Cambodian Women Rising To Tap Global Fishery Products Market

By Vijian Paramasivam

PHNOM PENH, May 30 (Bernama) -- Cambodian women are stepping up in the fishery products sector, transforming their roles from traditional producers to key players in the global market. 

Enterprising women entrepreneurs, dominating at least 60 per cent of the micro and small informal enterprises, are now upgrading their post-harvest processing skills in the fishery sector to penetrate high-end markets.

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The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s (UNIDO) CAPFISH-Capture - a post-harvest fisheries development project - is helping Cambodian women to upskill, shifting from their archaic fish processing techniques to world-recognised standards.

“We supported over 51 fishery enterprises and their value chain actors in upgrading their businesses. Thirty-five of these enterprises are led by women and three persons with disabilities.

“We are now linking them with global buyers from the EU (European Union). Some of the enterprises have already started exporting to China, South Korea and Australia,” UNIDO’s CAPFISH-Capture Chief Technical Advisor Dr Shetty Seetharama Thombathu told Bernama.

CAPFISH-Capture is a five-year project, co-funded by the European Union and implemented by UNIDO in coordination with the Cambodia Fisheries Administration.

Fishing is a vital economic lifeline for Cambodia. About six million people are employed both directly and indirectly in the domestic fisheries sector. The post-harvest fishery activities alone employ an estimated 33,000 workers, the majority of them are women. 

Fish remains a staple diet for Cambodians and their per capita consumption of fish is 54 kilogrammes, considered higher among its ASEAN peers.

Cambodian Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry revealed that total fisheries and aquaculture production reached 926,936 metric tonnes last year.

Locally-made fishery products - fish sauce, fermented fish, fish balls, and smoked fish - are widely produced but seldom exported due to a lack of value addition and food safety compliance.

According to UNIDO, Cambodia's low competitiveness in terms of value addition makes it tough to compete in the domestic market flooded with imported fishery products and, at the same time, unable to enter regional or global markets.  

The CAPFISH-Capture project has stepped in to revitalise this untapped lucrative sector to compete with high-quality international exporters by equipping local producers with modern techniques. 

“The ultimate goal is to boost the competitiveness of the fishery products to promote trade, both domestic and export, and to protect public health by ensuring safe and high-quality fishery products for consumers.

“We work on various issues and elements of the value chain such as governance, food safety, capacity building and skills development, marketing and branding, access to finance, research and development, gender empowerment, environment and climate resilience,” said Shetty.

Cambodia’s new success story is going beyond its borders. Neighbouring Indonesia and the Philippines, where the fishing industry plays a critical role in their economy, are recognising the CAPFISH-Capture project.

Meanwhile, Egypt, Chile and Kyrgyzstan have expressed their willingness to replicate UNIDO’s training model.

"Listing Cambodia as an eligible country to export to the EU is our main goal. We have already established all the requirements to meet EU food safety requirements and are ready for an audit by DG SANTE (European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety),” said Shetty.

Cambodian women are now shining in the often-neglected and shunned occupation by many due to its laborious work and paltry income. But the fortunes could now favour them.  

-- BERNAMA