PHNOM PENH, Aug 25 (NNN-AKP) – Irrigation systems covered some 61 percent of the total farmland in Cambodia, Bun Hean, secretary of state for the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MWRM), said today.
“So far, the MWRM has developed irrigation systems that are capable of irrigating 1,889,112 hectares, or 61.37 percent of the total farmland of 3,078,220 hectares across the country,” he said in a press conference.
Cambodia spent 165 million U.S. dollars in the last five years, in rehabilitating and developing irrigation systems, Hean said, adding that, key development partners in the kingdom’s irrigation projects are China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and France, as well as, the Asian Development Bank.
As an agrarian country, rehabilitating and developing irrigation systems are essential to support and expand the country’s agricultural development, the official said.
Cambodia has a population of 16 million, with roughly 75 percent of them living in rural areas, while agriculture created 3.12 million jobs, or 35.5 percent of the total employment, and contributed 24.4 percent to the country’s gross domestic product in 2021, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).
Rice is the main crop in the nation, where some 12.2 million tonnes of rice were produced in 2021, an increase of 11.6 percent, year-on-year, the MAFF said.– NNN-AKP
