Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon through the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) secretariat on April 30 provided 78 tonnes of rice to the Phnom Penh municipality for distribution to people living in restricted zones.

Sakhon, the current rotating chair of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF), said the donations from the ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) were made the behest of Prime Minister Hun Sen for people who are facing food shortage amid the ongoing community outbreak of Covid-19, particularly the 2,583 families residing in designated Red Zones.

Sakhon noted that the ministry requested the 78 tonnes of rice from the APTERR on April 29.

"As Cambodia's agriculture minister and rotating AMAF chair, I would like to express my profound gratitude to the Japanese government and ASEAN Secretariat for providing assistance to people living in areas hit hardest by Covid-19," he said.

Separately, Nuon Pharath – Phnom Penh municipal governor and member of the national commission tasked with implementing the lockdown order – said in a press conference on April 28 that more than 100,000 food packages had been provided by the Cambodian government and distributed to the needy in the restricted zones.

"This is not enough for everyone facing food shortage, but we have been trying to get more though our mechanism including our social media app Telegram to appeal for assistance.

"We are unable to prepare thousands of food packages for everyone in a short period of time," he said.

On April 20, more than 1,000 families in Damnak Thom II and III villages in Meanchey district's Steung Meanchey III commune – which have been designated as Red Zones – received food assistance from Prime Minister Hun Sen through municipal governor Khuong Sreng.

In Por Sen Chey district, food aid has been gradually distributed to 1,694 families in Chaom Chao II commune and another roughly 1,900 families in Chaom Chao I commune, both of which also fall in red zones.