Policy Brief

Public-Private-Producer Partnership in Agriculture

PublicThe development model for Cambodia is focussed on transforming the agricultural sector - considered to be low-productivity, low valueadded, with surplus labour - to highly productive sectors such as labour-intensive industries and servicesthat generate high-value added products. This transformation has been evident in the declining agriculturalshares as a percent of GDP; from 44.4 percent in 1997 to 20.7 percent in 2019. The contribution of industry as a sector to GDP increased to 34.2 percent in 2019 from 16.4 percent in 1997; whereas that of services rose to 38.8 percent from 35.1 percent over the same periods. It has been estimated that employment in the agricultural industry would further decline as the economy continues to transform. For the agricultural sector to significantly contribute to overall economic development there is a need for technical and institutional innovationsto address the fragmented value chain of Cambodia’s crop production, characterised by small-scale farming (RGC, 2021).