Agriculture minister Dith Tina has appealed to members of the Cambodian diaspora in France to help the Kingdom’s farmers by supporting Cambodian products and promoting them on the international stage.
The appeal came as Tina visited an international agricultural fair held in the French capital Paris from February 28 to March 2.
During his visit, the minister met the Cambodian diaspora and encouraged them to set up firms to import Khmer products into the French market. This way, he said they could help Cambodian farmers earn higher incomes by buying their products whenever possible.
“If we want to help Cambodian farmers, we help them with every means available to us. We don’t just go to the rice fields to help them.
“If our Cambodian farmers could sell their crops like France sells its produce overseas, then in the future the sellers could join hands with growers and help them generate decent, adequate incomes,” he added.
The minister also highlighted Cambodian products including mangos, bananas, longan and Phka Rumduol rice, which won the award for best rice in the world recently, among others.
“Cambodia has the Phka Rumduol rice variety, which has won five competitions,” he said, referring to the five annual editions of the World Rice Conference in which it was crowned the “World’s Best Rice”.
“Still, it’s not well known enough. I want all of you to get to know Cambodian products.”
Tina also met with some French traders and store owners to discuss agricultural product imports. Cambodia also intends to export cavendish bananas and mangos to the French markets while France wants to export apples to the Kingdom.
“Yesterday, I met with the traders to discuss good items from Cambodia to sell in France so that the Cambodian diaspora get to know Khmer foods and help our farmers,” he said.
“We can take French apples to Cambodia and France takes Khmer mangos and bananas. Hopefully, not so long from now, the Cambodian diaspora in France will eat Khmer mangos and bananas there.”
“What little remains today of the Pol Pot regime is a sense of lingering distrust, but now in a new society, with access to advanced science, we must trust each other, then we can do some great deals. I hope that in a new era, all of our Khmer people can succeed together with mutual trust,” Tina said.
Hun Lak, the CEO of Rich Farm Asia who accompanied Tina to the fair, could not be reached for comment on March 2. But in an interview with Radio France International (RFI), he said the fair was important for him to learn more about European import standards, especially their high technical sanitation requirements and the specifics about packaging.
He added that upon returning to the Kingdom, he would strive to make all of his Cambodian products meet those EU standards.
“Of course, we lag behind them. They are more advanced than us, so we came here to conduct an in-depth study,” he said.
France’s international agricultural fair is the biggest annual event held to showcase their agricultural products. The event brings together agricultural players from all over the world, including animal raisers, producers, regional representatives, professional trade unions and research institutes. This year’s fair saw over 1,000 booths from 20 countries.
