Agriculture

The main domestic activity on which most rural households depend is agriculture and its related sub-sectors. Agriculture contributes about half of the country's GDP and employs about 80% of the labor force. Agriculture has been growing at an average rate of 2% over 1991-94. Not only is agriculture the largest primary sector of the Cambodian economy (compared with industry and services), but in the last few years its pace of development has been satisfactorily in-creasing. Not surprisingly, however, because of the long - term influence of administered pricing and output targeting arrangements, the current production performance of different commodities is mixed. In terms of the recorded current values of both gross and net output, crops (63%), livestock (26%), fishing (8%), and forestry (3%) represent the broad subsector ranking in order of the importance of their contribution to agricultural value added.

CROPS AND COMMODITIES

Among crops, rice (representing approximately 74 and 66%, respectively, of gross and net crop values) makes by far the most important contribution to value added. This is followed by vegetables, including soybean and mungbean., jute, tobacco, sugar cane, and maize in current values. Rubber, as a raw material tree crop, is also important.. but not as important as it was a generation ago when organized private plantation production provided the bulk of the output.

 

 

LIVE STOCK

It is unusual for the South East Asia region that, in Cambodia, cattle is more important than swine, principally because buffalo and oxen are valued for the wide scope of their contributions to output. Cattle are also exported informally (on the hoof) to both Viet Nam and Thailand, but there is no clear measure of the value of these sales. Pork and poultry, on the other hand, are slaughtered predominantly for domestic consumption.

FISHING

Value added contributed by fishing is less than a third of that contributed by livestock. Commercial fishing operations remain relatively small scale, but a limited export potential certainly exists. As the economy opens up, it can be expected that Cambodia will take advantage of new opportunities to exploit both domestic and overseas markets. The scope of development, however, may be limited by the traditional fishing methods in place, particularly where freshwater catches (which are by far the most important) are concerned. It is reported, however, that traditional freshwater fish habitats are becoming increasingly subject to environmental degradation and over-fishing.

FORESTRY

Officially, forest products represent only a small share of value added, but it is well known that a significant amount of unreported logging takes place and that logs are shipped regularly across Cambodia's borders, both to the west and to the east. Logging in Cambodia is a rapidly growing industry, and concerns regarding over- exploitation are being increasingly expressed. Forest cover in Cambodia has fallen from 73% of land area to less than 50% in the last two decades. While this rate is considerably slower than Thailand's, it is, nonetheless proving ecologically harmful. As has been implied above, deforestation has led to significant siltation in the Mekong and Tonle Sap Rivers, and the denudation of previously wooded hillsides is also believed to be one of the causes of increasingly severe flooding in lowland areas, particularly during the monsoon period. A nationwide campaign of forestation has been organized by the Royal Government in order to pressure Cambodia's natural resources.