Japan provides $160,000 grant to support Kratie cashew farmers

The Japanese government is to provide more than $160,000 in funding to help strengthen the cashew sector in Kratie province. The money will go towards building storage and drying facilities as well as purchasing modern equipment for measuring moisture levels.

The grant, worth $164,269, is being delivered through Japan's Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects, better known as Kusanone. It will be directed to the Kratie Provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

An agreement for the funding was signed on October 2 by Misumi Takahito, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim at the Japanese embassy in Cambodia, and Try Sopheak, who heads the provincial agriculture department.

Under the initiative, three storage and drying facilities will be built, and three moisture-measuring devices supplied, to serve agricultural communities in the province.

"These facilities and equipment will help roughly 500 members of the agricultural communities improve post-harvest cashew processing. This will boost the amount of cashews available for sale and support further growth in the agricultural sector," Misumi said.

"I arrived in Cambodia about a month ago, and the speed of the country's development has left a strong impression on me. At the same time, I recognise there are still challenges to overcome in order to improve people's quality of life," he added.

Misumi also said Japan would keep working to tackle such challenges through its range of official development assistance programmes, Kusanone among them.

Three decades of grassroots support

Kusanone began operating in Cambodia in 1991, backing the Kingdom's grassroots-level reconstruction and development efforts. Since then, it has channelled more than $72 million to local authorities and non-governmental organisations, funding over 700 projects across the country.