Harry Nesbitt (right), an Australian agronomist with extensive prior experience with agricultural ...

Harry Nesbitt (right), an Australian agronomist with extensive prior experience with agricultural projects in Australia, Zimbabwe, the Philippines and Thailand, manages the Cambodia IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) Australia Project (CIAP) at the Preah Leap Agricultural College, located north of Phnom Penh. He is squatting with assistant manager Day Eth behind bags containing a range of different rice seed stocks, one of the vital activities CIAP undertakes to help rebuild Cambodia's shattered agricultural system. Decades of war had either destroyed much of the paddy and irrigation infrastructure or seeded it with millions of antipersonnel mines; nearly all Cambodia's rice research scientists were murdered by the Khmer Rouge and starvation during this period saw many plunder seed stocks, wiping out the national rice genebank. The result was a drop in Cambodia's rice production from a peak of four million tons in 1969 to 800,000 tons in 1979. Since 85 percent of Cambodia's labour force works in agriculture, often at the subsistence level, the work by CIAP has proved vital in rejuvenating infrastructure, improving yields, establishing a genebank of rice samples, improving soil fertility, conducting training and producing a national rice ecosystem mapping resource.