation are managing projects in Cambodia.

Li Qian (second right), chairman of Guangxi Guohong Economic Development Group Company, visits the fragrant rice cultivation base in Kampong Chhnang Province, Cambodia.

In Kratie Province,construction of the Cambodia-China Tropical Eco-cooperation Demonstration Zone is proceeding according to schedule. One of the first experimental demonstration zones for overseas agricultural cooperation recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture of China, the demonstration zone consists of six industrial parks for bananas, peppers, tropical fruit, livestock and poultry,respectively, to be constructed in phases. Banana, rubber,cassava, durian, aromatic green dwarf coconut and other crops are now cultivated in the zone,which is equipped with more than 200 pieces of modern largescale agricultural machinery, a 500-kilometer road network and numerous ecological reservoirs.

“The practice of developing high-efficiency agriculture while protecting the ecological environment should be encouraged,” opined Zhang Zhongqiu, Chief Veterinary Officer at China’s Ministry of Agriculture, during an investigation tour of the demonstration zone in 2017.“This practice should be a new model and a new benchmark for Chinese agriculture to go global, which will bring tangible benefits to the people of China,Cambodia and other countries.”

According to the Cambodia Investment Report 2017 released by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC),China has been Cambodia’s largest source of foreign investment for six consecutive years.

Bilateral cooperation and exchange in agriculture will promote Cambodia’s agricultural development,which will contribute to the implementation of its national development strategy.

Technological Cooperation

Cambodia is a vast land with advantages in natural resources and labor costs and has been called the “barn” of the Indochina Peninsula. To promote the development of its agriculture,Cambodia urgently needs foreign capital for infrastructure as well as foreign processing technology.

In 2014, the Chinese government provided assistance to Cambodia by building the Cambodia-China Agricultural Promotion Center for the demonstration and promotion of modern circular agricultural technology, which focuses on food and energy crops as well as fruit, vegetable, livestock and poultry. The project has injected strong impetus into China-Cambodia agricultural cooperation.

The agricultural center is China’s largest public welfare agricultural project in Cambodia, and it is sponsored by Guangxi Foreword (Cambodia)Agricultural Development Company. With the introduction of funds, technology and expert teams into Cambodia,the company demonstrates and promotes agricultural technology related to planting,product processing and utilizing machinery, which has promoted agricultural trade between the two countries.

Statistics show that by July 2017, Foreword had introduced 105 crop varieties into Cambodia.Through experimental planting,they selected 27 crop varieties suitable for local cultivation. At the same time, they provided training to more than 2,000 Cambodian college students,farmers and specialists.

“The Cambodia-China Agricultural Promotion Center has continuously promoted bilateral cooperation in crop varieties and agricultural technology,” said Lan Huiyan,executive director of the center.“We have also built planting bases to provide jobs to local farmers. Meanwhile, we are capitalizing on the advantages of Chinese enterprises in processing technology and supply and marketing channels to jointly develop the markets of China and ASEAN.”

Alongside the center,China and Cambodia have carried out various forms of technological cooperation to foster more competitive modern agriculture. In 2016, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Cambodia signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) on agricultural devleopment with the Chinesefunded Tian Rui (Cambodia)Agricultural Economic and Trade Cooperation Special Zone to introduce modern agricultural technology into Cambodia. According to the MoU, the industry chain will link cultivation, planting, storage and processing to sales, logistics and services.

In 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture of China sent senior agricultural advisers to Cambodia to help Cambodia formulate plans, systems and management measures to meet local conditions.

The University of Kracheh in Kratie, which was built with Chinese assistance, is playing a positive role in training more local agricultural talent and promoting the economic development of the country.