Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Delegation from Cambodia, led by H.E. Veng Sakhon, Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), virtually joined with Ministers and Senior Officials from all member nations of UN FAO across Asia and the Pacific to address and respond to the damage done to economies and livelihoods in the food and agriculture sectors in the wake of the global pandemic.

Delegates from the 46 FAO Member nations were gathered at 36th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC36), convened by the FAO, hosted by the People's Republic of Bangladesh, in the capital Dhaka, in a Hybrid modality from 8 – 11 March 2022.  Held once every two years, the APRC is an official forum for government ministers and delegates from all countries in the region to meet and debate challenges and priority options related to food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Its main outcomes are recommendations that guide FAO for its two-year course of works in the region based on a set of country’s priorities and regional needs.

The focusing issues

While a significant focus of APRC36 deliberations was on COVID-19 recovery efforts, the Ministers and Senior Officials attended the four-day conference also discussed solutions to improve nutrition, lives and livelihoods, while taking aim at ongoing climate and severe weather-related threats, and tackling diseases and pests that are affecting crops and livestock in the world’s most populous region.

An FAO and UN Agency report last year revealed that around 40 percent of the region’s population, at that time, could not afford a nutritious and healthy diet. Since then, the price of food has risen. FAO’s Food Price Index is now recording its highest food prices, globally, in more than a decade.

The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, who attended the regional conference in person, acknowledged the toll the global pandemic has inflicted on lives and livelihoods of the people of Asia and the Pacific. 

Reversing many years of progress, hunger in Asia and the Pacific is on the rise again, and inequalities are increasing, particularly between rural and urban populations, while too often women and youth are being left behind.

“The pandemic has forced us to reconsider our priorities and approaches. This has led to a movement to transform the region’s agri-food systems and make them more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable,” the Director-General said in his Statement to Conference.

“The new FAO strategy is focusing on supporting members for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, a better life for all – leaving no one behind,” he added.

The country’s needs and priorities

H.E. Dr Prum Somany, Director of the International Cooperation of the MAFF was appointed to lead the Cambodian government delegation to participate in the Senior Officers Meeting during the first two days of the conference. He commented that, “we need to promote diversification of alternative livelihoods, with a focus on resilient socio-economic growth and green recovery so that we can contribute to improved and resilient livelihoods among communities most affected by the COVID-19 and relying substantially on agriculture.”

“While a stronger focus should be placed on enhancing competitiveness of the agricultural value chains to boost productivity and profit generation, we need to also promote more investment in food quality and safety control for human and environmental health,” he added.  

As the head of the delegation, H.E. Veng Sakhon, Minister of MAFF, presented Cambodia’s statement to the conference, which clearly emphasized priorities and needs to support development of agriculture and sustainable agri-food system, recognized as the backbone of Cambodia’s economic growth. In 2021, agriculture contributed about 24.4 percent to the national GDP. The sector is also key to vulnerability and poverty reduction for majority of rural population. 

He emphasized to the conference that, “investment in technological innovations, foster adoption of technologies among farmers, strengthen agro-processing infrastructure and local capacity, increasing domestic trade and export, as well as adaptive capacity among communities to impacts of climate change are some of the priorities of Cambodia.”

“With the persistent challenges facing farmers and disruptions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, we need regional cooperation and support to promote digitalization and innovation across agri-food systems to achieve resilient production system for economic growth, decent jobs, livelihood, and better nutrition for all,” said H.E. Veng Sakhon.

The most current and future challenge

Among others, climate change was identified as one of the most important current and future challenges to enhance food security and nutrition in the region.

As stated by the FAO’s Deputy Director-General, Ms Maria Helena Semedo, Asia and the Pacific is the most exposed and vulnerable region to negative impacts of the continued global warming.

Recent assessment of the IPCC made clear that the impacts of climate change on communities and the agri-food systems have been and will be much greater than previously thought.

In the roundtable discussion on “Climate actions for resilience and sustainability” held on the last day of the conference, H.E. Tin Ponlok, Secretary of State, Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment, commented that, “there are a lot of potential solutions in this area, for example, improved soil management techniques, which can contribute to both climate change mitigation and adaptation.”

He pointed out another example, which is about the opportunity to use carbon finance to support innovation in sustainable agri-food systems, recognizing for its concrete contribution to global mitigation, but also supporting the resilience of vulnerable communities. He added that, “what is needed right now is the innovative models of cooperation to develop, promote and finance sustainable agri-food system projects for the poorest and most vulnerable, as carbon financing can be very complex.”

Given the urgent need to address the impacts of the climate change, he suggested FAO to not only focus on technical assistance but also to cover more integrated approaches at a bigger scale, working with public financial management reforms to inform budgetary policies that will support sustainable agri-food systems, while retain a major role in capacity development, working with local providers of advisory or training services to develop and deliver high-quality knowledge services on climate change adaptation and mitigation approaches for actors at all levels.

Discussion on this particular pressing issue pointed out to  the importance of adaptation and innovation to face extreme challenges, including water scarcity, energy, the need to expand the partnership, knowledge exchange, the importance of using innovation to increase climate resilient and early warning system at the local level to support small-scale producers to better adapt to climate change and to access to science, innovation and technologies, and the need to develop innovative models of finance and investment, as well as the need to move at scale.

Ms Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, commented that, “FAO is supporting these efforts at multiple levels, including policy guidance, technical analysis, data, advocacy and facilitating the access to finance at scale.” She added that, “the new FAO Climate Change Strategy, developed with extensive inputs and comprehensive consultation with member states, is the major and crucial way to ensure that FAO continues to meet the need of member countries to tackle these issues.”  

For further information, please contact:

Ms Tet Chann, Communications Officer, FAO in Cambodia

Email: [email protected]

Tell: 011 276775