2.한-캄보디아.pdf1.45MB

  Cambodia has a terrible and painful history, epitomized by the genocide implemented by the Pol Pot regime from 1975 to 1978, during which at least 1.7 million innocent lives were lost. A number of middle-class and educated citizens were tortured or executed, while others died from diseases and starvation.

  Beyond destroying the middle-class backbone of Cambodia’s population, the Khmer Rouge regime also left behind swaths of devastated land, arable acreage rendered unusable due to land mines, and a backwards state of agricultural technology. A high level of tropical and contagious diseases (malaria, dengue fever) in rural areas and illegal logging practices in Cambodia’s forests have also contributed to the country’s stagnant economic and agricultural development. To overcome the poor economy and reconstruct its devastated country, the Cambodian government has naturally turned to outside help, relying heavily on these services in order to attain its goals. According to Cambodia ODA Database (http://cdc.khmer.biz/index.asp), approximately 2,000 projects have been performed by United Nations agencies, international financial institutions, 12 European Union countries, and bilateral countries including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, U.S.A., Korea, and others.

  By the 1960s, Korea was known as one of the poorest nations in the world. The last four decades have seen Korea enjoy tremendous progress in its economy as well as remarkable advances in policy and culture. Korea became the sole country to transform from a beneficiary country to a donor country. As Korea’s experiences overcoming poverty and achieving enormous economic development have been noticed by developing countries and international organizations, the demand for Korea to share its experiences has increased. Thus, the country has become an international role model for developing an economy and reducing poverty (Chun, 2007). In particular, Korea’s nationwide movement in its agriculture and rural development sector, the Saemaul Undong [New Community Movement], has been introduced to developing countries as a successful rural development project. It has been also standing in the spotlight of the research subject in order to develop similar strategies in developing countries (Lim, 2011; Lim, 2011; Sohn & Chang, 2011).

  Korea’s government selected the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the priority countries for economic investment and cooperation. The economic, politic, and diplomatic relations with Cambodia have quickly improved since Korea’s ODA started flowing into Cambodia in 2001 (Sotharith, 2010). After both countries agreed to boost their economic ties in 2009, Korea’s ODA programs increased and extended. Most of these ODA programs have been implemented by The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). KOICA, established in 1991, is the government agency formed to promote relations between Korea and developing countries by supporting those countries’ economic and social development. In Cambodia, KOICA has focused on rural and agricultural development, human resources development, health and medical services, infrastructure and green energy. These efforts are designed to coincide with Cambodia’s development strategy, to help that country achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as defined by the United Nations, and to share Korea’s development experience.

  The Korea’s ODA for Cambodia has been provided through grant aid and concessional loans. This article addresses only ODA grant aid. Opened in 2003, KOICA Cambodia Office oversees the disbursement of ODA grant aid for bilateral projects, partnerships with Cambodia civil societies, multilateral cooperation with international organizations, invitational training programs, volunteer programs, and expert dispatch programs. It has been providing its assistance for social sectors such as health and education; economic sectors such as urban planning and management, agriculture and rural development; infrastructure areas such as energy, power, transportation, water, and sanitation; and services for community and social welfare, the arts, environmental conservation, and tourism.

  Cambodia is generally known as an agrarian country. More than 80% of the populations living in rural areas make their livings in agriculture. As a whole, the country’s economic foundation still mainly relies on agriculture (MAFF, 2012). Accordingly, agriculture is regarded as the most important economic sector and has played a major role in contributing to Cambodia’s economic growth and social development. Above all, agriculture and rural development are necessary for reducing poverty and supporting farmers and rural societies in Cambodia. Although the inflow of donor countries’ ODA grant aid has increased year by year, and Cambodia has plentiful water resources, its agricultural productivity is still lower than its neighbors’ and its rural growth is slower than its speed of urbanization. Essentially, Cambodia has difficulties obtaining practical and satisfactory results. In the middle of increasing Korea’s technical and financial cooperation, we also need to find a method to provide substantial help in agriculture and rural development in Cambodia through reviewing the past and present ODA grant aid. In order to describe the past and current state of Korea-Cambodia agricultural cooperation, the researcher analyzed ODA projects registered in the Cambodia ODA Database maintained by the Council for The Development of Cambodia. Kang et al (2009) quantitatively examined substantial similarities in aid allocation between Korean and Japan using bilateral data of foreign direct investment (FDI). They found that Korea’s foreign aid practices are very similar to Japan’s aid practices of the 1980’s and suggested that Korea learn a lesson from the weaknesses and mistakes of Japan’s previous aid policy. Additionally, this article intends to analyze the state of Japan-Cambodia agricultural cooperation as overseen by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Comparison of the two policies will help us easily understand the current situation of KOICA strategy. Finally, we explore how to establish strategies to strength and expand the agricultural cooperation between Korea and Cambodia in the future.

KOICA Agriculture and Rural Development Sector Strategy

  Korea has been supporting the sustainable development of rural areas in developing countries since 1991, when the first rural development-related project was implemented to aid the sericulture laboratory in Nepal. KOICA performed or subsidized approximately 90 projects by 2010 for about 30 developing countries (KOICA, 2011a). Complying with the needs of an international community, KOICA considered rural development as one of seven core sectors, which consist of public health, education, governance, ICT (information and communication technology), rural development, industry and energy, environment and gender (KOICA, 2011b; KOICA, 2012).

 By establishing a new strategy in 2011, KOICA expanded the domain of rural development, reorganizing it into agriculture, forestry, and fishery sectors with health, education, governance, and industry and energy. KOICA reflects this change in policy direction in its efforts to solve agriculture issues with a variety of approaches. In KOICA’s original strategy, the goals of rural development projects were restricted to (a) promoting the productivity of agriculture, livestock, and fisheries, (b) improving market access, and (c) enhancing the living conditions of rural villages (KOICA, 2011b; KOICA, 2012). Current strategy has projects focused on goals that include (a) building infrastructures in agricultural and fishing villages, (b) improving productivity in agriculture and fishery, (c) improving access to the agricultural and fishery markets, (d) diversifying income sources, and (e) implementing comprehensive projects for farming and fishing villages to promote sustainable development (KOICA, 2011b; KOICA, 2012).

  According to KOICA Annual Report 2011, KOICA expended USD 38.78 million for agriculture, forestry, and fishery. This amount formed 9.5% of KOICA’s total grant aid. Regionally, 53.8% of the total grant aid was spent in developing countries in Asia, while the top partner country was the Republic of the Philippines, followed by Lao PDR, Tanzania, Algeria, and Peru. Over the course of 2011, KOICA also dispatched a total of 981 volunteers to 47 recipient countries to carry out their tasks and projects. Unfortunately, of this total, only an estimated 88 (8.97%) volunteers were in the rural development sector, representing the lowest level of volunteers among the five core sectors in the current strategy.

  Cambodia was included in the top five Asian partner countries in 2010 and 2011 and also ranked fifth in the rural development sector among recipient countries supported by KOICA, as based on KOICA’s total expenditure in 2010 (KOICA, 2011b; KOICA, 2012). In Cambodia, KOICA has been operating a project aid program to support the construction of facilities and infrastructure and a training program to support human resources development and share technical skills and knowledge by inviting Cambodia technicians, researchers, and policy makers to Korea. It has also been carrying out a dispatch program of Korean volunteers and experts designed to transfer Korea’s advanced technology to the developing nation. These volunteers live and work with local communities in order to share professional expertise efficiently through education, seminars, and policy consultation, in partnership with Korean organizations, local NGOs, and disaster-relief programs.

  Figure 1 indicates that the amount of grant aid to Cambodia significantly increased between the years of 2004 and 2012, with the exception of a sharp drop in 2009, with a total disbursement of USD 94.6 million during this period. The yearly volume of ODA has increased five-fold between 2004 and 2012.

Fig. 1. ODA grant aid for Cambodia from 2004 to 2012.

  The Cambodian government has been requesting assistance from UN agencies and developed countries. In compliance with this request, many international organizations and countries have been supporting Cambodia with financial, technical, and humanitarian aid programs.

  Table 1 shows the top 10 donor countries in Cambodia based on the total amount of ODA grant aid. Korea surged past several developed countries in recent years to become one of Cambodia’s major donor countries, ranking fifth among donor countries after Japan, China, U.S.A and EC in 2009. It also was ranked seventh following Japan, China, U.S.A, EC and Germany for next consecutive two years.

Table 1. Top 10 donor countries in Cambodia.

PAST AND CURRENT STATE OF KOREA-CAM-BODIA AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION

 In order to analyze the state of Korea-Cambodia agricultural cooperation, the researcher utilized the data in the Cambodia ODA Database. The Cambodia ODA Database was developed to record all development assistance and projects from donor countries to Cambodia; it now totals 1969 registered projects. This database provides a useful tool to promote effective aid management such as planning, budgeting, and managing external resources. The government has allowed the public access to the database in order to collect data and information on project details, which in turn supports empirical analysis and practical policy- relevant advice (CRDB, 2010).

  According to the category defined by Cambodia ODA Database, Figure 2 shows the proportion of grant aid provided by KOICA, based on related-projects’ expenditures. A total of 113 projects registered in the Cambodia ODA Database and some pipeline projects with planned start dates between 2013 and 2015 were also included. KOICA Cambodia Office spent approximately USD 133.1 million performing all projects. The social sectors including public health and education claimed 47.4% of total grant aid at USD 63.2 million, thus a ranking as the largest beneficiary. The infrastructure sector rated second in its grant aid, having received 23.5% of total grant aid and an estimated USD 31.3 million. The economic sectors ranked third, making up 22% of aid by spending USD 29.2 million. Lastly, services constituted 7.1% of total aid, paying out USD 9.4 million.

Fig. 2. Proportion of KOICA’s ODA grant aid by sectors.

  Figure 3 demonstrates that agriculture and rural development took a major portion of the economic sector funding, based on the expenditure of 24 economic-related projects within the database, 21 of which were executed for agriculture and rural development. The three remaining projects were performed for the other three economicbased sectors. The total grant aid for economic-based sectors amounted to USD 29.2 million, of which USD 24.2 million (85%) was allocated to agriculture and rural development. This amount equaled 18.2% of KOICA’s total grant aid of USD 133.1 million. The three remaining subsectors accounted for 6% (USD 1.8 million) for banking and business services, 0% (USD 7 thousand) for manufacturing, mining and trade, and 8.6% (USD 2.5 million) for urban planning and management, respectively.

Fig. 3. Proportion of KOICA's ODA grant aid by economic sectors.

  Projects within the agriculture and rural development sector can be further divided into agriculture sector and rural development sector in compliance with the Cambodia ODA Database. The agriculture sector has 15 sub-sectors, including agriculture financial services, agriculture inputs, agriculture sector policy and management, agriculture water and irrigation, cash and export crops, education/ training, extension services, fisheries, food crops, food security/nutrition, forestry, livestock and veterinary services, meteorology, and post-harvest. The rural development sector also has six sub-sectors which contain land management and planning, landmine clearing, rural sector policy and administration, rural roads, rural water and sanitation.

  Of the 21 agriculture and rural development sector projects, nine agriculture projects executed by the KOICA Cambodia Office were designed to cope with problems related to the areas of agriculture inputs, water and irrigation, policy and management, and forestry. Twelve rural development projects included rural policy and administration, land management and planning, rural water and sanitation, and others. Specifically, of the 12 rural development sector’s projects, six centered the rural policy and administration sub-sector. Furthermore, 20 of the projects lasted three years or less. Of these 21 projects, a full ten lasted only one year, while six had a duration period of two years and four projects were completed in three years. One project lasted for five years.

  Korea’s assistance to Cambodia’s agriculture and rural development in the amount of UDS 1.37 million was initiated to rehabilitate the reservoir in Tamok from 2002 to 2004 (KOICA Internal Data). The KOICA Cambodia Office has generally focused grant aid for rural development on the rehabilitation of irrigation systems, the instruction of agricultural technical skills, and the spread of Korea’s rural development plan, Saemaul Undong. Figure 4 shows the trend of ODA grant aid to Cambodian agriculture and rural development from 2006 to 2012. This includes the amount of aid targeting pipeline projects planned between 2013 and 2015, as reflected by the registered data in the Cambodia ODA Database. Although the graph illustrates an irregular trend, the KOICA Cambodia Office provided anywhere between USD 1.87 million and USD 3.55 million between 2007 and 2012 for rural development after spending USD 0.47 million on the sector in 2006. This trend predicts spending will grow to approximately USD 4.85 million in 2013. Since a number of the pipeline projects between both countries are not contracted for 2014 and 2015, the amount of grant aid will be expected to increase beyond USD 2.76 million during this period.

Fig. 4. KOICA’s ODA grant aid for Cambodia's agriculture and rural development by years.

Table 2. Sub-Sector Type and Number of KOICA’s Projects in Agriculture and Rural Development

PAST AND CURRENT STATE OF JICA-CAMBO-DIA AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION

  Based on grant aid and loans, Japan has consistently ranked first or second among the top ten donor countries to Cambodia during the last three years (see Table 1). Japan has been making an effort to support the economic restoration of Cambodia since its peacekeeping operation (PKO) was dispatched to the developing nation for the first time in 1992. Japan’s assistance to Cambodia has focused on sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction through grant aid and technical cooperation in order to attain JICA’s aims of reducing poverty in rural areas, improving agricultural productivity, and promoting a balanced development between urban and rural areas. Specifically, it priorities three areas: (a) strengthening of the basics necessary for economic growth, including development of economic infrastructure, strengthening of the private sector, and promotion of agriculture and rural development; (b) promotion of social development through improvement of water supply and sewage systems, basic social services such as health and medical care, and education quality; and (c) strengthening of governance (Embassy of Japan in Cambodia, 2012).

  The first general project put into action by JICA was the rehabilitation of the Chroy Changwar Bridge, now called the Cambodia-Japan Friendship Bridge, in which began in 1992 and was completed in 1994. JICA provided ODA grant aid amounting to approximately USD 23.2 million for this project. Within the agriculture and rural development sector, the first project was tasked with establishing a supply of drinking water in the suburbs of Phnom Penh from 2002 to 2004. JICA spent USD 6.22 million to drill 165 deep wells equipped with hand-pumps to reach 29,200 residents in 60 villages. It also developed water users associations such as the Village Development Committee (VDC) and Water Point Committee (WPC) to build well facilities and to take charge of their operation and maintenance with the community participation by beneficiary residents (Embassy of Japan in Cambodia, 2011).

  The data registered in the Cambodia ODA Database was also used to analyze Japan’s ODA grant aid. The database contains Japan’s projects implemented from 2001 to 2012. Some projects commenced in 2012 with their grant aid spending projected for 2013 or 2014. Japan has provided approximately USD 948.78 million with 313 projects for social sectors, economic sectors, infrastructure and services. Currently, 91 Japan-funded projects were categorized into the agriculture and rural development sector in the Cambodia ODA Database. However, 11 projects related to the dispatch of volunteers and experts were excluded from this analysis, since KOICA does not include these activities in its definition of the agriculture and rural development sector. The remaining 80 projects reflect grant aid amounting to USD 168.18 million.

  Table 3 shows sub-sector types and number of projects implemented by JICA in Cambodia’s agriculture and rural development sectors Of the 40 projects within the agriculture sector, 25 have been noticeably related to agriculture water and irrigation. The focus on repairing and improving irrigation facilities and water management systems reflects JICA’s efforts to improve agricultural productivity for Cambodia. In the rural development sector, 34 of the 40 projects focus on landmine clearance. Buried during the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Civil War, many of these landmines have been armed and ready since the early 19650s. There are an estimated four to six million unexploded landmines in Cambodian soil, which constitutes a major obstacle to economic development in rural areas. Thus, the international community highlights the importance of landmine clearance activity as part of any development assistance, which led to JICA’s prioritization of this work in the rural development sector (Sim Vireak, 2010). Additionally, JICA has been allocating funds and providing expertise on infrastructure development; microfinance support; livestock, crop, and fishery growth; and assistance for local governments and Japanese NGOs.

Table 3. Sub-sector type and number of JICA’s projects in agriculture and rural development

  Analysis of projects with lasting three years or less revealed 68(85%) qualifying as short-period projects. These consisted of 57 projects one-year projects, five twoyear projects, and six three-year projects. Five, four and two projects lasted four, five and six years, respectively. One project with an eight-year period was carried out by JICA.

  Figure 5 illustrates the trend of JICA’s ODA grant aid assigned for Cambodia’s agriculture and rural development projects from 2002 to 2012 and includes the expected amount of grant aid for projects implemented after 2012. It also indicates that the amount of grant aid dramatically increased from 2004 to 2007 and decreased in 2008 and 2009. Due to the recent global economic recession, the highest amount of grant aid in 2010 was recorded as USD 33.92 million. Since some projects between 2012 and 2014 might not ever be registered in the Cambodia ODA Database, the amount is relatively low comparing with the previous years.

Fig. 5. JICA’s ODA grant aid for Cambodia’s agriculture and rural development by years.

CONCLUSION

  In this article, we analyzed KOICA’s current ODA strategy to Cambodia. Differing from JICA’s ODA strategy for the country, KOICA’s short history of support made it difficult to define the features and direction of KOICA’s ODA strategy. Meanwhile, under the JICA’s principle of agricultural productivity improvement, it is concentrating on specific activities as well as large-scale projects by selecting projects that reflect its principles well, such as irrigation and landmine clearance. It is another feature that JICA is simultaneously performing short-, mid-, and long-period projects and carrying out them through various sub-sectors. Based on the result of the comparison of JICA’s policy, it has led us the following re-shaped strategies.

Increase in the amount of grant aid

  As the second-most economically wealthy country among the international communities, Japan’s assistance to Cambodia is very big in scale when compared with Korea’s. Figure 6 represents the trends for both KOICA’s and JICA’s grant aid for agriculture and rural development from 2006 to 2012. Since the data of KOICA’s assistance exist in the Cambodia ODA Database from 2006, both countries’ grant aids were compared for the same six years. JICA provided 43.7 times more in grant aid than KOICA in 2006. Although the difference narrowed between five and ten times during the years after 2006, there is a clear difference between KOICA and JICA in terms of the amount of grant aid.

Fig. 6. KOICA’s and JICA’s ODA grant aid for Cambodia’s agriculture and rural development by years.

  Taking Fig. 6 into consideration, although Korea is one of the top ten donor countries in the recent years, it needs to increase the assistances for agriculture and rural development to Cambodia. Departing from its pattern to invest in the short-period projects, KOICA should instead focus on large-scale projects. Agriculture and rural development projects generally require enormous expense and a longterm time investment. With that in mind, it is highly unlikely that KOICA will have satisfactory results from its short-term projects.

Adaptation of a two-track approach

  JICA chose to provide assistance within several sub-sectors, concentrating on irrigation and landmine clearance simultaneously in the whole country (See Table 3). By concentrating on a clear aim under limited resources such as grant aid, labor, and time, JICA’s strategy seems to be effective and substantial. In order to ensure that KOICA establishes strategic direction to make practical projects, it is suggested to adopt the two-track approach. One track refers to the expansion of projects within various sub-sectors and considering local and regional environments and characteristics. The second track is the selection and concentration on a most important project, one which can be implemented nation-wide. KOICA should recognize what farmers need through conducting preliminary surveys in the field. This would then allow the agency to prioritize major issues that promote or prevent economic development in rural areas and identify which regions are most affected by these factors through in-depth research. Besides its current projects, KOICA can extend its reach to potential target sub-sectors: extreme climate changes, such as flood and drought; technical support for the rain-fed rice paddies; limited access to food markets and trade; food science and nutrition; biotechnology; inputs such as fertilizer and seeds; rural transportation and roads; farmer organizations; regional agribusiness development; risk management; deforestation; development of alternative energy sources(solar, wind); organic farming for sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation; livestock services; and so on. KOICA’s projects have shown a tendency to focus on a limited subject area. This two-track approach also requires extending target regions from any one specific area to all parts of the country.

Extension of specific activities in fishery services

  Because of its geographic proximity to the ocean, Cambodia is a country abundant in fishery resources. Beginning with the provision of a 1999 ODA loan to rehabilitate Sihanoukvill Port, the only international deepwater port in Cambodia, JICA has carried out four projects related to fisheries and aquaculture industries (See Table 3). These projects include (a) a freshwater aquaculture research and extension project from 2005 to 2010, (b) a project for aquaculture farm construction in Sihanoukville from 2006 to 2007, (c) a project for construction of a marine aquaculture development center from 2009 to 2012, and (d) a freshwater aquaculture improvement and extension project from 2011 to 2014. In contrast, KOICA has not implemented any fishery or aquaculture-related projects. As many small-scale harbors are formed along the coastal areas in addition to Sihanoukvill Port, KOICA would consider providing assistance with infrastructure creation and the development of fishing ports and fish markets, the building of a training and cooperation center, the provision of fishery equipment, and the instruction of technical skills on fish-farming.

Application of participatory rural development and multidisciplinary projects

  KOICA needs to set up its strategy to lead farmers into a participatory role within projects. JICA has been implementing technical cooperation to organize the farmers groups as a way to manage facilities and use water efficiently in irrigation and water supply (Embassy of Japan in Cambodia, 2011). As local farmers are encouraged to participate in the initial stage of project implementation or preliminary surveys, they can organically learn new technologies and take charge of the operation and maintenance of their facilities, such as irrigation systems, reservoirs, water supply, and other equipment. In addition, by closely working together, these farmer groups can develop better communication, an essential component for a successful project. Moreover, agriculture and rural development can only improve a rural economy. In order to improve a farmer’s quality of life, effort must be made to provide not only agricultural rural development-related projects but also public health-, medical-, culture-, and educationrelated projects. KOICA needs to consider approaching a combination of projects from a multidisciplinary standpoint in order to effectively change the rural areas of Cambodia for the better.

LIMITATION AND FUTURE STUDY

  This study described strategic differences and features of both countries’ ODA policies by a simple comparative analysis. This study should note that most of all rural development projects are ongoing or future projects. Therefore, quantified outputs do not exist at the present. Although this situation makes the empirical analysis difficult, the future study should be focusing on practical study on the impact on how rural development projects could affect regional and national development after these projects are terminated. Recently, it is reassuring that stakeholders seem to have been interesting in evaluation of completed projects. As the several evaluation methods are developed to reach conclusions about effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of completed projects, the empirical study could be vitalized based on the systematic and quantified assessment in the future. With a standpoint of “one man’s fault is another’s lesson”, KOICA will need to scrutinize failure and success factors through an in-depth study of JICA’s individual projects in order to avoid repeating JICA’s mistakes and learn from JICA’s successes beyond the comparative analysis. KOICA will be able to establish effective and better strategies for the agricultural cooperation with Cambodia. These efforts would help KOICA more effectively achieve its goals.