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Cambodia is largely an agrarian society with rice forming the backbone of the country’s agriculture. For most Cambodian farmers, rice is the major source of income and sustenance. The crop thus plays an integral part in the economy of rural Cambodia. Through a process of liberalization starting in 1989 and involving policies of deregulation, privatization, and trade liberalization Cambodia has achieved remarkable economic changes. In particular, rice marketing in the country has moved from a highly regulated system to one based on private marketing. This paper, based on a case study conducted in the main rice production areas of the Cambodia, describes the structure of the rice marketing system and examines the factors affecting rice prices in the country, focussing in particular on a case study in Battambang province. It traces the various marketing channels that bring the product from the farmers to the middlemen or rice millers, and ascertains some of the characteristics of market linkages in the rice industry. Through field research I seek to identify the trading conditions that currently exist between rice producers and rice millers, the main purchasers of paddy. I then analyses the emerging prospects for collective action in paddy marketing. The innovations of commercial rice millers in Cambodia have contributed to the popularization of the market oriented economy. They have also played an important role as intermediaries between major sources of financial capital and the farmers by meeting their requests for loans, and have serve as providers of agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizers. This paper will examine the rice millers’ initiatives that have aimed to formulate a mutually beneficial rice production system.

Cambodia is largely an agrarian society; rice crops are the backbone of Cambodian agriculture. For most of these farmers, rice is their major source of income and sustenance and thus rice plays an integral part in the economy of rural Cambodia. However, Cambodia's history and structure of industry has helped define rice-based agricultural sectors in which poor populations have traditionally engaged and earned a livelihood. This is particularly so with the low production of rice and is characterized by low income. Although Cambodia has achieved an overall self-sufficiency since 1995, rice productivity in Cambodia is still the lowest among countries in Asia, which derives from a number of factors such as low input investment in rice production and farmers' limited financial sources. In addition, another problem within the industry is the rice processing and distribution sector faces many related obstacles such as a lack of working capital, low milling technology, a poor infrastructure, and a fragmented distribution system. The agricultural sector is where the poor are employed and earn a living in Cambodia. It would follow that increasing productivity and trade returns on rice produce in this sector will be important for improving the livelihood of the poor. Therefore, the challenge for Cambodian rural development is to grasp the present situation and prioritize the constrains to increase productivity and generate improvements within the rice industry, and develop the strategies to overcome the existing obstacles. This paper describes the linkage between each of the factors along the rice value chain, from input suppliers for rice production, to the final milled products and all the associated by-products and value added from products derived from rice. While providing the characteristics along each level of the chain, the analysis identifies the key constrains and linkage at each level of the chain

この論文は国立情報学研究所の電子図書館事業により電子化されました。

この論文は国立情報学研究所の電子図書館事業により電子化されました。