Improving Competitiveness of Cambodia’s Rice Exports

In collaboration with the World Bank, this Capstone project focused on strengthening market access and enhancing competitiveness for Cambodia's smallholder rice farmers and local agribusiness enterprises. The project's research centered around three main areas: augmenting market access for Cambodian rice, evaluating the transport landscape in Cambodia to leverage ongoing infrastructure expansions, and understanding what components of the rice value chain boost quality and export competitiveness. The team conducted a comprehensive value chain analysis and identified opportunities for value chain upgrading, ultimately providing detailed recommendations to the World Bank Group on prioritizing upstream sub-feeders and waterway/rail transportation, addressing working capital needs, and approaching new and niche global rice regions and markets. 

 

To combat this, Cambodia's high logistics and transportation costs could be mitigated through the development of upstream sub-feeders and waterway/railway transportation, specifically focusing on the sub-feeders near the Battambang region. Working capital gaps constrain farmers and millers from improving production capacity and quality but could be closed by strengthening collaboration between institutions, promoting inventory as collateral, and implementing financial literacy programs, to name a few. To differentiate itself on the global stage, Cambodia should target niche markets that value quality, sustainability, and traceability to secure higher market prices and improve the profitability and competitiveness of the rice sector. Through this research and these recommendations, the team believes that Cambodia can begin to overcome existing challenges and enhance market access and competitiveness within the rice industry and pursue the government's annual one million-tonne export goal.