An Examination of Policies Promoting Large-Scale Investments in Farmland in Cambodia

Against the backdrop of ongoing intense debate in Cambodia about economic land concessions (ELCs) this paper aims to capture the status quo, more than ten years after the adoption of a new Land Law and almost seven years after the promulgation of the relevant Sub-Decree on Economic Land Concessions. It is hoped that a survey- like appeasement of the policies and practices of these land concessions to date will assist stakeholders in Cambodia in developing fresh policy responses to a series of significant challenges encountered until today. The question is to figure whether it is possible to identify a new ‘common ground’. Uncovering such common ground and identifying lessons from past experiences may assist in formulating policy responses to current problems with economic land concessions and possibly present new directions for policy-making. Having this in mind, this paper will focus on the overall policy framework, namely the basic objectives that have guided decision-making in the field of economic land concessions. In doing so, the focus will be on reconnecting this policy with its original objectives, in particular the reduction of rural poverty and rural development, as these objectives constitute the benchmarks against which any progress or failure of these policies should be measured.