Project overview

On 21 May, 2020, HE Minister Veng Sakhon, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), through a decision letter, has formally approved the formation of the Cambodia Conservation Agriculture Sustainable Intensification Consortium (CASIC). This decision is a turning point to foster the dissemination of CA/SI practices to restore and preserve agricultural soils in Cambodia, advancing in farm sustainability and contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Cambodia Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Intensification Consortium (CASIC) is a national mechanism established in May 2020 under the leadership of MAFF to enhance and facilitate coordination among ministry lines and organizations (public, NGO, private) that are implementing activities related to conservation agriculture (CA) and sustainable intensification (SI) in Cambodia. CA and SI are promising pathways to advance in farm sustainability through the preservation of soil and water resources, enhancing resilience of farmers to meet future markets’ and food safety demands. Therefore, CASIC acts as a platform to promote CA and SI management from small to large-scale farmers and raise the interest and support from the government, development partners and private sector.

Conservation Agriculture (CA) initiatives in Cambodia have been focused primarily on cropping system design, soil fertility assessment, agricultural engineering, rather than commercial practices. The formation of CASIC will further augment the current work by bringing together other stakeholders and to make CA&SI more accessible to farmers through the market actors offering the services.

Five ministries, namely the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MOWRAM), Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), Ministry of Interior (MoI), Ministry of Environment (MOE), and the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce are involved at the CASIC Steering Committee.

Main objective

CASIC aims to pooling together relevant stakeholders including market actors to address soil restoration issues, to enhance adaptation and mitigation to climate change while ensuring the alignment with the national policies.

CASIC has the vision to be a well-established platform with a vast network of organizations that are working on the CA&SI issues in Cambodia, e.g. markets, research, policies, service provision. The mission of CASIC is to establish knowledge management of CA related resources for easy access by smallholder farmers, semi-commercial farmers, and agricultural cooperatives; create an enabling environment to boost investment in CA/SI; promote and enhance CA/SI practices and enhance collaboration between stakeholders.

Main activities

CASIC is a multi-stakeholder consortium that consist of organizations who have the incentives to come together and meet on a regular basis to discuss the promotion of CA/SI practices in Cambodia. Four main committees are involved on (i) Knowledge Management led by the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA), (ii) Networking and Collaboration led by Swisscontact, (iii) Research led by the Department of Agricultural Land Resources Management (DALRM) in close collaboration with CIRAD; and, (iv) Promotion led by Swisscontact.

Among a range of activities two main activities are targeted with :

• Raise awareness of the constraints and challenges faced by various stakeholders when implementing CA and SI;
• Identify pathways to promote CA and SI, to enhance synergies and coordination across sectors, bringing together public, private and development partners in better serving the needs of farmers.

Countries

Cambodia with interactions at regional level with LICA and other instruments aiming at strengthening policy dialogue in CA&SI

Partnership

CASIC is a result of the untiring efforts of the various organizations who are also represented on the executive board, namely, Department of Agricultural Land Resources Management/GDA, Department of Agricultural Engineering/GDA, CIRAD, Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Nutrition (CE SAIN) of the Royal University of Agriculture, Swisscontact, and Kansas State University.

Figure: CASIC’s field day in Battambang, Rattanak Mondoul, July 2020. Credit : Mr. Sar Veng (PDAFF Pailin, DALRM/CASC)

Figure: CASIC’s kick-off meeting. Visit of the Bos Khnor Station, June 3rd 2020. Credit : Mr. Suos Vuthy (DALRM/CASC)

Figure: CASIC’s field day organized for the private sector at the Bos Khnor CA Station, Kampong Cham, Chamcarleu. September 30th 2020

Figure: CASIC’s field day organized for the private sector at the Bos Khnor CA Station, Kampong Cham, Chamcarleu. September 30th 2020