The premier made the appeal while presiding over the closing ceremony of the meeting on 2016-2017 work review and 2017-2018 work planning of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, at the Peace Palace, Phnom Penh yesterday afternoon.

Samdech Techo Hun Sen affirmed that the Royal Government of Cambodia has been working hard to find new markets for Cambodian agricultural products, mainly rice while encouraging Cambodian farmers to maintain the quality of their products and make sure that there is no poisonous substance in their products.

Samdech Techo Prime Minister also sought understanding from the farmers over the market issue and dropping prices of their products, especially rice, explaining they are the common issues of the region and the world and not only Cambodia.

Cambodia is not the only rice producing country, there are also Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, India …, he said, adding that developing countries have similar products, therefore there is high competition among them.

According to Samdech Techo Hun Sen, there will be particular places for rice cultivation for export.

The Cambodian premier further called for investment from the private sector in processing industry in order to increase the value-adding to raw materials in Cambodia.

Agricultural sector accounted for about 26.3 percent in Cambodia’s GDP last year, said Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries H.E. Veng Sakhon, pointing out that the country exported 542,144 tons of milled rice in 2016, up 0.7 percent over 2015, to 65 countries around the world.

By So Sophavy