PHNOM PENH: On 23 September 2021 – The United States opened its first U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) office in Cambodia this month to support growing agricultural trade between the two countries.
The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) office is located at the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, but its work reaches across the Kingdom to support bilateral agricultural trade and collaboration benefitting both countries.
W. Patrick Murphy, U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia said, “There’s a great appetite for American agricultural products and technology in Cambodia, and this new USDA office will work to make them more available to Cambodian consumers and producers.” He added “That’s good news for both countries, and it reflects our longstanding commitment to ensuring the Cambodian people have access to high-quality goods and services from the United States.”
Cambodia is a growing market for U.S. agricultural exports, with $72.7 million in sales in 2020 – an increase of 474 percent over the past 10 years.
The FAS office will also support Cambodian schoolchildren and farmers, with tens of millions of dollars in ongoing USDA development assistance programs, such as the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education Program, which provides meals for children in primary schools, and the Food for Progress program, which improves agricultural productivity.
The FAS office has appointed Sokkea Hoy as its first agricultural specialist. Previously, Hoy worked at the U.S. Embassy as a commercial specialist helping U.S. companies find their way into the Cambodian market.
Source: U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh
