Agriculture officials are set to be deployed to all communes in the four Cambodian provinces of the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Summit Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA) to strengthen the agricultural sector. The four provinces are Ratanakkiri, Mondulkiri, Kratie and Stung Treng.

Prime Minister Hun Manet outlined how the government plans to increase the number of agriculture officials by another 200, from 800 to 1,000, during a special address to the nation on the evening of August 22, marking the first anniversary of his assumption of power.

“I have approved the recruitment of an additional 200 commune-level agricultural technical officers, as the previous plan was for only 800. I have authorised the increase to 1,000 officers to accelerate the deployment of agricultural technical officers across the provinces, especially in every commune in Stung Treng, Kratie, Mondulkiri, and Ratanakkiri, to help promote agricultural development in our north-eastern region,” he said. 

So far, the Ministry of Civil Service and the Ministry of Agriculture have recruited 250 agricultural technical officers and deployed them to 250 target communes across 89 districts in 17 provinces. To date, these officers have disseminated agricultural techniques to nearly 120,000 households, according to Manet.

According to the Ministry of Interior, the four provinces within the CLV-DTA have a total of 153 communes, with Stung Treng having 34, Kratie 48, Ratanakkiri 50 and Mondulkiri 21.

The government has also established eight model agricultural communities in Siem Reap, Takeo, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Thom, and Kandal provinces to support agriculture through new farming methods aimed at increasing the income of farmers.

The prime minister also emphasised the government’s other efforts to support the agricultural sector through stabilising product prices and providing financial assistance to rice mills, with total loans of $29 million.