Cambodia to conduct first ever agriculture census next April

PHNOM PENH, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will hold the first ever agriculture census in April next year, Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun said Tuesday.
Speaking at an economic conference at the National Assembly, he said the census is expected to cost 5.3 million U.S. dollars, which will be funded by development partners and Cambodian government.
He said the census will be jointly conducted by the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Agriculture. It is aimed at collecting data relevant to exact number of farmers, agricultural land, crop fields, livestock, exact output from agricultural crops and various types of forest land.
According to the document of the Ministry of Planning, it is an urgent need to conduct the census in order to collect data for the development of agricultural sector, especially rice industry. "The census is critical as it has never been conducted in Cambodia," it said.
Agriculture is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodia's economy. Last year, the sector contributed 28.4 percent to the country's GDP, said Chan Sarun.