Contacts: In Washington: Mohamad Al-Arief (202) 458-5964 malarief@worldbank.org In Phnom Penh: Bou Saroeun (855) 12-217-301 sbou@worldbank.org Washington, DC, July 9, 2009 – When high food prices hit Cambodia in 2008, the country’s poorest and most vulnerable people were hit hard – highlighting weaknesses in existing smallholder agricultural production systems and throwing an estimated 100,000 families back into poverty. Then, the financial crisis saw around 200,000 garment, construction and tourism workers lose their jobs, bringing into focus the need for stronger social protection mechanisms across Cambodia. To complement the country’s efforts to address Cambodia’s food security and social protection needs, the World Bank today approved a US$13 million Smallholder Agriculture and Social Protection Support Development Policy Operation (DPO). The program – which builds on recent efforts by Australia, Japan, Germany, ADB, the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Food Programme – aims to boost food security for poor households and expand safety net support. “High food prices and the global economic crisis have threatened to undermine Cambodia’s decade-long economic growth and poverty reduction,” said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Manager for Cambodia. “This operation will help to improve social safety nets and agricultural production systems through better policies, strengthened institutional frameworks and improved transparency and governance.” In particular, the program sets out to ensure better oversight and regulation of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and seeds to improve food productivity at the small farm level. It will also accelerate the registration of farmers’ groups so that individual famers can better access credit and marketing opportunities for their crops. At the same time, the program will improve targeting of the country’s social protection systems to reach the country’s neediest people. The US$13 million DPO is made up of an $8 million grant from the Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP) and a $5 million credit from IDA, the World Bank’s fund for low income countries. The Australian Government, through AusAID, is contributing $AUD2.8 million for analytical and capacity building support and the design and evaluation of pilot activities to support the program. The GFRP, to which the Australian Government was a significant contributor, is a multi-donor financing facility administered by the World Bank that provides financial and technical support to countries affected by the food crisis. |
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