Tuesday, 05 August 2008Ly Menghour, DPA & Xinhua
The Mekong TimesKuwait’s premier has advised Prime Minister Hun Sen to turn Cambodia into an agricultural powerhouse to speed the Kingdom’s development.
“The Kuwaiti premier said Cambodia has great potential for agriculture due to good weather conditions and industrious people,” Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith told reporters after a bilateral meeting between the Cambodian premier and Prince Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah yesterday,
The Kuwaiti premier said Cambodia must increase rice production and exports in line with Thailand, which exports around eight million tons annually, and Vietnam, with around four to five million tons. Cambodia has advantages over the both neighboring countries – capital resources including water, labor and farmland – he apparently said.
Oil-rich Kuwait is mostly parched desert which is extremely costly to farm. In contrast, Cambodia only uses around a third of its agricultural land and farming methods are primitive, giving low yields.
“Kuwait has money and can help Cambodia become a major agricultural power,” Khieu Kanharith said. “Kuwait thinks Cambodia needs a little capital and has great agricultural potential. With sufficient investment, proper irrigation systems with good rice seed and scientific growing methods, we can increase our current rice output four to five times. Production costs in Cambodia are not high, and export prices are cheap.”
Kuwait has not yet disclosed the extent of its agricultural investment, but Khieu Kanharith said Kuwait can either invest directly or as a partner with Cambodian investors. “Research is first being done to find the correct site for production and export to Kuwait as was done with Qatar in the past. We do not allow foreign nationals to buy or rent land. But we can do as is being done with a number of farmers growing corn and tobacco – we supply the seed and set the purchase price contractually. If the price is high in future, we will buy the crop from the farmer at the reigning price. If the price drops, we will buy the crop at the minimum price set in the contract. We will also allow farmers to borrow capital without paying interest.”
In the 1960s, Cambodia played a key role as a rice exporter to the world though the Kingdom’s turbulent recent past saw harvests dwindle. Currently, rice production is enjoying significant growth – Cambodia produced 6.7 million tons in the 2007-08 harvest, a surplus of more than 2.5 million tons.
The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture(CEDAC)’s principle of intensive cultivation claims that a higher rice yield can be realized by using traditional rain irrigation and local rice seed.
“Cambodia is an important rice exporter because it has favorable natural conditions, particularly a lot of farmland which has not yet been used,” CEDAC director Yang Saing Koma said. “Agricultural land which is now being used has not reached its fullest production potential as with other countries. We can increase rice output.”
Even with its great agricultural potential Yang Saing Koma foresees Cambodia facing major obstacles, such as farmers’ limited technical knowledge, poor choice of rice seeds and insufficient irrigation.
During the bilateral discussion yesterday morning, besides encouraging rice investment in Cambodia, Kuwait signed a number of important agreements with Cambodia, including economic and technical cooperation, trade deals, investment protection, as well as civil aviation agreements. Cambodia has also authorized Kuwait to build an embassy.
Kuwait, as an major oil producer, was asked to help train Cambodian officials in oil and gas exploration skills and to grant concession loans to build infrastructure and irrigation systems.
Military matters were also discussed, with Cambodia and Kuwait agreeing not to support any military and economic intervention over Iran, said Khieu Kanharith.
“Neither country will support any military actions against Iran,” he said. “The two sides do not want to see any military actions or economic embargo against Iran, because it can provide no benefit for the people.”
“Both Cambodia and Kuwait have endured miserable situations in the past and do not want it to be repeated in other countries,” he added.
Football friendlies between the two nations’ youth teams to help Cambodia boost its woeful world standing were also discussed. “We would like to see the Kuwaiti youth team visit and ours visit them for sport,” Khieu Kanharith said.
The Kuwaiti prime minister is scheduled to leave for Laos upon ending his three-day visit today.
Kuwait delegation visit to Cambodia in 2008 (Photo: DR, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)
