Officials attended the lunching of the Sustainable Assets for Agriculture Markets, Business and Trade project on Monday.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have provided the government with $122 million for a rural development project, a press release issued on Monday said.
According to IFAD, the five-year project, which runs from 2020 to 2025, was officially launched on Monday.
The project is financed by a $53.3 million loan and $1.2 million grant from IFAD, a $57.6 million loan from EIB and $12.41 million in contributions from Cambodia, the press release noted.
The project aims to boost incomes and food security for 200,000 families in the Kingdom.
IFAD country director for Cambodia Kaushik Barua said two-thirds of rural families face seasonal food shortages each year, farmers often lack access to new markets, training and technology, and rural infrastructure is poor.
This leaves rural communities cut-off from business and employment opportunities, he said.
“With this project, we are focusing on building sustainable and inclusive rural infrastructure, including roads and marketplaces, building rural capacity, and linking rural communities – especially young people – to relevant skills and technologies,” he said.
He said the objective of the Sustainable Assets for Agriculture Markets, Business and Trade project (Saambat) is to improve livelihoods by better connecting rural communities to markets, technical training and employment opportunities.
“We are grateful to our national partners including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Rural Development and the rural communities and youth who provided their ideas and feedback when we were developing the project.
“And of course, to the European Investment Bank for investing in this partnership with IFAD,” he noted.
Saambat aims to productively employ at least 4,500 rural youth, develop 500 small and medium businesses and train at least 25,000 rural value chain actors to use digital technology.
Approximately 650km of rural roads and 75 market facilities will also be built or rehabilitated.
IFAD began operations in Cambodia in 1996 and has implemented 10 projects, investing more than $256 million.
