It
is a great honor and pleasure for me to attend the annual Meeting of the
Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), organized to take stock of the 2000
performance and set objectives for 2001. I would like to take this opportunity
to express my deep appreciation for the efforts deployed by the officials
of the Ministry of Rural Development. In particular, I highly appreciate
the deliberations and the views raised during the last two days to draw
lessons, explore ways and measures to address rural development issues
in the future. I am grateful for the good cooperation between relevant
government ministries, agencies and provincial authorities with the view
to improving the performance of the MRD. At the same time, I would like
to express our deep gratitude to friendly countries, international financial
institutions, international organizations and non-government organizations
(NGOs) for promoting rural development in Cambodia.
I would like to take this rare opportunity to share with Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Government's visions, policies and measures on rural
development aimed at rapid reduction of poverty,
The Cambodia economy relies on agriculture, with some 84 percent of the
population being farmers living in rural areas. After the genocidal regime
and more than two decades of wars, the living standards of the rural population
are low. They are considered as the poor in the Cambodia society. The
poverty profile of Cambodia, base on 1999 data, shows that an estimated
36 percent of the population is poor and the poverty rate is higher in
rural areas (40 percent ), which is four times higher than poverty in
Phnom Penh (10 percent). Rural households, especially those for whom agriculture
is the primary source of income, account for almost 90 percent of the
poor. Food security in the country cannot be fully ensured due to low
productivity and backwardness in rice production, which constitutes the
main staples of the population. The 1997 Human Development Report states
that half of children under five are facing the problem of stunting and
underweight. this report went further to say that the majority of Cambodian
people do not have access to safe drinking water and sanitation. the rate
of health service utilization is among the lowest in the world. Only 27
of 1,000 school children have completed primary school and can go to secondary
school.
The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) is conscious of the grave problem
of poverty, which is rampant over the country. Therefore, we regard poverty
alleviation through accelerated economic growth, improved redistribution
of income and state assets and promotion of social development as top
priorities of the nation. I have raised on many occasions the Government’s
views, policies and strategies aimed at reducing poverty of the population.
For this reason I will not make detailed comments on these policies and
strategies. However, I wish to stress that since 80 percent of Cambodia’s
population live in rural areas and 90 percent of the poor households also
live in rural areas, the Government’s poverty reduction strategy
should focus on rural development
In this spirit, Cambodia’s rural development programs have focused
on the critical element affecting the rural poor, including rural roads,
primary health care, sanitation, rural water supply , education and vocational
training for rural people community development, household farming system,
rural credit , provision of seeds, fertilizers, rice banks, micro-enterprise
and improved information at village level. The government’s rural
development strategy aims to:
(i) Promote decentralization of Planning, finance and implement rural
development projects and programs;
(ii) Facilitate an integrated rural development approach which is participatory,
area-based and multi-sectoral;
(iii) Provide forum at each administrative level for dialogue and joint
actions both among government departments and between the RGC and the
civil society, and the balance between the vertical line ministries and
the local authorities, and
(iv) Define, utilize and mobilize the comparative advantages and appropriate
capacities within the government, civil society, the private sector, international
and local agencies and rural communities themselves for development purposes.
Given the importance of rural infrastructure in poverty alleviation, a
broad rural infrastructure strategy will be formulated within the framework
of full poverty reduction strategy paper in order to sustain and scale
up the current efforts, to assess key infrastructure’s institutional,
financing and governance issues and to ensure sustainable improvements
in transport to rural areas.
From
the report presented to the annual conference by the Ministry of Rural
Development on the performance in 2000 and the targets for 2001, I am
very impressed and believe in the capacity of the ministry to deliver
its responsibility entrusted by the RGC. addressing the institutional
responsibility of the action plan, designing program and implementing
projects, coordinating and cooperating with development partners and the
MRD’s performance reflect the efforts and the attention responsibilities
Moreover, the recognition, the support and the participation by the people,
the local authorities and external partners in these endeavours with the
view to undertaking the responsibilities and the action plan adopted by
the MRD are also encouraging.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
To improve work performance as mentioned earlier and to provide an effective
response to the needs of rural development in a sustainable manner, I
would like to table the following recommendation:
First, strengthen the Village Development Committed
(VDC): It is necessary to build up the capacity of the
VDCs which form the building block of rural development infrastructure.
It is also important to transform this committee into an independent rural
development body with autonomy in managing and running village development
activities, since this committee is freely and democratically elected
by villages through secret ballots, Moreover, VDC is a grassroots rural
development institution capable of mobilizing the potentials of the village
to create conditions to ensure the sustainability of rural development
projects with direct participation of villages. At the same time, VDC
constitutes an important mechanism to support the implementation of development
activities, such as the maintenance of rural roads and water wells, as
well as local project design. Therefore, this infrastructure will allow
the local people to participate in the development of their villages,
assuming their own responsibilities and ownership of the projects.
Second, establishment of Community-Based Committee
for Rural Infrastructure Maintenance: Since the Cambodian economy,
especially in remote areas, relies mostly on agricultural production,
our top priority should be given to improved efficiency of transportation
of agricultural products from the farms to the markets. This can be done
through continued rehabilitation, maintenance and repair of rural roads.
Another important strategy of the RGC is to enhance the role and encourage
the participation of the civil society in poverty reduction and helping
the most vulnerable groups. This can be done by linking the rehabilitation
and maintenance of rural infrastructure to employment creation at the
grassroots level in order to provide an income supplement to the farming
household through their participation in project implementation.
The MRD should encourage the initiatives to establish a “Road Maintenance
Committee” by the local people. These committees were established
by a number of provinces and proved that they are efficient. This committee
can guarantee continued maintenance of roads that were built or maintained
by using the budget from different road users. While implementing this
project, attention should be given to the problem of using the labor of
the people living a long the road to crate employment and generate income.
This arrangement can shoulder some burdens of the Government in financing
rural roads. We however should avoid the collection of user fees and spending
this income without accountability and transparency.
With regard to the maintenance of rural roads attention should also given
to Labor-Based Appropriate Technology (LBAT), which focuses on the existing
resources and potentials at the grassroots level, such as labor, material
and skills. The main beneficiary of this technology is the local people
who have participated in this work and generated income commensurably
with their labor. At the same time, MRD should also use heavy machinery
by subcontracting this work if technical conditions require.
In this regard, I would like to give my full support for the proposal
to establish a Rural Road Department at the MRD. In this spirit, the MRD
should prepare regulations for the establish of this department and submit
them to the RGC. The Rural Road Department should be a key mechanism for
the management and the formulation of policies and technical specifications
for the construction, maintenance, control and evaluation of rural roads
and other work related to them. I recall that at a cabinet meeting on
the implementation of the ADB credit program in agriculture I agreed in
principle to have the MRD established a mechanism for the management of
rural roads, which implies the establishment of the rural road department.
Third, Integrated Planning and Basic Data Management:
the MRD has the responsibility to prepare local plans aimed at addressing
the delivery and management of rural infrastructure through improved accessibility
by using the methodology of Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP)
as a survey instrument. This integrated plan constitutes an analysis of
opening access to villages to meet the minimum needs of the population
in the provision of safe drinking water, as well as other social services
such as school and health centers.
In this regard, attention should also be given to data preparation and
management. The MRD should cooperate with relevant government ministries
and agencies and international organization to collect adequate data information
to establish a database on the status of each village in the whole country.
In particular we should collect data, which illustrates the basic minimum
needs of villagers, including essential data for preparing a time series
in order to gauge the gaps between the basic minimum needs and current
status of the population in each village. The data is crucial for reorienting
development programs to alleviate poverty in targeted area, where people
are in need, especially where the standards of living of the people are
below the basic minimum needs.
I wish to take this opportunity to express once again my gratitude to
friendly countries, international financial institutions, international
organizations and NGO for supporting and contributing to rural development
in Cambodia. This assistance is crucial for maintaining political and
social stability and promoting sustainable economic growth over the long
term. As the Head of the government, I would like to appeal to all donors
to ensure continued cooperation and provide more assistance to the RGC
through the MRD in order to promote rapid poverty reduction of the population.
In conclusion, I would like to extend to your Excellencies, ladies and
Gentlemen, national and international guests the five blessings of Buddha.
I declare this annual conference closed.
Thank you! |
