Agricultural sector is one of the sectors that play an important role in the national economy and is one of the main contributors for Cambodia to achieving its vision of becoming a high middle-income country by 2030 and high-income country by 2050, particularly contributing to poverty reduction, improving living standards and creating jobs for people with the effective utilization of technology and innovation. The Cambodian agricultural sector faces a number of significant challenges,including low productivity, low quality of agricultural products, lack of technical skills, unmatched demand and supply, lack of trade facilitation mechanisms, low competitiveness of local products,insufficient research and development, climate change vulnerability, and the current impact of global pandemics. To respond to these challenges, Cambodia must embrace science, technology and innovation, which is considered as a backbone for the national economy growth by many countries, to thrive agricultural sector to be on the par with the neighbors and enable the “catch-up” to happen; and in turn to increase productivity, enhance the efficiency, and promote quality standards for exports.

The vision of the roadmap is to increase productivity of agriculture commodities and high value-added production/service for the global supply chain through technology and innovation by 2030. In order to achieve this vision, this roadmap seeks to identify drivers, opportunities and key challenges in the current agricultural context.  Strategic products/services, key technologies,through consultation workshops and interviews, were then proposed to address those challenges.

The drivers in social, technological, economic, environmental and political were identified.

Drivers in social aspects consist of young population, nationalism on agriculture products, lifestyle change and etc. The drivers in technology are mechanization, automation, AI, drone etc. The drivers in the environment composts of climate change, soil and water pollution, while the drivers in economics and politics are mainly center on finance facility, globalization, large enterprise,privatization, trade facilitation, and so forth.

Six prioritized strategic products/services are derived from the defined drivers including farm machinery and technology, water management and irrigation, harvest and post-harvest,computer modeling, processing, and marketing/trading. The key technologies to support these prioritized strategic products/services were then identified, based on consensus from experts and committee members, to deploy in short (~2024), medium (~2027), and long term (~2030). In the short term, Cambodia should focus on farm mechanization, water management, irrigation system,fertilizer and animal feed, E-registration, screening and breeding, preservation technology, and market information platform. For the medium term, Cambodia shall embrace key technologies related to solar energy, logistics, and others. While in the long run, Cambodia shall encompass highly sophisticated technologies from industry 4.0 including sensor/sensor network, biotechnology,drone, robotic, GIS/remote sensing, fintech, and others. In addition, safety, standard, and branding are very crucial to bringing the highest possible value creation for agricultural commodities and to integrate into the global supply chain.

The Cambodia government also play a central role in the realization of the vision by providing the right policies and regulations, incentivizing scheme, training, skill development, financial support for innovation, and entrepreneurial activities and initiatives.

Moreover, to enhance the national output,the government shall invest in the national productive assets and capital including physical capital (apparatus and equipment), human capital (education, skills, health, experience), infrastructure capital (hard and soft infrastructure, internet, electricity), intellectual capital (scientific and technological capabilities), natural capital (fertile soil, clean atmosphere) and social capital (trust,nationalism). A technology transfer mechanism shall be put in place to ensure the capacity building of local firms/farms. Enhance, the government shall pursue the macroeconomic stability, trade facilitation, intellectual property protection, standard compliance and building the enabling ecosystem that is conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship.

The recommendation has been proposed as below:

- Science Technology Innovation (STI) shall be the driving force for present and future development in the agricultural sector and others.

- Investing in R&D in agriculture including the animal sector and fisheries is very vital for increasing sustainable productivity, competitiveness, adaptation, and resilient capabilities.

- Enhancing the quality and standards of agricultural products are key to effectively competing in the regional and global market - The government should strategically and financially support the development of agri-food industrial parks or zones.

- Government agricultural policies should focus on the private sector, farmers, and key stakeholders along supply chains from production to markets.

- The public-private partnership on increasing accessibility of inclusive finance schemes/programs for promoting mechanization and technology adaptation in agriculture should be supported.

- The government should initiate and support a collaborative platform between governmental bodies, academic institutions, and the private sector.

- Technology transfer mechanism shall be in place.

- Government should create an enabling framework/ platform that effectively engages to improve a critical mass of agricultural exports and the next generation of well-trained

farmers.