Developing sustainable rice production systems in Cambodia: An Australian contribution 1

Australia recently made a contribution to the development of sustainable rice production systems in Cambodia through the Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project (CIAP). This paper describes the difficulties faced and progress made in establishing a process through which technologies could be developed and evaluated on a national level. Commencing operations during an environment in which Cambodia was initially politically isolated, research resources and farm inputs were difficult to obtain. Sustainable farming systems technologies were therefore initially based on utilizing locally available products for crop improvement. As the country adopted an open market policy, imported goods become more readily available and these were included in the recommendations. Development of sustainability of other project activities were also pursued. Cambodian researchers were sponsored through higher degrees in Australia and returned to continue the research programs along with their colleagues in Cambodia. An income generation scheme was also developed to assist future operations of the nations new agricultural research institute.