FAO Cambodia organized a “Stakeholders’ Workshop” on 31 October 2018 to share the findings, conclusions and recommendations of a recently concluded independent evaluation of FAO’s country programme in Cambodia. The evaluation was led by the headquarters-based FAO Office of Evaluation, and focused on the period 2014-2018.

This workshop was an important opportunity to gather all inputs, suggestions and recommendations, particularly on what FAO could and should do to contribute to support the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) through the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), and in close liaison with other partners, to deliver results for an effective and sustainable development of the country. The inputs gathered will inform the next FAO strategy in Cambodia, the Country Programming Framework (CPF) 2019-2023, currently under development. This CPF, aligned with the government priorities, will guide FAO’s actions in the upcoming cycle of implementation.

The evaluation found that FAO’s mandate continues to be of relevance in Cambodia, as the country moves forward on its trajectory to attain upper middle-income country status by 2030, but FAO needs to further leverage this mandate. FAO has a clear comparative advantage as a trusted purveyor of data and technical advice. The government counterparts and MAFF in particular, acknowledged that FAO is a trusted partner of RGC, commenting, “no one is above FAO on technical competencies regarding agricultural techniques.” However, as Cambodia’s economy rapidly develops, there are implications for FAO and the UN system on how they can support a more inclusive form of development towards the goal of “leaving no one behind” enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The stakeholder workshop therefore offered an opportunity to consider the future role of FAO and the UN system, together with the Royal Government of Cambodia and other stakeholders in this context.  Mr Alexandre HYUNH, FAO Representative in Cambodia noted that “working closely with the MAFF, FAO Cambodia is committed to supporting the Royal Government of Cambodia attain an inclusive, resilient, efficient, and sustainable development of the agriculture sector, a sustainable management of natural resources, and improved food security and nutrition. This support will, consequently, contribute to improving the livelihoods and well-being of Cambodian people, and the development of the Kingdom.”

However, the Cambodian agricultural sector still faces a number of challenges, including low productivity, limited supporting infrastructure, limited technologies and techniques for agro-industry, inconsistent supply of agriculture produce in terms of both quantity and quality, inadequate access to markets and price fluctuations, and a high vulnerability to natural shocks and the impact of climate change.

In view of these challenges, H.E. Veng Sakhon, Minister of MAFF, suggested that the findings and recommendations by the FAO Evaluation team are important, accurately reflecting the current situation of the country and showing a way forward well aligned to the government priority policies, especially the next 5-year Agricultural Sectoral Strategic Action Plans (ASDP). He therefore endorsed the evaluation conclusions and recommendations and underlined five specific focus areas for consideration in designing FAO’s new country programming framework:

1. Continue providing technical support for promoting agricultural modernization with respect to competitiveness, inclusiveness, climate resilience and sustainability;
2. Continue strengthening technical cooperation between FAO and MAFF and relevant institutions in order to enhance capacity of farmers and agricultural cooperatives in agricultural market linkage between these communities and the private sector. Food safety is also a priority area of the government, which requires technical support of FAO;
3. Formulation of agriculture policies, agricultural statistical data, and analysis of agricultural economics are very pivotal for policy makers. FAO is an effective partner for these actions;
4. Further promoting the livelihoods of families who depend on fisheries and forests through diversifying food system;
5. Engaging more government officials in implementing technical cooperative programmes/projects to further enhance their capacities and ensure efficiency and sustainability of the projects, and reducing as much as possible international experts by increasing local experts. 

In his response, Mr Alexandre HYUNH stated that FAO will continue to keep its position as a strong technical support partner of the RGC, especially MAFF, as well as other stakeholders. He also added that “We need to work together with an effective coordination of key development partners. And, it must be starting with improving ownership of farmers. We need to support them to act differently by adopting good agricultural practices and become competent and successful farmers, while necessary policies and supporting systems also need to be developed.”