Cambodia, a rural and agrarian country, is classified as a lower middle-income country. Women constitute 74% of the agriculture workers and produce as much as 80% of Cambodia’s food but their ownership of land is disproportionately low compared to men. While agriculture plays a major role in the country’s economy, growth in this sector has been slow, barely averaging 1% between 2004 – 2013. The major causes for the lack of the growth of the agriculture sector is low productivity, declining global commodity prices and extreme weather such as floods and droughts. The agriculture sector is also at risk of losing its remaining agriculture labor caused by better job opportunities offered by fast growing agriculture and other sectors in its neighboring countries. Cambodia needs to improve income generation from farming by investing in diversifying production and mechanization as well as strengthening value chains of these agriculture products.
