Cambodian model for farming leases cited

Quezon City Council Majority Floor Leader Ariel Inton has urged top agriculture and agrarian reform officials to take a look at a Cambodian model of farming leases to curb rice shortage in the coutry.

”In Cambodia, the government is serious in its effort to invite Asian and Middle Eastern countries to infuse capital investment in return for land concessions,” Inton said in a talk with reporters after a two-day trip to Phom Penh.

He said Cambodian agriculture officials are seizing the opportunity to develop farming and is switching foreign investment in construction to agriculture.

Inton noted that Cambodian’s farming push comes as the government faces an abrupt economic slowdown after averaging growth of 99 percent over the past decade.

“Last year, Cambodia produced 2.5 million tons of rice of which about 1.3 million was exported, from a sector that relies on a single annual harvest and family-run farms,” he said.

”If they can do it in Cambodia, I see no reason why we cannot do it here considering that Filipino agriculturists are well-known all over the world,” Inton said.