A December 2020 study found that at least 92 per cent of the Kingdom’s agricultural input suppliers use digital payments in their businesses, while 45 per cent are involved in e-commerce. Heng Chivoan
The agriculture ministry has encouraged taxpayers who are obliged to pay non-tax revenue to do so by e-payment, as industry experts continue to highlight the benefits of such technology and relative lack of adoption in Cambodia.
According to an April 18 announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, all business owners and the public can pay their non-tax revenue electronically, including to make payments for public services worth upwards of one million riel ($247).
For payment of income from state property and other non-tax revenue, customers are able to pay through the e-payment system if their service provider has provided the option to do so.
Business owners, enterprises and the public can make e-payments via the mobile apps of ACLEDA Bank, Canadia Bank and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (NRMIS).
Value chain management company AgriBee (Cambodia) Plc CEO Yang Pak noted that, though the agricultural sector has been particularly encouraged to use this mode of payment – especially given the wide geographic distribution of industry participants – the number of users of the service is still limited.
He said the use of e-payment is still low in rural areas, with key transactions such as purchases of fertilisers, paddy rice and other agricultural products largely made in cash.
“In the agricultural sector, 70 to 80 per cent of growers still pay by cash – there is no use of e-payment. Loans to farmers are still available in cash, without using mobile payments or e-payments. Yet most fertiliser businesses already use e-payment technology,” he said.
Pak said that in his company, “about 5,000 to 6,000” farmers have already begun to use e-payments for financing, purchase of fertilisers and other transactions.
He said he expects that the use of e-payments in the agricultural sector will be more widespread “in the next five to six years, in line with advances in technology and human resources”, as well as through “increased encouragement” by the government.
Van Rithy, executive director of the Agricultural Export Department of agri-machinery company Angkor Green, said his company pays farmers in cash as they prefer the physical mode of payment – despite having been educated by the company on the benefits of electronic transactions.
“We want to see more widespread use of e-payments. For our company, today, only 50 per cent of payments are made through the various banking apps, meaning that [e-payments] are made only for exports and public services with government institutions.
“But with farmers, the company continues to pay [them] in cash. Our team has trained farmers on how to use e-payment, and the benefits of the system, but most farmers do not want to use it, saying that it is easier to [use] cash,” he said.
At least 92 per cent of the Kingdom’s agricultural input suppliers use digital payments in their businesses, while 45 per cent are involved in e-commerce, a December 2020 study by the Centre for Policy Studies found.
Data from the study showed that 90 per cent of 225 respondents – representatives from 40 agricultural input suppliers based in Battambang, Tbong Khmum, Siem Reap, Prey Veng, Kandal and Takeo provinces – used smartphones. Ninety per cent of them had internet access, of which 41 per cent had a Wi-Fi source. Fifty-five per cent of respondents had bank accounts and 23 per cent of them paid with mobile apps.
