Author Archives: Kengo Kitaura

About Kengo Kitaura

CEO of AGRIBUDDY, the global platform for distributed farmers. My vision is that of millions of empowered, efficient and competitive small farmers.

I was hospitalized due to food poisoning

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Well, I have seriously no idea which food worked as poison to my body, I got a fever for the first time in ten years. Furthermore, it hit the big 40℃, aww! The doubts, which are crossing in very edge of my head, are food I had in Huahin and Bangkok; gigantic raw oysters and raw shrimps. It is probably a bud guy was hiding in those oysters or shrimps. I was fine on the day I came back from Thailand, but right before going to the bed that night, I started to feel a big fatigue. Then, next morning, the situation had gotten worse, I couldn’t even move at all because of high fever and numbness.

Since even I thought it was really bad, I asked Ms. Sayaka to take me to a local doctor. Apparently, this doctor has a good reputation from Japanese people living in this area. Well, a little “fun” story in Cambodia you are waiting for starts from here.

Speaking of seeing a doctor because of sickness, taking blood samples is a first step, isn’t it? As soon as I lay myself on a bed, I realized that a huge fan was located right above myself (look the picture below).
odelic_OCC075_M1
Then, because this fan was spinning so fast and made so much wind, it was so cold for me, you know, I had a fever.

Me: “Excuse me, I’m cold.”
Nurse: “I’m not.”
Me: “??? Well, that (pointing to the fan) makes me cold because of so much air are coming over me.”
Nurse: “I am NOT cold.”
Me: “Well, ok, I AM cold.”
Nurse: “It is because you have a fever.”
Me (talking to myself): “I know that even though you don’t tell me….
Me: “Could you please turn it off? I am seriously cold.”
Nurse: “NO.”
Me (talking to myself): “Seriously!? I am so cold… Brrr….”

(When I looked into the room after I had seen a doctor, the fun was already off. Thank you very much.)

Then, another nurse came and asked me,
Nurse: “Can you speak Korean?”
Me: “No. I don’t understand Korean language because I am a Japanese.”
Nurse: “Oh, you are a Japanese. 門不知、門不知我錯了… (not Japanese language, She said “Sorry I didn’t know” by Chinese language).

Then, the nurse left with a big smile on her face.

While I was waiting at the waiting room after I had seen a doctor, another nurse brought some medicine for me.

Nurse: “Here you are. Take this one.”
Me (talking to myself): “Um…? I got this antipyretic earlier and just took it ‘after I had asked thoroughly two nurses about the details of the medication’. Is it the same one?
Me: “So, what this medication for?”
Nurse: “Antipyretic♪”
Me (talking to myself): “Antipyretic, antipyretic, antipyretic… (it is continuing as an endless loop).
Me: “Well, you guys gave the same thing earlier, so I have taken it already…”
Nurse: “Oops, sorry!”
Doctor: “Ha! Ha! Ha!”

Well, you should be responsible for everything in your life. Everyone, when you are in a developing country, please don’t let your guard down just because you are at a hospital… lol.

Below is what the doctor said. I was sent to the doctor’s room after the blood test had done.
Doctor: “Regarding the result of the blood test… well, the number of your white blood cells are quite large.”
Me: “I see… so?”
Doctor: “White blood cells, do you know what they are?”
Me: “Of course. So, what is wrong with that?”
Doctor: “I am saying that the number of your white blood cells are large. Look at this number. It is higher than the normal number, isn’t it?”
Me: “I DO understand that. So what does it mean exactly if the number is higher than normal?
Doctor: “Well, you probably have inflammation somewhere inside your body. What color your urine was?”
Me: “I don’t know.”
Doctor: “Hah? You know urine, right? Don’t you know what it is?”
Me: “I know what urine is. I am saying I don’t know what the color was.”
Doctor: “You don’t know what the color was…. Why? You didn’t go to pee yet?”
Me: “I did. I just don’t know the color because I didn’t see it.”
Doctor: “Hmmm… you didn’t see the color… Well, it can’t be helped. Open your mouth a little.”
Me: “Ah…(opened my mouth).”
Doctor: “Oh! Your tonsils are so red! This is it! This must be it! Don’t you feel so pain on your throat, do you?”
Me: “Actually, not at all…”
Doctor: “There is no way! It must be so painful because I can see a big inflammation here. Well, it could be the inflammation gets worse later. It is tonsillitis! That is you have right now!”
Me (talking to my self) “Well, I don’t have any sign of a sore throat, but I guess tonsillitis is the one because that is the doctor is saying…”

Anyway, I went back home with some anti-inflammation, antibiotics, and antipyretic. As the doctor said, the pain got harder later.

But, it was a stomachache, not a sore throat… (lol)

Anyway, since I just had continuously diarrhea and vomiting, I went to see a doctor at Royal Angkor Hospital, which is a big and foreign-owned hospital next day. “Entamoeba histolytica” was found by a doctor of the hospital and I was finally and peacefully hospitalized there. Everyone, please be careful not to get food poisoning.

Urbanisation

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This article, which is saying that the growth of the urban population is getting bigger from now on, definitely helps you understand the demographics and the impact easily.

Urbanisation is the most essential issue for a population theory.
(Sorry, this article is written by Japanese)

A few years ago, I saw a data, which said that the world urban ratio had reached 51% and it was expected that the ratio would increase up to 70% within next forty years. Well, it is said that the world population will increase to ten billion by 2050. So if all the facts are true, it can be said that the urban population will be seven billions by 2050 as well, which is almost the same number as the current world population.

Since the current ratio of the urban population to the rural population is 1 to 1, the number of the urban population and the rural population is the same, which is 3.5 billion for each. In short, the current fact, which is that one farmer raises and provides food just for one urban person, will be changed in the future since the urban population will be seven billion and the rural population will be 3.5 billion within next forty years. Under this expectation, one farmer has to raise and provide food for more than two urban persons. .

Well, it is a little bit different story, but since I came to a developing country and started to observe the local farmers, I have realized a very simple fact, which is that there are only a few people who choose to be and work as a farmer here. They were born in this little farm village by chance and they raise some plants with their traditional but old way because there are no different choices in their life at all. Or it can be said that they just farm because all their neighbors do. Their life, which is just a little better than living off the land, is a real and typical farmer’s life in this developing country. What they do is not an “agriculture business”, it is just a part of “housework” to live, which is the same as cleaning and doing laundry.

As we want to finish cleaning and laundry easily, they also want to get their housework, “growing plants”, done easily and quickly. Therefore, even how often Non-Government Organizations send volunteers and how hard they teach agriculture to the locals, the efforts of the volunteers just ends up fruitlessly. The volunteers, who don’t mind how long or how hard they work, try to teach and train the locals to produce something better. However, on the other hand, what the locals want is knowledge how they can grow plants without any single effort.

Well, let’s say there is one young guy, who cooks without any interests. He just cooks because he needs to live. Would you call him a chef? I would not. We should not call him a chef, we should not send a professional chef to teach him how to cook as well. For him, sending a professional brings nothing at all because he just doesn’t want to cook. When you think about an agriculture business in a developing country, just remember this example because it probably helps you a lot (lol).

Anyway, for that reason, the most of “people who are categorized as farmers” in a rural area don’t want to do agriculture. They tend to choose an urban life if they could earn money more easily and have a better life. On the other hand, the ratio of people who choose to be and work as a farmer will be higher among the people who stay in a farm area. For the people who decide to risk his/her life as a professional farmer, the agricultural market will be automatically twice as big as the current one in next forty years. Of course, the impact of the food consumption of the people who live off the land and the people who enjoy the urban life is a different level. Therefore, it can be said that the actual expand of the agricultural market could be more than twice as the current one.

So…, while developing AGRIBUDDY, I am recently thinking that having a partnership with “the people who have chosen to be a professional farmer” is a right way to build an agricultural business here… well, let’s wait and see how it goes.

The agriculture in Japan is fiasco in many ways.

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Regarding the issues of the agriculture in Japan, which I wrote in my blog the other day, I took a look at the statistical data to cover this issue in depth.

Each country has announced its Producer Support Estimate (PSE). In short, PSE is a numerical data, which shows how much burden each government put on its nationals against the real ability of its agriculture in order to be consistent. Anyway, there are roughly two ways to protect the agriculture.

The first one is eliminating the advantage of import products by putting taxes to adjust the price difference between the low-cost overseas products and the domestic products. It can be said that this is an unfair way to set the price of overseas products high since the domestic products have no competitive power. For example, approximately 700% import tax is imposed on Japanese rice, which we believe “a high-quality and the most delicious rice in the world”. I think we pay more money for better quality products, so there is no problem even if low-priced rice are coming into Japan from overseas. I can’t understand why the Japanese government is trying to protect the Japanese domestic rice with such a high import tax.

The case of Konjac is worse. The import tax is actually over 1700%. I think we should give up the products which cost a lot to grow in Japan. We should use low-priced Konjac from other countries, like Myanmar, to make Konjac with. Is there any problems for that?

Just for your information, the chart below shows the top ten countries with “price protection rate”, which impose so much import taxes on any products to cover its low competitiveness.

スクリーンショット 2015-11-01 1.24.04 PM

For last five years, Japan and Korea were ranked the first and the second honorably (lol). I think both countries have so much pride to use the domestic products, not the products from overseas. Well, if so, I don’t think that we need the government protection. We simply leave each consumer options to choose products…, is this idea something wrong?

The second way to protect the agriculture is so-called “subsidy”. As you know, some amount of taxes we pay are used as subsidy. I am pretty sure that there are some appropriate reasons why the field of agriculture gets the subsidy, but on the other hand, I still feel it is a little bit unfair because there are so many people who works so hard on the field without any subsidy. Well, I guess having this feeling is one of the characters of subsidy, isn’t it? Anyway, we call it as “financial protection rate”, let’s see the top ten countries of this rate as well.

スクリーンショット 2015-11-01 1.39.46 PM

Again, Japan is ranked within the top five of this field. Korea, which was competing with Japan for the first and the second places of the earlier topic, isn’t ranked in this time.

Well, now, let’s take a look at the world top ten of “Producer Support Estimate”, which combines “the price protection rate” and “the financial protection rate”.

スクリーンショット 2015-11-01 4.26.54 PM

Oh, what a bummer. Japan was ranked as fourth place after Korea on Year 2014. But a year before, on Year 2013, we were proudly at the second place (lol). In addition, the difference between all of the top five and the sixth place is more than a double. This data is definitely showing that “how extreme these countries are to pumper the field of its agriculture” and the extremeness is insane. Even though we ignore the details of ranks or numbers, it is obvious that Japan, even among 196 countries, is a country, which strongly protects its own agriculture.

When I see these data and the pampering toward the agriculture in Japan, my biggest question is that for what Japanese government is doing this pampering. Regarding the Japanese agriculture itself, we are implementing very inefficient and unproductive ways compared to the advanced agriculture countries. I think that instead of protecting the agriculture (or the farmer?), we should launch the front-line technologies and knowledges to make the field of agriculture competitive in the world. Or, if we say a developed country should not rely on the primary industry, we should abolish the tariffs and import low-priced and high-quality products… is it right, isn’t it?

Well, as you see from the fact of “the trade of agricultural products of the major developed countries”, Japan has the biggest trade deficits in the field of agriculture.

スクリーンショット 2015-11-01 4.55.45 PM

Even though the field of agriculture in Japan is protecting its own agriculture most amazingly, it is also making the world biggest trade deficit. Furthermore, it is Japanese nationals who support it by purchasing unfairly high-priced products and paying the subsidy through the taxes. Or perhaps, the issue of building the national stadium is a kind of good example, there are so much uncertain money are used for not only the field of agriculture, but any kinds of fields as well and as a result, the trade deficit is getting bigger and bigger, I think. As I see everything from the outside, now Japan is driving Japanese yen straight into just paper scraps.

Can we really stay the way we are?

Data shows Japanese agri-problems

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I am going to stay in Hanoi, Vietnam for a month starting from today to the end of August. The main purpose of living in Hanoi is that making a team to speed up the development of AGRIBUDDY, which is reaching the best part of completing and launching all of the facilities. Although I sound like I am so energetic for this development, I am kind of useless here right now since I can’t even write a code. So, the thing I am doing here is just being careful and quiet not to bother the engineers who are really focusing on their job.

Well, today’s blog is about there are many interesting facts going on at developing countries in Asia, where many users of AGRIBUDDY are living. A various data of the agriculture of each of these countries tell us that there are many facts we should think about.

First of all, let’s take a look at the start-ups of the field of agriculture in the U.S, which are recently booming. The number of the famers (we can say ‘people who does the agriculture business’) in the U.S is approximately one million. Massive plow lands in the U.S, which are 168MM hectares in total and cover 10% of the plow land of the world, are owned by only one million farmers. This means that 153 hectares (Little bit bigger than Augusta National Golf Club) of the plow land is owned by one farmer and it makes approximately $1600 sales per 1 hectares  (10,000㎡ or 2.47ac).

Let’s talk about Cambodia, the country I am currently living in. The number of people who do any kind of agricultural businesses in Cambodia is 3.8 million, which is about four times as big as the U.S. On the other hand, the total size of the plow land is 4.2MM hectares, which is about 1/40 of the plow land of the U.S. The yearly seals of 1-hectar-plow land in Cambodia is approximately $1200 and one farmer owns 1.1 ha on average. So, on a simple level, the annual sales (not annual income) is about $1320 and this number proves how poor the farmers in Cambodia are.

The reason why the productive value per 1 hectare of both the U.S and Cambodia are such a low is that both of them grow the low-value-added products, which are commodity products, such as corns, wheats, and rice. However, the farmers of the U.S are succeeded to gain some profits by producing huge amount of crops by implementing a model of “the large-scale production with a small group people”. In Cambodia (actually in any developing countries), they also grow the low-value-added products as the U.S does, but they do their agriculture business with a labor-intensive-method. Therefore, it makes sense that the farmers in Cambodia never be able to be rich no matter how hard they work.

Let’s talk about my country, Japan. Japan, which has many agricultural problems in many ways, has surprisingly $11,000 seals per 1 hectare and it seems like Japan is very good at the agriculture like an A-student in a school. However, by looking at it from another angle, we can see some problems, which we knew there would be.

スクリーンショット 2015-11-01 5.32.36 PM

The chart above is showing a comparison between the agriculture in Israel, which is known as one of the agricultural developed countries and the one in Japan. First of all, please take a look at the number of production value per one farmer. Compare to the number of Japan, which is about $30,000, the one of Israel is $120,000, which is four times bigger than the amount of Japan. Furthermore, the value per 1 hectare is $10,000 (Japan) and $20,000 (Israel), which means the difference between them is close to the double. Furthermore again, let’s take a look at the size of the plow land owned by one farmer. One farmer in Israel has 2.5 times bigger plow land than the plow land owned by one Japanese farmer. Let me explain this fact in short;

“The agriculture in Japan never pursues the thorough productivity. Since each of plow land is owned by Japanese workers with high labor cost, the productive value of the agriculture is not even close to the average income of Japanese workers of other business fields.”

In short, the first problem is that the number of the farmers is too big for the size of the plow land in Japan. I think it works better if we reduce the number of the farmers to 1/3 of the present number. The next problem is that the productive value per size is very small. Even the country, which is located in the middle of desert and spend 60% of the national budget as the defense expenditure, can make some profits by implementing its agriculture effectively. The fact, which is that the farmers in Japan make only half of the profit of that country, brings the result, which is “there are so many, actually more than necessary unmotivated farmers staying in the agriculture business in Japan.

I am pretty sure if these unmotivated farmers leave their land to the motivated farmers and start another jobs, these problems will be resolved immediately. However, on the other hand, I know there are some reasons we can’t even reveal are protecting the Japanese farmers. Well, even though we analyze the issues of the agriculture in Japan, there is little thing we can do to change these facts. On the other hand, regarding developing countries, there is a lot we can do. Since the labor fee of the developing countries is pretty low at first, if the farmers can grow some high-value-added-products, their life will be several times as good as the present life. The focus AGRIBUDDY is aiming at exists in these facts.

Well, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to write such a long blog. Anyway, let me say hello to everyone in Hanoi and I would appreciate if all of you could accept and take care of me starting from today.

The border of the land and the boarder of the nation

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In Cambodia, where border lines of lands are very unclear compared to Japan, it is not a surprise that our neighbors ignore the border of the land. They intrude into our land more than dozens of meters and start to grow their crops without our permission. Of course as soon as we find out, we report it to the local leader, then we pull the crops out and put the stakes, which were moved by the neighbors without notice, back to the original position. Sometimes we have very disquiet in the air with everyone who is on the spot.

No one wants to have any trouble, of course. However, we should avoid the fact that someone trespasses and intrude into your property without any permission for no reasons. Fortunately, there is no huge trouble yet since all of us are just civilians with no weapons. Protecting your property is normal, so I am pretty sure that there are few people who feel sense of discomfort to protect own property from others.

However, if you have your own house and lands across or face to the international border and you can have a trouble with neighbors such as easily. Then, it is a totally different story and it is not as easy as the normal trouble. Well, first of all, we need to understand the border of your neighbor’s land is the actual international border as well. Therefore, if something happens, even it is a tiny happening, the situation could be serious as the soldiers with machineguns get together to ready for a war.

The police of your own country or the local government leaders are useless at this kind of situation. The neighbors are deadly serious and insist, “You are the one who cross the border and intrude into our land without any permission”, and the soldiers are already here and ready to kill you with no hesitation. So again, what the police or the government leaders can do for you under this situation?

Since all the border lines of Japan are located at sea, no one in Japan has the situation, which is that “the border line of your property” is the same as the international border line. However, in this Cambodia (their neighbor, Vietnam as well), there are many farmers who owns their land at the very delicate areas.

Both of the government of Cambodia and Vietnam, who focus on the piece and the economic development most importantly, are working very closely (it is said that the government of Cambodia is the puppet regime of the government of Vietnam). However, at this moment, even between Cambodia and Vietnam, a fragile and a touch-and-go situation occurs daily basis.

89BF1308-BFFB-49BA-A264-45320030854D_cx0_cy4_cw0_mw1024_s_n_r1
Cambodian farmers face to Vietnam solders at a border area (Source Voice of America)
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/clash-vietnam-cambodia-border/2845262.html

cambodia-vietnam-border-clashes
Right ; Cambodian. Left ; Vietnamese (Source International Business Times)
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/clashes-between-authorities-civilians-vietnam-cambodian-border-leave-dozens-injured-1508879

I don’t know whose affirmation is correct. Unfortunately, only one of them is correct, not both. If one of the affirmations is correct, that means the other one is completely wrong without any doubts, which automatically means that they just come and steal other’s property intentionally. Like my neighbors, there are many people who lives with a shameless rule, such as the “first-come, first-served” rule, and they think it is lucky if their neighbors don’t complain. The number of people those who live with this way is definitely bigger than we expect, that is very unfortunate.

I am definitely against wars and I definitely don’t want to kill anyone or be killed by someone. I rather think we don’t need any international borders. Furthermore, I also think that possessing own nationals and own lands is the biggest cause which sets up complicated issues. However, if I apply the same logic to a smaller scale, like my family and my friends, I would protect my own property if someone tries to steal it intentionally and illegally. Yes, I would do it even though they threatened me by violence.

Of course in Cambodia, there is a law to protect individual assets. There is also the judicial branch of the government (it is kind of bullshit though) to enforce it. Also, among the nationals, there are organizations, such as the International Court of Justice and United Nation, to declare the rules of what we can do or cannot do. However, on the other hand, it is also true that the number of the people those who ignore the rules and start illegal things with a thought of “it is lucky if no one say anything” or “I don’t care whoever says whatever”, is getting bigger endlessly.

Although it is egregiousness that we start to set the illegal actions, it is just a fantasy to think “if we don’t do anything, they won’t do anything either”. That is why thinking what we should do for the best when someone sets up something nasty to us is an assignment we need to think about all the time.

Well, it is said that the Prime Minister Hun Sen wrote a letter to the President Obama to ask his help to prove the legitimacy of Cambodia by using the map of the border line negotiated in 1963. Well, we will see what will happen.

Fact or fiction? The dream super crop

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Although we are growing crops called cassavas right now, we are also paying attention to crops called sweet sorghum. Sweet sorghum is a crop, which could play an important role for the world food supply and the energy supply. Since its seed has so much protein and its stem has a great sugar content as well, it is possible to produce alcohol (bio fuel) by fermenting the juice of sweet sorghum. In addition, it is also known as a crop which has a high-yielding.

I heard that one of my Cambodian friends, he owns a farm as well, was going to have some tests to grow this sweet sorghum on a large scale, so I just visit him to listen to his story. He was saying, “I am thinking to grow a crop called super sorghum, which one of the Japanese companies has already succeeded to grow in Indonesia. In order to produce basic materials of the biomass power generation, we make pellets with super sorghum stems and Mitsui & Co., Ltd from Japan is going to purchase them”. Two facts, one is that a Japanese company has already done this test in Indonesia and the other one is that Mitsui & Co., Ltd is going to purchase the pallets from Cambodian farmers, made me so surprised, so I decided to study about this super sorghum a little bit.

The company, which does the business with the super sorghum, is a corporation in Singapore called SOL ASIA HOLDINGS PTE., and its parent company is SOL Holdings, one of the listed companies of JASDAQ (6636). Until few years ago, they were in the field of semiconductor business, however since all the member of the management were completely changed, they have started to do the business with the super sorghum. In the twinkling of an eye, they made a great success, which even caught an attention of the Indonesian government, and now they are trying to get their hands on Cambodia while expanding their business to Mexico. It can be said that they are the company carried all before it.

Their current stock price is 242 yen and the market capitalization is four billion and three hundred million yen. I thought that even though they had a great success, the stock price (I mean the corporate performance) didn’t reflect it, so I did some researches on their IRs and found one of them, which was issued on July 3, 2014, showing an interesting fact.
http://www.sol-hd.jp/pdf/20140703.pdf

In short, it was just one of the corporation notice, which was saying “we have issued the stock option”. However, the number of the stock option they issued is 2,002,000 stocks, which covers 11.16% of the total number of their issued stock, which is 17,933,612 stocks. Furthermore, they have set two conditions in order to enforce the stock options, which are; “in the case of the stock price is over 800 yen per stock at least once (even at least ‘moment’) between present and May 31, 2016” and “in case of the sales amount of March 2015 or March 2016 exceeds over two billion and four hundred million yen”. According to this fact, it ab be said that they are a company, which adopt an amazing game-like compensation structure. Well, their current stock price is 242 yen and this amount is still far away to enforce the conditions of the stock options (it means the condition, with which you can get stocks for free), so I was wondering what was going on and took a look at their stock price chart from the past.

スクリーンショット-2015-06-27-1.00.11-PMhttp://www.nikkei.com/markets/company/chart/chart.aspx?scode=6636&ba=9&type=6month

Well, well, the stock price had exceeded the amount totally! Moreover, the price respectfully exceeded over 800 yen for only one day! After that, it went down outstandingly to the level of 200 yen and it looks like it keeps staying there, no sign to boost again.

Anyway, one of the conditions is completed, so if the sales amount closed on next March reaches two billion and four hundred million yen, all the management team will get entitlements to gain a massive number of stocks. Of course, even after they get the stocks, the price has to be over 372 yen, otherwise, there is no profit to them. Well, even though I am just an amateur for the stock market, I am able to see that their stocks or their conditions is as suspicious as delusion. I’ve been wondering whether Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission or whatever it is called comes and investigates them or not.

I mean, I don’t see any connection between the field of agriculture, which needs hard work and persistent improvements, and “the ex-semiconductor company”, which uses their stocks for their money game…, is it really ok? The story, which Mitsui & Co., Ltd buys the pallet made of super sorghum in Cambodia, is really true?

Well, if the business of the super sorghum by SOL HOLDINGS is true and if the Cambodians, who simply believe this business and do the test of the super sorghum, make a great success at end, that is, of course, the best scenario. However, I don’t know exactly why but various things weigh on my mind. Of course I told my Cambodian friend what I’ve found from the research and how I felt about the company. Well, I heard that it is very hard to change people’s minds especially after he/she has believed and made up his/her decision. And first of all, it is only my guess that the company is suspicious…

I just hope Cambodians won’t have any nasty experience anymore because of Japanese companies.

Official AGRIBUDDY has been released!

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AGRIBUDDY β version was released on November 17th in 2014 as an internet application service for farmers in developing country.  At a start, we have used it for ourselves to major the hectares of our farms with its GPS function and let some real local farmers (And our team Japanese farmers who are challenging in agribusiness in Cambodia) to use AGRIBUDDY only with selected function to see their reactions for the gadget and seeking the points to improve and to find right direction of AGRIBUDDY.

How could we let local farmers, who have never even touched smartphones, or don’t even know what an internet is, use and enjoy AGRIBUDDY well? How could we minimise their irrational decisions they make or, act they do because of a minimum information and data they have. We have been focusing on there and been pondering the essential functions for the system.

What we came up as our first answer for this is to build network of all farmers in developing country. Making them able to share correct and accurate skills or information by construct networking of local farmers who might never once step out 50 km far from their home and lives in a society with closed information. We realised that Let them able to show their work or result to others and receive recognition or appraisal can be a big first step to improve agriculture of developing country.

As in the article I wrote in the other day “The things people in poverty want”, the number of smartphone holders are increasing even in Cambodia where seems to be the perfect example of developing country with poverty. A price of smartphones or any other cutting edge technology gadget are becoming cheaper day by day and internet coverage area is expanding rapidly as it is reaching even to deep into jungle. Because of such dramatic shift I am actually encountering, I can clearly see the people who have been forgotten from the world of techs and ITs will be creating new network with smartphones they will have in very near future.

If there is such future is coming soon, I want to build and shape it with our hands. I know that everyone is thinking “Well it will now work that easy!” and that is exactly why I want to challenge on it.

And, as we release our official version of AGRIBUDDY, our Hong Kong established AGRIBUDDY will be working fund raising with Scentan Ventures which has strong connection to world wide venture capital investment. With this action, we will rev up a speed of development with feedbacks and we will tackle on to build only and the biggest farmers network in developing country.

The difference of shame: Japan vs. Cambodia

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It is a japan-wide consciousness that Japanese people are not good at speaking English. I think one of the major reasons for this symptom is that most of Japanese people think speaking English is embarrassing. For example, the pronunciation for a word of “apple” is “appuru” for Japanese people, so if I pronounced it correctly as “æpl”, I probably would be a target of bullying a little bit.

Since the Japanese-Katakana-English is imprinted into all Japanese people’s subconscious, if you try to pronounce any English words with correct ways, you would be judged as a stuck up person. That is why we, Japanese people, speak English with the pronunciation of the Japanese-Katakana-English. Although all of us know the pronunciation of the Japanese-Katakana-English is incorrect, the tiny warped feeling, such as “it is embarrassing I can’t speak English, but it is more embarrassing if we speak English very well”, is imprinted into our mind unconsciously. It can be said that that is one of the reasons why Japanese people are not able to speak English well even though how hard we learn the grammar or we remember so many vocabularies in our heads.

It can said that this is a kind of honored but evil effect of the Japanese shame in a way.

Well, in Japan, we have a proverb saying “asking is a moment shame, not asking is lifetime shame”. In Cambodia, the locals are very afraid to ask someone about anything, it is like asking is a shame for them. They look like they hate asking like a psycho in our eyes. In order to bear their heads high, they completely focus on one particular thought, which is “I don’t want anyone to think I am stupid. I don’t want anyone to think I am poor”. Because of this thought, they hate asking so much, they don’t even ask quote of a product, for example. Let’s say that you asked a quote for something and you didn’t buy it. Cambodians automatically judge you as “you didn’t buy it because you don’t have money”. In fact, if you ask a price without buying, people would say, “that guy is so poor” behind your back. It is a helpless reality in Cambodia.

Moreover, if you are telling a story Cambodians don’t understand well, however they say, “I understand that, actually I know that already”. I have so many experiences such as a tuktuk driver get lost because they say, “Ok, get on”, instead of asking me the directions. “Not knowing” and “not understanding” are biggest shames for them, that is why they never say, “I don’t know”.

I know this fact sounds so ridiculous in general. However, this shame of sense is imprinted into their DNA like Japanese people’s shame which I noted at the beginning of this blog. It is very hard to get rid of this imprinting. They face a dilemma of “they don’t understand it unless they ask. But they don’t want to ask it, so they just stay ignorant. They know they are ignorant but still they don’t ask because they don’t want anyone to think he/she is ignorant”. Furthermore, since they act like they know what they actually don’t know, any cases tend to become so complicated like you get lost in a labyrinth.

Yes, it is like a tuktuk keeps running toward somewhere impossible even though I confirmed the direction with a driver.

Anyway, I think Japanese people are able to be good at English if we keep speaking it by being beyond all sense of shame. So I am pretty sure that if Cambodian ask questions to others without the feeling of shame, no one thinks Cambodians are ignorant anymore. Well, we have a proverb, “the leopard cannot change his spots”, so it is probably hard to change their nature, I guess. I am just wondering that any other countries have these kind of shame or not.

The small collection of the unexpected events in Cambodia

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As a truck crashed into a utility pole on the way to Siem Reap from our neighboring country, Thailand last evening, and whole of the city has a blackout for all day. It is very hard for people who live in developed countries to believe this kind of incident happens in reality. Just two years ago, the similar incident happed as well, and the electricity of the whole city (it actually expanded four states in Cambodia) was out over four days. Since we couldn’t take a shower, not to speak of a toilet because there was no power to draw the groundwater up, we were forced to move one resort hotel to another in Siem Reap for a while. Well, let me introduce some unexpected events in Cambodia I have ever had here.

When I put my four-wheel drive JEEP with a stick shift out for repair, it came back to me as a two-wheel drive automatic car. Moreover, they were supposed to repair it in a week, but it actually took more than three months for repair.

I purchased a bulldozer with a driver. The driver said to me, “I haven’t got full-payment yet from the previous owner, so please pay that money to me”. Moreover, He took the important parts of the bulldozer out and run away with them, and demand a ransom later.

Since the neighboring farmers did the burn off the dead grass, the mountain fires happened and my farm land was burned over tens of thousands square meters (it actually happened two years in a row). When I reported in to the police, they said, “Take the criminals here, then we will arrest them”.

When I visited my farm unexpectedly, a whole people of the neighboring village came to the farm by a dump truck to steal the potatoes. The manager, who was a living-in worker of our farm at that time, probably planned and let the people, I guess.

The portable safety box, which was located inside the locked drawer, was stolen in a daytime. Of course, one of our employee stole it and she said to me, “Let me borrow your money because I don’t have any money to give the money I’ve taken with the safe back to you”.

The police arrested the other employee and we brought the guy to a court for a criminal trial. While the defendant statement was going on, the cell phone of the judge went off for three times and the judge answered it and said, “Hello, I am kind of busy right now”. Of course, the court workers told all of us were to turn our cell phone off during the trial.

When one of my friends was doing some processes to obtain a visa at Phnom Penh International Airport, the worker gave my friend’s passport away to a guy who didn’t have any relation to the visa process. The guy used my friend’s passport to enter Cambodia without any problem. The immigrant let my friend enter to Cambodia without his passport because they said, “ok, you can enter because it can’t be helped”. My friend somehow was able to contact the guy who took his passport and the passport came back to him. Well, my friend is the age of late thirties and the guy who took his passport is the age of sixties. We have no idea how the immigrant was able to miss this age difference.

When I was going to put my car for repair in order to fix the brake, the only break part they had found was a second-hand. Meanwhile I was telling them that I didn’t want any Cambodia’s second-hands, there was a call from the repair service, which said, “We have found one brand new part”. So, I asked them to change the parts immediately, but they couldn’t because the model of my car was year 2009, but the parts was year 2010. They disassembled and alternated it, and tried to put it onto the break part somehow, but it failed. Even though they didn’t fix my car, they sent a bill to charge me the fee of the parts.

Fortune-telling is very important for Cambodians, especially for the marriage. When I was going to marry my wife, the wife’s parents said to me, “The Chinese year of our daughter is the rooster and the fortune-telling is saying if she didn’t marry this year, she won’t be able to marry next four years”. Of course I wanted to show my respect to the Cambodian culture as much as possible and I didn’t have any disagreement, but the only problem was that her Chinese year was the dog, not the rooster.

Well, I am enjoying my Cambodian life with the events with a little giggle and the serious events, which are not even funny. Be honest with you, only a few times in a year, I ask myself, “Hey, what the hell I am doing here with such troubles?” But…, I don’t think I am able to quit this inspiring life once I have experienced…

The things people in poverty want.

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Cambodian and its people, especially locals who lives in country side were thought to be poor (Or in poverty) as if perfect example of poverty. Well, it is not wrong. They rarely have a big amount of cash or something. However, the things such as hunger or starvation that most people often think of with poverty are not happening in Cambodia. And most are thinking that the cause of such poverty is a lack of work opportunities. So, it means that if there are chances or places to work, they will be rich.

However, what I have noticed recently as I am going and interact deeper with local villagers is that there actually are jobs and there are plenty of opportunities for them to make some extra cash. It is different as, for example Japan, where people are really busy as much as they die. Well, literally. So, I thought that why don’t they work a bit more since they have plenty of time left. But I kind of understanding why they do not do it so.

The reason is that “There is nothing to spend a money for”. It seem difficult to understand at a glance.

You may think “Well, there are plenty of way to spend you money!”. I was thinking the same of course. But money will be effective when there is more than some amount of it and if they make only $100 of extra money, their life won’t change dramatically. In fact, if they work bit longer than now, they will make only $100 – $200 a month.

Of course there are things they want to have. Something like, new motorcycle, car, flat screen TV, house with air-con, fridge or gold watch… but they are all cost more than $100 or $200. Unlike developed countries, there isn’t system of credit or credit card, in that case, it is impossible for them to purchase those things. Well, they have theey can no use air-con or fridge since there are not electric grid yet.

If it is in your country, there must be some way to spend money if you have an extra $100. Like big fancy dinner, nice closes, have a movie night or take a small trip to somewhere. There are varieties of choices. But in Cambodia, choice of using $100 would be “Drinking beer” or “play cards with neighbours with drinking beer”. …yup. They are smart enough to not work if there is only a way to waste their money. If they want to drink they can work bit of extra for a day and it will be enough.

However, there is a thing that changes their concept of using their money. Smartphones. IPhone is their lofty dream and only few guys in village have it. But even for ordinary people, they now can buy used smartphones with around $100. They don’t even know how to use it but since Cambodian tend to think that it is a shame to not have something others are having, more and more people are having smartphones and you can see them selling middle of now where on dirt road where there is no electricity.

By looking at such change in local people in suburbs of Cambodia, I am thinking that smartphone user will keep increasing in all over the world.