The Post-Conflict Reconstruction of Cambodia’s Rice Economy

In a foreword to Don Puckridge’s The Burning of the Rice: ACambodian Success Story (Puckridge 2004), Professor M. S. Swaminathan was referring above to the first group of 13 trainees who came to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) from the then People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), the state of Cambodia from 1979 to 1989. At a time when few countries outside the Soviet Bloc and India recognized the PRK, IRRI used its stature in the Philippines and funding from the Government of Australia to enable these Cambodian trainees to spend five months at IRRI headquarters learning modern rice production techniques and developing their English language capabilities. Improving local capacity was the cornerstone of reconstructing Cambodia’s rice economy after the damage and disruption caused by more than a decade of conflict.