A Field of Opportunity
by Christopher St John

Photo courtesy of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development of Agriculture Horticulture students at the Prek Leap National School of Agriculture participate in the practical work component of their curriculum. Despite Cambodia's reliance on agriculture, few students focus in the field

Considering that about 80 percent of Cambodians rely on farming for their livelihoods, one might expect agriculture to be a popular field among students entering an uncertain job market.

But, experts and teachers say, the fact that agriculture is so prevalent is one factor leading to a dearth of students in a field viewed as decidedly unglamorous.

As Cambodian students flock to programs offering degrees in management and information technology skills, the agricultural sector is over-looked, said Yaing Saing Koma, executive director at the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC), a rural development and training NGO.

“It is less popular to study agriculture because many people believe that you must become a farmer, and that’s not very prestigious,” Yaing Saing Koma said in a recent interview. But, he said, the study of agriculture at a secondary level opens a number of opportunities.

Indeed, while subsistence farming is not on the course list at Prek Leap National School of Agricul-ture, one of three universities in partnership with the Min-istry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisher-ies, students have a choice of fields as diverse as agro-industry and veterinary medicine. The ministry also provides agriculture students with scholarships to study abroad and runs initiatives to encourage new graduates to work in rural areas, said Kith Seng, director of the ministry’s planning, statistics and international cooperation department.

Some of these initiatives have run into problems, Kith Seng said. “We cannot say it’s been a success because there are still many problems to work out, especially the issue of remuneration,” he said.

Like many civil servants, those working in the agricultural sector are subject to low and often late wages, he said, a phenomenon that may help drive aspiring students away from an academic career in the field.

While it is difficult to single out any one weak area in Cambodia’s agricultural sector, a lack of training is foremost, Kith Seng said. “There are not enough people with higher experience and ability among agricultural staff. Adapting to the challenges of a changing market economy is a broad weakness in our capacity,” he said.
Even among those who do pursue a degree in agriculture there is a reluctance to work in rural areas, Yaing Saing Koma said, with many students hoping to land a ministry position.

A sharing of knowledge at the local level is sorely needed, Yaing Saing Koma said. “Generally people [who make their living from farming] are so afraid to try something new because they don’t have the skills, and because they don’t have an awareness of their own situation,” he said.

Prak Sereyvath, a teacher at Prek Leap National School of Agriculture who also works at CEDAC, agrees on the importance of local education. He pointed out that local farmers often work on a trial and error basis, suffering harsh setbacks that might easily be avoided. “If we train the young farmers, they can do farming better, combining science and experience of their own,” he said.

Encouraging students to study agriculture at the secondary level will not only provide Cambodia with an important pool of human resources, he said, but will also relieve the pressure put on other sectors by a glut of students entering the work force with business-related degrees.

“If we compare agriculture with other fields at the university level, students are generally more interested in [information technology] and management. But they may find that the market is flooded and there’s a lot of competition. There’s more of a job market in agriculture,” he said. He also believes the problem is largely built on a popular misconception of agriculture. “Students feel that this kind of job [in management or information technology] is noble. They work in an office. It’s not like agriculture.”