Assessment of influencing factors and mechanisms to engage the private sector in promoting conservation agriculture production systems in Cambodia

Engaging the private sector in extension services and their direct interaction with farmers contributes to conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) promotion. This study was conducted to assess influencing factors and mechanisms to engage private sector actors and to rank them to perform their engagement with farmers in an agricultural extension model designed to promote CAPS in Cambodia. The sample size for the survey instrument consisted of 481 randomly selected households, including both CAPS and non-CAPS farmers. For focus group discussions, a purposive sample of 28 participants was used. The positive factors influencing CAPS farmers' engagement with the private sector included gender, number of fields, off-farm income, farm experience, familiarity with the private sector in a commune and government subsidies. In contrast, total land size of main crops, and farmers' perceptions of utilization of private services including a distance of service and increase in profit had a negative impact. Subsidy and incentive programs from the government emerged as highly effective mechanisms for encouraging private sector engagement with farmers. Access to financial institutions was a key priority when engaging the private sector with CAPS farmers. Providing subsidies and incentives is a short-term economic benefit for smallholder farmers that could impact the long-term adoption.