With a population density of just 263 persons per square kilometer (681
per square mile) of arable land, Cambodia has special advantages
compared to much more densely populated rural areas such as Bangladesh,
Vietnam, or Indonesia, whose densities are 3 or 4 times as great.
However, the sector is far below its potential. The 80 percent of the
workforce engaged in agriculture account for only 43 percent of GDP in
1998. Average rice paddy yield in 1997 was 1.8 tons per hectare,
compared to an average of 2.7 tons per hectare achieved by neighboring
countries. Among numerous problems affecting agricultural
productivity are a lack of irrigation, shortage of male manpower, and
the continued presence of land mines in the northwest region of the
country, a major rice-growing area. At present only 16 percent of rice
land is irrigated, though the government has the goal to increase this
figure to 20 percent by the year 2003. Important secondary food crops
are maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, beans, vegetables, and fruit. Among
industrial agricultural crops are cotton, soybeans, sesame, jute, sugar
cane, and rubber. Principal crops in 1999 in order of magnitude of
production were rice, cassava, vegetables, sugar cane, maize, soybeans,
sweet potatoes, and mung beans.