Cambodia: Postharvest Learning Alliance sponsors forum on microfinance

The multistakeholder Cambodia Postharvest Learning Alliance sponsored a business forum, Emerging opportunities for microfinance in the postharvest rice sector, held on 14 September 2012 at the Himawari Hotel in Phnom Penh.

Thirty-one participants came, representing 9 microfinance institutions (MFIs), Asian Development Bank; Cambodia Agricultural Value Chain Program; IDE; HARVEST; provincial departments of agriculture; Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF); Departments of Agricultural Extension and Agricultural Machinery; private sector rice processors; IRRI; and the local project team. 

The event was opened by Meas Pyseth, coordinator, IRRI Postharvest Project; Bun Mony, CEO of SATHAPANA, one of Cambodia's leading MFIs; and Alfred Schmidley, IRRI business model specialist.

Dr. Pyseth, in his welcome remarks, highlighted project achievements and technologies now available to farmers and other chain actors that reduce physical losses, improve quality, and allow value-adding throughout the chain. These technologies include combine harvesters, mechanical dryers, and hermetic storage options that have been tested and studied in a business model context for sustainability and improving incomes of farmer and other rural actors.

“The next step for the Project is to link actor-specific business plans with MFIs by improving financial literary and creating awareness about loan products and postharvest sector opportunities,” IRRI's Dr. Schmidley stated. “By identifying needs for technical support and disseminating knowledge about improved technologies and postharvest management options, the Learning Alliance can help reduce risks to actors and loan providers in newly emerging enterprises.  However, to achieve this we need to improve financial literacy of actors and create awareness among MFIs about emerging opportunities.”

“To achieve better outcomes, we need human resources and financial capital, but it’s also important to find better ways to deploy resources more effectively by joining together with other actors,”  Dr. Mony added. “There are 33 MFIs licensed by Cambodia’s National Bank that have more than 800 branches countrywide. While 40% of Cambodian households have used microfinance in the past, we need to offer suitable loan products that serve new needs while keeping in mind the commercial context of enterprises.”



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Cambodia: Forum on loan products and banking services held for rice postharvest sector

The multistakeholder Cambodia Postharvest Learning Alliance sponsored the third business roundtable, Loan products and banking services for the postharvest sector, in Kampong Thom Province on 18 August 2012.

The forum featured presentations on postharvest losses and mitigation, business plans for piloting technologies with stakeholders, and information on loan products and financial services from local microfinance institutions ACLEDA, PRASAC, Amret, Sathapana, and VisionFund.

Forty-four representatives from local microfinance institutions; the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF); provincial extension departments; the International Rice Research Institute; NGOs; key farmers; and private sector millers, processors, and service providers participated in the event.

“Rice production in Cambodia is increasing due to growing acceptance of modern agricultural technologies, improved seed varieties, and more efficient cropping methods," said Ou Bos Phoan, head of the Kampong Thom Provincial Department of Agriculture (PDA), who opened the event. "But these lead to increased bottlenecks in postharvest operations and preventable physical and quality losses that affect food security and income of farmers and other stakeholders.”

Pyseth Meas, director of the Department of International Cooperation of MAFF and coordinator of the ADB-funded Cambodia Learning Alliance, said, “We have created awareness of postharvest losses and mitigation options, such as combine harvesters, mechanical dryers and improved storage management, but it is important that farmers and other stakeholders are enabled to sustainably incorporate these into value-adding enterprise models. Participation and engagement of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the postharvest sector is thus very important.”

One of the farmer leaders present remarked, “Us farmers are expected to act and be flexible against risks and other challenges such as pests, rain, anddrought. We face many obstacles and need other stakeholders to also understand, adapt, and offer flexible solutions that meet our needs if we are to succeed.”

The event was co-hosted by the Kampong Thom PDA, Cambodia MAFF, and IRRI.

The next business forum will be held in Phnom Penh in September and will be aimed at senior-level officers in Cambodia’s burgeoning microfinance sector. The goal of the forum will be to explore specifics of how MFIs can link to help stakeholders develop sound business plans and, in turn, how Learning Alliance members can help new entrepreneurs and loan providers reduce their risks with technical support, training, and selection of improved technologies.


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