$200 mil a year veggie imports to be slashed

HMER TIMES
MAY KUNMAKARA

Most of Cambodia’s vegetables are still imported from neighboring countries. KT/Chor Sokunthea

The government has designated eight provinces to start boosting vegetable production from this year in a move to curb the capital flow of an estimated $200 million per year on imports from neighboring countries, mainly Vietnam.

Vongsey Vissoth, secretary of state for the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said recently that the country spends millions of dollars a year importing vegetables from neighboring countries.

He said the influx of chemically produced vegetables was harmful to local people and required the ministry to set a new strategy.

The new strategy, Mr. Vissoth said, would emphasize the move towards large-scale production and partnerships with wealthy farmers and the private sector to boost vegetable production.

“I get very upset once we start talking about importing vegetables. We have very rich soil and plenty of water resources but we import a lot and some complain the imported vegetables contain chemicals,” he said.

“Frankly speaking, I initiated a new project on boosting food production – one of the main components of the project is boosting vegetable production.”

Mr. Vissoth said most imported vegetables were the exporting countries’ leftover stock so they could sell it at any price rather than throwing it away. He said Cambodia lacked a proper system of production, which made locally produced vegetables more expensive than imports.

“Now, it’s time for us to change our methods and build relations with wealthy farmers. Our development partners help poor farmers and now the government will help wealthy farmers who have the ability to work with us to grow vegetables,” he said.

Mr. Vissoth said the ministry will establish a large area close to markets and water resources that will enable farmers to produce high quality vegetables that are able to compete with imported ones.

“It will be a co-investment scheme in which 70 percent is borne by the farmer and 30 percent paid by the government,” he said.

The project, called Boosting Food Projection 2017-2019, has a government budget of some $20 million, of which about $10 million is for the production of vegetables and other crops.

It will cooperate with farmers who have the money for large-scale production in eight provinces, according to Chan Sophal, a project consultant and director of the Center for Policy Studies (CPS).

“Now, we are preparing our internal strategy, which includes the work structure, staffing and policy drafts so that the project starts this year. We have three years for implementation,” he said.

Research conducted by CPS shows that between 200 to 400 metric tons of vegetables are imported daily from neighboring countries. The research found that between $150 million and $250 million is spent annually on vegetable imports from Vietnam, Thailand and China.

According to Mr. Sophal, the project, once implemented, will reduce imports. However, he stressed that some products will still need to be imported as they cannot be grown here. He said vegetables produced in the designated areas would be mainly supplied to Phnom Penh as well as Siem Reap and Tbong Khmum provinces.

“I think after implementing the project for three years, we will be able to supply at least 150 metric tons per day to the market, which means we can reduce imports by 50 percent,” he said.

“For sure, we cannot totally curb imports because some vegetables require planting in cold weather and cannot be grown here.”