ASA’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Cambodia have identified opportunities to collaborate. During January 14 meetings in Phnom Penh, FAO Cambodia, the Cambodian Aquaculturist Association and WISHH representatives began design of a timely partnership. The effort will focus on supporting the aquaculture association, which WISHH helped launch through its USDA Food for Progress CAST project. FAO, WISHH and CAA will work together to identify investment opportunities and joint actions for continued growth of Cambodia’s aquaculture industry where soy is increasingly recognized as a valuable feed ingredient.
The January 14 planning meeting builds on WISHH’s prior USB-supported meetings with the Rome-based UN food agencies, including FAO. The FAO-CAA-WISHH collaboration is part of WISHH’s strategy to continue to accelerate momentum in the aquaculture industry that WISHH advanced through its USDA Food for Progress project that concludes in 2026. The WISHH team’s meetings were well timed as the FAO and the Cambodian government had just agreed on a 12-month roadmap that will drive investment in multiple sectors of Cambodian agriculture. Aquaculture is a targeted sector for investment and will be featured at an investment forum that FAO and the Cambodian government have scheduled for November 2025. WISHH has already met with the CAA’s executive committee and staff to begin planning, including potential investment pitches that will build on the foundation that WISHH has established through its USDA as well as soy checkoff-funding initiatives in the country that has one of the highest per capita rates of fish consumption. Fish is central to Cambodia’s diet, culture, economy, and food security.
This week, WISHH has also met with the Cambodia offices for two other UN agencies, the World Food Programme and International Fund for Agricultural Development. Additionally, WISHH is meeting with the Cambodian government, USDA and U.S. Agency for International Development Agency staff in Cambodia, which also contributed to WISHH’s coordination for ongoing growth of Cambodian aquaculture.