Phnom Penh: The US has opened its first Department of Agriculture office in Cambodia to support growing agricultural trade between the two countries. The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service office is located at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, but works across the kingdom to support bilateral agricultural trade and collaboration.

US Ambassador, W. Patrick Murphy says, “There’s a great appetite for American agricultural products and technology in Cambodia and this new USDA office will work to make them more available to Cambodian consumers and producers. That’s good news for both countries and it reflects our longstanding commitment to ensuring the Cambodian people have access to high-quality goods and services from the United States.”

The US Embassy’s media release on Thursday afternoon stated that Cambodia is a growing market for US agricultural exports, with $72.7 million in sales in 2020. The Embassy says that’s an increase of 474% over the past 10 years.

The FAS office will also support Cambodian schoolchildren and farmers, with tens of millions of dollars in ongoing USDA development assistance programs, such as the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education Program, which provides meals for children in primary schools, as well as the Food for Progress program, which improves agricultural productivity. The FAS office has appointed Sokkea Hoy as its first agricultural specialist. Previously, Hoy worked at the US Embassy as a commercial specialist helping American companies find their way into the Cambodian market.