Regional cassava team visits Kampong Cham

From 11-13 March 2014, SNV hosted the Inclusive Business of Cassava (IBC) teams from Lao PDR and Vietnam. The mission visited the project area in the Kampong Cham province in Cambodia. Participants included five representatives from SNV and four from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

The mission aimed to share ideas on progress in each country. With active participation of the Kampong Cham Provincial Department of Agriculture, the delegates met with cassava processors and farmers’ group representatives to learn about the challenges of enhancing productivity. They also discussed the commitment of processing enterprises and farmers’ groups to collaborate on inclusive business implementation in Cambodia.

Farmers said they had gained knowledge through the project about the players in the cassava value chain and on production practices. Enterprises noted there were continuous challenges with the supply of raw material for their processing plants. The mission concluded that the pests and diseases (affecting yields and starch contents) and the increased presence of traders in the project areas was a challenge to the collaboration schemes.

The SNV Cambodia team, in collaboration with CIAT and Provincial Department of Agriculture are therefore going to adjust their interventions according to the recommendations provided during this mission.