Cambodian honour for Swaminathan

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Royal Government of Cambodia has awarded the Sahametrei Medal to M.S. Swaminathan, agriculture scientist, in recognition of his contributions to the revival of rice research and development in Cambodia in the 1980s.

The medal was also in recognition of Dr. Swaminathan's work that led to the establishment and strengthening of the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI).
The presentation of the medal was to be held in Cambodia in the second week of January.

Dr. Swaminathan expressed his inability to receive the medal in view of his other preoccupations. Recalling his association with Cambodia, the agriculture scientist said he had trained a large number of Cambodians. Recently, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation prepared a food security atlas, which was adopted by the Cambodian Government as its official document.

Calling for strengthening ties with Cambodia, Dr. Swaminathan said there was a lot to share with such countries, considering the fact that Cambodia too was a rice-raising nation.