CARD :: Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute

Overview In August 1999, the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) was officially established as a semi-autonomous institute. Under sub-decree 74 it became a fully-fledged legal entity under the management of a director who reports to a government appointed board of directors. CARDI was designed to be autonomous in relation to its personnel, and physical and financial management. The Institute became operational at the beginning of 2000 with a professional staff of just over 40 employees, including some who were just completing postgraduate training abroad. At this time, a majority of CARDI’s staff were transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Agronomy and Agricultural Land Improvement and Department of Agricultural Engineering. Although CARDI’s history may seem somewhat recent it has, in fact, evolved from the 12-year AusAID funded Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project (CIAP) and the purchase of 70 hectares of land at the Prateah Lang Commune, Dangkor District, 20 kilometres south of Phnom Penh by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). CIAP and the RGC stand out as the two major bodies responsible for the creation of CARDI, despite the contributions of other donors who also helped with the development of facilities and provided some technical assistance. The primary goal of CIAP, prior to the establishment of CARDI, was focusing mainly on food security through increased rice production. Since that has been achieved, and too after CARDI has been established, the focus has directed to crop diversification and quality. CARDI’s mission of “Technology for Prosperity” is based on an analysis of how the agricultural sector in Cambodia is expected to evolve in the future. CARDI’s vision of how it will respond to the future operational environment and achieve their mission has the following features:

• Assist the RGC to achieve its rural development objectives,
• Focus on applying technology with major impacts on poverty alleviation and living standards,
•  Deliver high quality, highly valued research and development services,
• Work in partnership with extension, NGO and private sector agencies to increase the impact of improved technologies,
• Improve its capacity to deliver quality research and development services that meet client needs,
• Apply a business-like approach to its operation, and
• Promote the impact and value of research for the development of Cambodia.

CARDI inherited an on-going research program from CIAP, mainly concerned with rice production. It has already started broadening the base of its research programs to include other agricultural commodities. While CARDI recognises that diversification of its research portfolio is a key step in assisting the Royal Government of Cambodia achieve its rural development objectives, the precise nature of CARDI’s future research portfolio will be determined through a national agriculture research priority setting and funding process. As well as diversification of CARDI’s research profile into other crops the focus may shift from yield to an increased emphasis on quality, including post-harvest technology and practices. CARDI could well become a key provider of national priority research, contract research, technology packaging, training, consultancy and quality seed in Cambodia and further abroad. Working towards that point CARDI has already adopted a partnership approach to enhance its ability to provide the range and quality of agricultural research and development services required for the future.

VISION   Research for sustainable agricultural development in Cambodia. MISSION To increase agricultural productivity, improve crop diversification, and ensure environmental sustainability and stability of rural livelihood through partnership in agricultural research and technology utilization. STRATEGIC GOAL To develop and enhance wide-spread adoption of improved technology to support agricultural growth.

Overview
In August 1999, the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) was officially established as a semi-autonomous institute. Under sub-decree 74 it became a fully-fledged legal entity under the management of a director who reports to a government appointed board of directors. CARDI was designed to be autonomous in relation to its personnel, and physical and financial management. The Institute became operational at the beginning of 2000 with a professional staff of just over 40 employees, including some who were just completing postgraduate training abroad. At this time, a majority of CARDI’s staff were transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Agronomy and Agricultural Land Improvement and Department of Agricultural Engineering. Although CARDI’s history may seem somewhat recent it has, in fact, evolved from the 12-year AusAID funded Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project (CIAP) and the purchase of 70 hectares of land at the Prateah Lang Commune, Dangkor District, 20 kilometres south of Phnom Penh by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). CIAP and the RGC stand out as the two major bodies responsible for the creation of CARDI, despite the contributions of other donors who also helped with the development of facilities and provided some technical assistance. The primary goal of CIAP, prior to the establishment of CARDI, was focusing mainly on food security through increased rice production. Since that has been achieved, and too after CARDI has been established, the focus has directed to crop diversification and quality. CARDI’s mission of “Technology for Prosperity” is based on an analysis of how the agricultural sector in Cambodia is expected to evolve in the future. CARDI’s vision of how it will respond to the future operational environment and achieve their mission has the following features:

• Assist the RGC to achieve its rural development objectives,
• Focus on applying technology with major impacts on poverty alleviation and living standards,
•  Deliver high quality, highly valued research and development services,
• Work in partnership with extension, NGO and private sector agencies to increase the impact of improved technologies,
• Improve its capacity to deliver quality research and development services that meet client needs,
• Apply a business-like approach to its operation, and
• Promote the impact and value of research for the development of Cambodia.

CARDI inherited an on-going research program from CIAP, mainly concerned with rice production. It has already started broadening the base of its research programs to include other agricultural commodities. While CARDI recognises that diversification of its research portfolio is a key step in assisting the Royal Government of Cambodia achieve its rural development objectives, the precise nature of CARDI’s future research portfolio will be determined through a national agriculture research priority setting and funding process. As well as diversification of CARDI’s research profile into other crops the focus may shift from yield to an increased emphasis on quality, including post-harvest technology and practices. CARDI could well become a key provider of national priority research, contract research, technology packaging, training, consultancy and quality seed in Cambodia and further abroad. Working towards that point CARDI has already adopted a partnership approach to enhance its ability to provide the range and quality of agricultural research and development services required for the future.

Background
In early 1986, the Australian government and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) together entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in an attempt to address rice production problems in Indochina.  That year, three IRRI scientists arrived in Cambodia to identify potential areas of cooperation and assistance. It marked the end of a 20-year hiatus in IRRI’s involvement with the country. There were subsequent visits under the Deep Water Rice Project later that year, prior to the introduction of some varietal evaluation sites in 1987. This cooperation and assistance came at a crucial time for Cambodia, with rice production efforts suffering from years of war and political unrest. The economically active population of Cambodia at the time was only about two and a half to three million – a workforce equivalent to what the country had in the late 1960s. Malnutrition, poor sanitation and scarce medical services created problems such as high rates of infant mortality (as much as two per cent). The economy functioned far below capacity in nearly every sector. The 1979 to 1981 period immediately following the fall of the Pol Pot regime was one of acute food shortages and massive population relocation. Emergency aid and relief operations averted famine but this just highlighted the fact Cambodia, simply, was in desperate need of increased levels of domestic rice production. Prior to 1969 Cambodia’s rice exports were peaking at 500,000 tons, and although 1986 provided near-perfect growing conditions the country could not meet domestic demand.Cambodia had been experiencing a rice deficit of these proportions for nearly twenty years.Many things had changed in that time and there were now additional constraints to the import of adequate quantities of chemicals and equipment, as well as a shortage of labour and draft animals. An indication of how much things had really changed was the fact prior to 1969 wet season rice covered an area of around 2.4 million hectares but by the mid-1980s cultivated rice had diminished to just 1.8 million hectares, the major share of production coming from the Mekong Delta provinces in the south-east (Kampong Cham, Kandal, Kompong Speu, Prey Veng, Takeo, and Svay Rieng) and from the north-western province of Battambang.