22 August 2022, Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) donated its archive of at least 500 different types of documents with close to 5 000 copies to two agricultural universities in Phnom Penh – the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) and Prek Leap National Institute of Agriculture.

The publications donated to the two universities include technical analysis, guidance books, reports of research studies, country’s census, different knowledge and information products, as well as flagship reports recording world’s and country’s data and information related to agriculture and its subsectors such as animal health and production, fisheries, forestry, crops, water and the environment.

Mr Pin Sopheap, Vice Rector of the Prek Leap National Institute of Agriculture said that, “collection received from the FAO Representation in Cambodia helps strengthen the usefulness of the school’s library. All of the publications whether old or current ones are very important documents for students to support their academic journey.”

Ms Rebekah Bell, Representative in Cambodia, stated that, “as a specialized agency that leads international efforts to defeat hunger, it was a great honour for FAO to donate its physical library in Cambodia for the use of student’s studying agriculture, as well as to extend access to FAO’s digital resources.”

The donation is made amid the FAO Head Quarter in Rome celebrates its 70 years-old library (1952 – 2022). Over 100 years ago, the story of FAO Library, formally known as the David Lubin Memorial Library, began long before the foundation of FAO, when David Lubin initiated the International Institute of Agriculture (IIA) in Rome, Italy. The IIA preceded FAO as the largest and first-ever international organization dedicated to agriculture and the FAO Library inherited the collection of the IIA Library.

Today, the FAO Library reaches 1.5 million volumes, including each and every publication ever published by FAO, serving as a safeguard for the institutional memory of the Organization.

Over the decades, the FAO Library has acquired the publications of many scientists, great thinkers, national and international experts and researchers. These works provide access to the important theories and studies that inform the field of global food security and agriculture.

Ensuring that anyone, anywhere can access this information, FAO is also part of a public-private partnership “Research4Life”, which aims to reduce the knowledge gap between high-, low- and middle-income countries by providing free or low cost access to journals and books in the field of agriculture, environmental science, health and law. Not-for-profit institutions from Cambodia can register for free access to those scientific articles and publications. More information can be found on webpage of Research4Life and FAO’s Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA).

Visit FAO Library at: https://www.fao.org/library/libraryhome/en/; Reserach4Life: www.research4life.org; FAO’s AGRA: www.fao.org/agora