Cambodia’s Agricultural Land Resources: Status and Challenges

Agricultural production in Cambodia is concentrated in the northwestern districts bordering Thailand, on the central plains surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake and its river systems, along the Mekong and Bassac rivers towards the Mekong delta, and in the northern and northeastern provinces. In 2012, the total land-use area under major agricultural crops was about 4.015 million ha. Rice is the dominant crop, occupying about 2.968 million ha; non-rice crops are grown on about 1.047 million ha (MAFF 2012). Agricultural lands can be categorised into two distinct topographical regions: lowlands and uplands. Lowland soils mainly support rice farming interspersed with field crops, vegetable gardens, and fruit trees. Upland areas are mainly used for rubber plantations, maize, cassava, soybeans, mungbeans, peanuts, sesame, sugarcane, and fruit trees (MAFF 2012). Since knowledge about the biophysical constraints of upland soils remains limited and because Cambodian agriculture is heavily dependent on productivity of rainfed, lowland, rice-based farming systems, this policy brief focuses on crop and land management in the lowland.

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