Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC) Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote the development of the modern farming community.

The MoU signing ceremony was presided over by Dith Tina, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and Ros Seilava, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Chairman of the Board of Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC) at the Ministry of Agriculture.

Underlining the essence of the MoU, Tina said the new cooperation will have a production based on market demand, good quality, reduce production cost and economic efficiency.

Tina further said that developing the modern farming community is the priority of the Royal Government of Cambodia.

“Modern farming community plays an important role and acts as a strong shield in helping farmers who lack technology, face climate change challenges, lack credit and face market risks. Farmers who volunteer to become members of the modern farming community will receive sufficient investment and capital for potential agricultural products such as rice, cassava and cashews,” the minister said.

Applauding the Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC), Tina said CGCC is a good partner in evaluating and providing key inputs to the business plan for the modern farming community to become a reality and be successful.

CGCC is a state-owned enterprise under the financial and technical guidance of the Ministry of Economy and Finance with a main mission to provide credit guarantees to improve financial inclusion and support the development of small and medium enterprises.

Khim Finan, Undersecretary of State and spokesman for the MAFF wrote on his social media on Tuesday that the MoU between the Ministry of Agriculture and the CGCC will open the way for modern farming communities to have capital to cover their operating expenses and as well as receive lower interest rates than other general loans.

“Due to the robustness of the business plan and the clear marketing contracts in advance, CGCC is prepared to provide a credit guarantee service on behalf of the community, which will allow the community to have enough resources to run its operations with no need for each member to have bank debt. This is another important step for our modern community,” said Finan.

Speaking at the ‘7th Cambodia Rice Forum 2024’ under the theme ‘Transforming the Cambodia Rice Supply Chain to be Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable’, Prime Minister Hun Manet lauded the efforts and achievements of modern farming communities and called for more such farming communities across the country.

He added that so far, the development has taken place with 8 modern farming communities covering almost 2,000 hectares in the first phase, and he called on keep continuing to do so to grow even more.

Credit to: Khmer Times, Published on 19 September 2024