Food Pacific Manufacturing Journal

"I WANTED to help rebuild my country so I thought of implementing two health-related projects. One was through pharmaceutical products manufacturing and the other was through Confirel's development project to fight poverty." This quote is taken from our interview with Dr Hay Ly Eang, the founder and president of Confirel in Cambodia. Once in a while we come across someone like Dr Hay Ly Eang who makes us evaluate the reason for our own undertakings, which are most likely motivated by personal gain. With higher aspirations, the good doctor wanted to be part of rehabilitating Cambodia which for years had gone through a very violent past. And in its recent economic history, Cambodia's agriculture was underdeveloped since other more lucrative industries such as garment production were favored. But in setting up Confirel, Dr Hay helped revitalize palm sugar production. Read about the company in boardroom connection. In the sixties, the King of Thailand had a similar ambition, that is, to develop the northern hills of the country with crops in order to eliminate opium production, poverty, and deforestation in the region. Today his green project has extended to other areas of Thailand, and with well-supported R&D continues to yield more varieties of fruits and vegetables. See our special report on the Royal Project.