Guwahati: Assam born United Nations officer Kaushik Barua has been awarded a medal under the Royal Order of Sahametrei and Sowathara of Cambodia.
Assam-born Kaushik Barua is the Country Director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Barua along with another UN officer Sakphouseth Meng has been “recognised for their remarkable contributions to poverty reduction, rural development and smallholder agricultural development in Cambodia”, says UN Cambodia on its website.
Through the IFAD-financed and supervised Agriculture Services Programme for Innovation, Resilience and Extension (ASPIRE) program, over 61,000 farmers across 24 provinces in Cambodia have been supported to form farmers’ groups and business clusters.
The program has supported rural farming households with appropriate climate-resilient technology, extension services and on-field support and market access.
Barua and Meng were recognised for their exceptional commitment to the objectives of the projects, for their close collaboration with ministries, provinces, and community partners and for introducing key innovations across the agricultural sector.
The Government of Cambodia conferred the Royal Order for these contributions.
Kaushik Barua is the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar for his first book ‘Windhorse’ published by HarperCollins in 2013.
