ADB loan to lift animal feed, trim raw material exports

The Asian Improvement Lender (ADB) and De Heus TMH Co Ltd (DH-TMH) on July 26 signed a $15 million financial loan to enhance Cambodia’s animal feed source chain, and in specific, to lower the outflow of agricultural uncooked products from the Kingdom.

The bank loan will be used to develop DM-TMH’s storage and processing capability of animal feed production in Kampong Speu province, ADB stated in a assertion.

“The supplemental storage and procurement of processing equipment will market efficient feed generation. This will let the company to buy extra regional raw elements like maize, rice and cassava from smallholder farmers inside of its source chain, enabling a offer of economical, significant-top quality feed for livestock and fish farmers,” it extra.

At the loan’s signing ceremony, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon mentioned that Cambodia even now faces quite a few troubles when it will come to processing raw resources, which he ascribed to infrastructure that is “slightly additional expensive” than in neighbouring nations around the world.

He mentioned that 21 providers have set up 23 factories with the annual capability to make 1.2 million tonnes of animal feed, which accounts for 55 for every cent of domestic marketplace provide.

Nonetheless, Cambodia imports animal feed value $200-300 million just about every 12 months from nearby nations around the world such as Thailand and Vietnam, he reported, adding that the ADB’s loan to the business would prop up manufacturing and dietary supplement domestic supply, as nicely as build further markets for corn and cassava farmers.

He remarked that DM-TMH uses solar electrical power to trim electrical energy fees and is also looking into fish feed output.

DM-TMH agent Hoeng Keo Chetra explained the bank loan would be employed in two phases, long lasting involving seven and 10 years, and be invested in the uncooked substance offer chain, ranging from obtaining to processing.

He additional that the bank loan was facilitated and supported by the agriculture ministry in a bid to ensure a additional secure domestic source and decrease Cambodia’s agricultural raw product exports to neighbouring nations.

“We’ve observed that our uncooked materials always stream out to several neighbouring nations around the world in the course of the harvest season, and then they are scarce immediately after the harvest, that’s why we need to have additional funding and assistance to allow us to procure these products,” he said.

ADB nation director for Cambodia Jyotsana Varma said in the statement: “By supporting DH-TMH, we are assisting to bolster the feed value chain, increase livelihoods of feed crop, livestock, and fish farmers, and help sustainable and resilient agricultural procedures.

“Developing locally sourced, high-good quality, and reasonably priced animal feed offer is integral in safeguarding Cambodia’s meals stability and minimizing reliance on imported feed inputs.”