Consultation Workshop on Study of Agricultural Value Chains for Digitalization!

Consultation Workshop on Study of Agricultural Value Chains for Digitalization organized by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) in collaboration with the Sustainable Assets for Agriculture Markets, Business and Trade (SAAMBAT) project financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and European Investment Bank (EIB) Sub-Component at Techo Startup Centre. The workshop aimed to provide input to the Techo Startup Center (TSC) to design a digital platform called Khmer Agriculture Suite (KAS).

The workshop participated by multi stakeholders in the value chains i.e. project related such as ministries, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (ARDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Development Organisations, Private sector included ICT companies and Farmers’ Organizations.

As Farmers’ Organization, we could realize that digitalization is necessary for farmers and farmers’ organizations to ensure a sustainable agriculture and rural work, however we recognized that farmers and rural people have very limited capacity to get access to both knowledge on uses of a digital technology and capacity to buy the smart phone that can use internet better for the rural areas. Moreover, agricultural cooperatives and farmers’ organizations have very limited capital to expand and run their businesses properly in the threats of COVID-19. In this regard, partnership amongst farmers’ organizations and relevant stakeholders such as government, development partners and private sector included financial institution is needed.