ADB Boosting Support for Cambodia’s Livestock Subsector to Enhance Food Security and Climate Resilience

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (13 December 2022) — The Asian Development Bank has approved a $62.9 million package to help Cambodia enhance food security and promote inclusive economic growth by improving livestock health and value chains, and the formal trade of livestock and livestock products.

“The livestock subsector is crucial to sustainable rural livelihoods and food security in Cambodia, and it offers many opportunities for smallholder farmers, including women, and small- and medium-sized agribusinesses,” said ADB Principal Climate Change Specialist for Southeast Asia Srinivasan Ancha. "Nearly all cattle and buffaloes are owned by smallholder farmers, although pig and poultry production are increasingly becoming commercialized. ADB’s assistance will enable the subsector to tap into high growth potential brought about by increasing domestic meat consumption resulting from economic growth, urbanization, population expansion, trade opportunities, and progressive improvement in disease control and animal nutrition.”

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Cross-Border Livestock Health and Value Chains Improvement Project will directly benefit at least 40,000 households in Kampong Cham, Otdar Meanchey, Prey Veng, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Takeo provinces by boosting investments in critical infrastructure, institutional and technical capacities, and enabling policies. It will also develop infrastructure in Kandal, Kampong Thom, and Pursat provinces to meet nationwide needs for veterinary vaccines and artificial insemination. The project will enhance productivity and resilience of the livestock subsector by reducing risks from transboundary animal diseases, zoonoses, and antimicrobial resistance; build up animal health monitoring and service delivery; improve food safety; and promote subregional cooperation in the GMS.

ADB’s assistance will promote climate-smart livestock production, which is an approach to transforming and reorienting livestock systems under climate change, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions per ton of meat produced; improve sustainability along the livestock value chain; and contribute to COVID-19 recovery efforts. It will also support the implementation of the One Health approach, which aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals, and ecosystems; strengthen private sector engagement; and help transition livestock administration toward digital management systems and information services.

The project will be financed by a $50 million loan from ADB’s concessional resources, a $12 million Asian Development Fund (ADF) grant, and a $900,000 grant from the Climate Change Fund (CCF). The ADF provides grants to ADB’s poorest and most vulnerable developing member countries (DMCs) while the CCF aims to strengthen support to low-carbon and climate-resilient development in DMCs.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will provide a $43 million loan to the project, which will be partly administered by ADB.

The project is in line with the government’s national development plans and ADB’s country partnership strategy for Cambodia, 2019­–2023.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

This was first posted on the ADB website.