When: March 14-18, 2016
Where: Angkor Paradise Hotel, Siem Reap, Cambodia
In 2016, the Horticulture Innovation Lab held its annual meeting in Cambodia. The event brought together the program's international team, local horticultural experts, and development practitioners.
The conference program (PDF) has information about the annual meeting conference and tour day in Siem Reap, March 14-15.
Wednesday, March 16, was a workday meeting (PDF) for Horticulture Innovation Lab principal investigators, collaborators, and board members.
Thursday, March 17 was a meeting of the program's international advisory board members.
The Symposium on Horticultural Science was held Friday, March 18, at the Royal University of Agriculture in Phnom Penh. Presentations are available from this event.
Horticulture Tours, March 15
Each group visited these sites near Siem Reap, though in a different order:
- Stop A: Grown Right...
Explore the conservation agriculture practices being used by farmers and partners to grow vegetables, on the Horticulture Innovation Lab project led by Manny Reyes, “Promoting conservation agriculture for vegetable growers.” Highlights of these practices include: drip irrigation, no till, continuous mulch, species diversity, integrated pest management, and a seedling nursery. - Stop B: Handled Right, Community Right
Continuing the visit of the “Promoting conservation agriculture for vegetable growers” project, see how farmers are preparing their vegetables for the market, including a CoolBot-equipped cool room, packing house, and “tuktukbot.” The group also met with community leaders engaged in this project for discussion and Q&A. Topics for discussion include the set-up of their cooperative, income from cooperative marketing, commercial vegetable home gardeners, and the neighborhood buying vegetables. - Stop C: HARVEST project site
Focusing on agriculture as a business, as opposed to subsistence farming, is the focus of Cambodia HARVEST. The project works with households that have larger land holdings to introduce commercial farming technology. Participants visited HARVEST clients in Anchan village.
Symposium on Horticultural Science, March 18
On Friday, March 18, the Royal University of Agriculture and the Horticulture Innovation Lab presented a Symposium on Horticultural Science at the RUA campus in Phnom Penh.
The symposium included lectures about horticultural research, presented by an array of scientists from around the world, including Cambodian faculty.
Please see the Symposium on Horticultural Science website for more details and for presentations.