To achieve democratic development, Cambodia’s next step towards fiscal decentralisation will focus on both institutional and service delivery reform at district level so as to strengthen the capacity of the sub-national administration and better link it to sectoral service delivery. To move forwards, fiscal decentralisation needs to be comprehensive and well coordinated with other cross-cutting reforms, especially the Public Financial Management Reform Programme, and sectoral reforms. This does not mean that everything has to be done at the same time, […]

In Cambodia, two thirds of the population are economically dependent on agriculture and most farmers are poorly equipped to adapt to climate change. Because of international linkages through trade and prices, any complete analysis of the potential domestic effects of climate change must consider impacts on a global scale. This paper highlights a set of model projections for global food prices and production, and trade and food security outcomes for mainland Southeast Asia, and reports projections of global rice and […]

Through comparison with other countries in Asia, this paper analyses the patterns of hunger and malnutrition in Cambodia and possible pathways to ensure the country’s future food security. In the face of increased inequality and high population growth, Cambodia has managed to make considerable progress in reducing hunger and malnutrition especially in rural areas. Since 1993, staple food production has more than doubled and poverty has dropped by more than one third. The prevalence of child malnutrition has declined at […]

This paper first reviews the performance of the rice sector and rice-related government policies and interventions and then explores a possible development path for rice by comparing the current situation in Cambodia with the early development stages of Thailand and Vietnam. With strong government support, rice production has grown rapidly since 2003, but only a small portion goes to foreign markets. As Cambodian rice varieties are fetching a premium price due to superior taste and quality, Thailand’s experience suggests that […]

Cambodia experienced a decade of rapid economic growth until 2007, but that growth depended significantly on exploiting its  natural resource base and was marked by an unusually rapid rise in inequality. While investments in health, education, rural infrastructure and microcredit are essential to improving the asset portfolio of vulnerable households, one of the most pressing needs is to improve security of access to the natural resources that underpin rural livelihoods. This report tries to outline the critical role of natural […]

Two decades of civil war caused extensive damage to Cambodia’s physical, social and human capital and left the populace, especially rural people, in a state of chronic poverty and vulnerability. Despite pro-poor targeting and massive efforts by the government and its development partners, a large proportion of the population in need of support does not benefit from social protection programs, the effectiveness of which is undermined by limited resources, lack of coherent strategies and appropriate targeting. The paper proposes focusing […]

The Cambodian government articulates its agriculture policy in the Rectangular Strategy: “To improve agricultural productivity and diversification, thereby enabling the agriculture sector to serve as the dynamic driving force for economic growth and poverty reduction.” To this end, it developed the National Strategy for Agriculture and Water, which involves five major programs: institutional capacity building, food security, agriculture and agribusiness, water resources management, agricultural research and development. Line ministries have since adopted specific policies relevant to their own sectors. This […]