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- Speaker: Yang Saing Koma (2012 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee from Cambodia)
- Moderator: Susan Bautista-Afan, President, Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation
- Language: English with Japanese subtitles
- Release Date: March 8, 2022, 6:00 pm (JST)
- Co-organizer/Program Partner: Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation
- Co-organizer: Shahani Associates
- Sponsors: Japan Foundation Asia Center Grant Program for Promotion of Cultural Collaboration, MRA Foundation, Tanaka UK Japan Educational Foundation
In this episode, Cambodian agronomist and staunch farmers’ advocate Yang Saing Koma shares the efforts of Cambodian rice farmers to develop organic rice farming and to gain market access for their social initiatives. He will provide insights into Cambodia’s collective experience of shifting from a traditional mindset to a pro-farmer, pro-environment, and pro-entrepreneurship thinking with the support of women and young people. How has the pandemic affected Cambodian farmers’ organizations and support organizations like Dr. Koma’s Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC)?
Archive Video
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Yang Saing Koma
founded the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) with a seven-member team and the help of a French NGO. Today, fifteen years later, CEDAC has become the largest agricultural and rural development NGO in Cambodia. CEDAC’s success was due to its embrace of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), an ecologically sustainable approach to rice production. SRI is based on a simple system of plant, water, and soil management and is suitable to Cambodia’s dominant pattern of smallholder farms. It was put into practice in 2000, when Koma persuaded 28 reluctant farmers to introduce the system. In 2008, Koma initiated the CEDAC Enterprise for Development (CESDE), subsequently renamed Sahakreas CEDAC (SKC), a social business that helps farmers avoid predatory market practices by linking farmers directly to the market. Acknowledged for his leadership in empowering farmers, Koma was selected as a candidate for prime minister by the opposition Grassroots Democratic Party in Cambodia’s July 29, 2018, parliamentary election.
As president of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, Susan Bautista-Afan is responsible for leading and championing the Award, Asia’s premier prize and highest honor. She is in charge of overall strategic leadership in the areas of operations, administration, sustainability, governance, and donor relations to achieve the organization’s vision and mission. After 30+ years of working in the United States for a Fortune 500 Global Staffing Firm, Robert Half International, Susan transitioned back to the Philippines in 2014 and has since worked in the nonprofit sector. She previously served as the managing director of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation (ALKFI), the socio-civic arm of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Network, where, together with the chairman and the board of trustees, she helped set policies, strategize on goals, fundraise, and manage operations to make sure it is aligned with the advocacies of the Foundation that center on children, the environment and disaster relief, and rehabilitation. Susan graduated from Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in communications in 1980