Abelgian NGO inked its first Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Royal University of Agriculture on Wednesday and launched a film promoting its research on sustainable agriculture in the Kingdom.

Through the MoA, Louvain Cooperation Cambodia (LCC) and the Ecoland Centre of the Royal University of Agriculture will aim to promote the spread of sustainable agricultural practices in Cambodia, said Ecoland co-director Neang Malyne.

The two organisations have been collaborating since last year when they embarked on a project to assess the benefits of sustainable agriculture techniques for farmers across Cambodia. The project is due to run until 2021.

So far the project has found that sustainable agricultural practices provided farmers with the ability to adopt practices that increased incomes and improved health, apart from producing and consuming more chemical-free agricultural products.

At Wednesday’s signing, LCC and Ecoland screened Spreading Sustainable Agricultural Practices – a film showcasing success stories and testimonials of farmers who participated in their research.

“We want to build the capacity of farmers to follow sustainable agriculture guidelines. We will promote our findings to the public in order to promote the awareness of sustainable agriculture,” Malyne said.

A Kampong Thom province farmer and participant in the project, Nam Nav, was enthusiastic about how sustainable agricultural practices would help her.

“I hope to receive more training and technical knowledge about how to farm sustainably and achieve high levels of production. I’m confident the project will provide me with skills I can use to improve my farm,” she said.