PHNOM PENH — Prime Minister Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet announced publicly that in addition to intense efforts to open international trade channels and secure new global export markets, the Royal Government of Cambodia has consistently rolled out multi-tiered emergency interventions to actively support and resolve the immediate challenges faced by local farmers nationwide.
The Prime Minister underscored these state-backed initiatives during his continuous series of grassroots visits to assess socio-economic progress at the local community level on Wednesday morning, July 1, 2026.
The Head of the Royal Government outlined several key measures and ongoing strategic interventions being actively implemented across the country:
- Deployment of a $60 Million Special Intervention Fund: The Royal Government has mobilized a special credit package totaling $60 million through the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (ARDB). This fund functions as emergency working capital for partner rice mills, empowering them to procure paddy rice directly from local farmers at fair, stabilized market prices during peak harvest seasons. This mechanism effectively deters price manipulation by middlemen and preserves the domestic price equilibrium of agricultural yields.
- Emergency Irrigation and Water Rescue Operations: In direct response to extreme climate volatility and localized dry spells, national and sub-national administrations—working in tandem with the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology—have launched rapid-response maneuvers. Heavy machinery, industrial pumping systems, and fuel distributions have been deployed on the ground to irrigate and rescue vulnerable wet-season and dry-season rice fields threatened by droughts.
- Deployment of Commune Agricultural Technical Officers: The Royal Government is systematically embedding specialized agricultural technicians directly within communes and districts nationwide. These experts provide on-site technical guidance, helping smallholders minimize initial production costs while maximizing high-quality, export-ready agricultural outputs.
Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet strongly emphasized that the agricultural sector remains a vital, foundational pillar of Cambodia’s national economy. Consequently, the Royal Government will never leave farmers to navigate economic risks alone. Whenever critical challenges emerge—whether regarding market pricing or irrigation shortages—the relevant ministries must launch immediate, hands-on field interventions.
Concurrently, the Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries to deepen their institutional collaboration. Both ministries are tasked with aggressively securing additional foreign trade partners to accelerate the export of premium Cambodian agricultural commodities—including milled rice, cassava, cashews, and fresh fruits—into competitive global markets.
