The Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) recently approved an FAO-led $ 10 million climate adaptation project in Cambodia “Promoting Climate-Resilient Livelihoods in Rice-Based Communities in the Tonle Sap Region”. This five-year project will benefit Cambodian smallholder farmers and value chain actors in the Tonle Sap region, whose livelihoods and food security particularly rely on rice.

While rice is a daily staple for more than 3.5 billion people globally, this special grain is the major staple food for Cambodian people.

However, rice production is mainly based on smallholder farmers, who cultivate less than two hectares of land.  Much of the country’s rice area is rainfed, making it highly dependent on seasonal rainfall and associated flooding conditions of the Mekong River and its key tributaries, including the Tonle Sap.  As a result, potential rice yields are significantly lower, when compared to some other Southeast Asian countries with more extensive irrigation-supported production systems. Furthermore, the lack of access to appropriate supply chain infrastructure and value-adding technologies is preventing smallholders from participating effectively in market systems. Consequently, most paddy is sold directly to foreign buyers, while the issue of post-harvest losses remain widespread among smallholder producers.

Based on the level of exposure to climate-related hazards, a high susceptibility to suffer damage and a lack of coping and adaptive capacities, Cambodia is ranked as one of the most climate-vulnerable countries, not only in Southeast Asia, but also in the world. 

The impacts of climate change are likely to negatively affect rice-based landscapes and the productive output of the value chain, thereby further increasing the current vulnerability of rural households in Cambodia. 

Considering these challenges, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) and the Ministry of Environment (MoE) have partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) prepared a project proposal with funding from the GEF, which was approved by LDCF Council in June 2019.

To support the project preparation, a national inception workshop was conducted on 30 August 2019 to engage stakeholders to discuss and advise on development of a full project for a successful implementation. The meeting provided an opportunity to collect inputs from key stakeholders, as well as to coordinate ongoing initiatives and co-financing projects, and ensure that all relevant stakeholders are identified. 

Expected to be implemented in late 2020, this project will employ an ecosystem-based and market-driven approach to reduce climate vulnerability of rice-based communities and increase their resilience to climate change. 

To achieve this objective, the project sets out four main components:

1. Improving the enabling environment for climate change adaptation in the rice and related priority sectors through integrated policies and planning;
2. Supporting resilient production systems in rice-based communities for improved livelihoods;
3. Scaling up adaptation technologies and practices in selected value chains through partnerships, markets and investments; and
4. Building effective knowledge management, innovations and monitoring & evaluation systems.

Through a market-driven approach, the project will develop mechanisms to incentivize the uptake of climate-resilient practices and investments in adaptation techniques and technologies along the value chain. Such approach would be to promote the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) and the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) assurance scheme to create stable market opportunities and increase value addition for agricultural products that are produced in an environmentally friendly way, and this will create further incentives for farmers to continue with climate-resilient practices while also improving investment in post-harvest infrastructure.

According to Mr Alexandre Huynh, FAO Representative in Cambodia, this project reflects those priorities by aiming to strengthen the climate resilience of rice-based communities around the Tonle Sap Lake in a way that is environmentally responsible, climate smart and economically sustainable. 

He stated that, “the success of the project requires government, development partners and all relevant partners to explore convergence between agricultural productivity, rural development, and climate resilience for Cambodia.”

As the nature of the inception workshop focused on the operational aspect of the project, H.E. Dr Ngin Chhay, Director General of the General Directorate of Agriculture (GDA) of MAFF, suggested to look into several key problems undermining agricultural productivity and climate vulnerability, ranging from limited knowledge among farmers, pest and diseases, production inputs and use of technology, to the involvement of the private sector, in addition to other key problems such as climate change and market price volatility. 

To address the above-mentioned problems and to ensure a resilient rice production in Cambodia, H.E. Dr Ngin Chhay advised that “it is important now for all participants to share their expertise, experiences and wisdom to clearly define inputs, outputs as well as indicators under the responsibility of each involved stakeholder (GDA/MAFF, General Directorate of Local Community (GDLC)/MoE, FAO, IRRI, GIZ, and WCS).”

H.E. Dr Khieu Borin, Director General of Local Community of MoE was impressed with the success of the project proposal, “the project implementation is another great start for Cambodia since it allows for joint efforts between MAFF and MoE with support from all partners to promote climate-resilient livelihoods for our farmers.”