Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute

In August 1999, the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) was officially established as a semi-autonomous institute. Under sub-decree 74 it became a fully-fledged legal entity under the management of a director who reports to a government appointed board of directors. CARDI was designed to be autonomous in relation to its personnel, and physical and financial management. The Institute became operational at the beginning of 2000 with a professional staff of just over 40 employees, including some who were just completing postgraduate training abroad. At this time, a majority of CARDI’s staff were transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Agronomy and Agricultural Land Improvement and Department of Agricultural Engineering. Although CARDI’s history may seem somewhat recent it has, in fact, evolved from the 12-year AusAID funded Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project (CIAP) and the purchase of 70 hectares of land at the Prateah Lang Commune, Dangkor District, 20 kilometres south of Phnom Penh by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). CIAP and the RGC stand out as the two major bodies responsible for the creation of CARDI, despite the contributions of other donors who also helped with the development of facilities and provided some technical assistance. The primary goal of CIAP, prior to the establishment of CARDI, was focusing mainly on food security through increased rice production.