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2.      Livelihoods

Main on farm livelihood strategies identified by the family interviews are presented in Table 5 and off farm sources of income in Table 6 (See also Table 16: Banana production and income generation); 

Table 5: Main farming livelihood strategies

Area name

Chamka*

Chamka and raise animals**

Chamka and Labouring

Chamka and paddy

No land 

O Laok

1

1

3

1 (h & d)

 

 

O Pork

3

2

3

 

2

Chom Phkar

2

2 (p)

1 (p & h)

1 (p, h & d)

3

1 (h)

 

 

Anlong Khting

1 (rents land)

5 (p & h)

3

1 (p & h)

 

Total

7

12

14

1

2

*Chamka – upland field (it is assumed that this includes an area of upland rice, this is also likely to include small scale animal raising)** P = pigs, h = hens, d = ducks.

Table 6: Secondary sources of income.

Area name

Rice wine making and selling

Rice mill

Off farm Labouring

Trading/

resin tapping

O Laok

 

 

 

1

1 (400 resin trees)

1 (1000 resin trees – 300,000r/mth)

O Pork

1 (140,000r/yr)

2

1 (repair houses)

1

Chom Phkar

 

 

 

 

Anlong Khting

2

1

1 (800,000r/yr)

 

 

Total

1

4

1

4

 

3.1.   The upland rice and cash cropping system

Rains in this area last from April to October. Crops are planted in 2 seasons. The first season lasts from April until July when sesame (3 month varieties), mung beans, corn, peanuts are planted. Early maturing (3 month) rice can be planted in April so that the land can be replanted in soy beans in July/early August, but generally rice is planted in May (both early and late maturing varieties (5-6 months), see Table 11).

The second season is from July until October when soy beans and a second crop of peanuts and mung beans can also be planted. In the past 2 years neither the mung beans or the sesame has grown well due to dry conditions after planting in April. Bean crops are sold to buyers from Kampong Tmor. Table 7 shows the main crops grown and crops that are grown after rice.

Table 7: Main crops grown and crops grown in the second part of the season (July/Aug.)

Area name

Main crops mentioned

Crops grown in the second part of rainy season

(after upland rice is harvested)

 

Rice

Rice and soybean

Rice, soy and mung bean, sesame, corn.

Not plant

Soy and mung beans (with sesame)

Soybean and corn

Peanut and mung bean

O Laok

7

 

1

3

5

 

 

O Pork

 

1

2 (with cassava)

7

1

2

2 (with sesame)

5

 

Chom Phkar

 

 

10

 

6 (soy)

1 (mung)

3 (with sesame)

 

 

Anlong Khting

 

 

10

1(harvest paddy)

2

1

5

Total

7

3

28

4

21

6

5

Most crops are also grown with no chemicals or fertilizers, though some pesticides may be used on the soybeans. Some rotations are practiced where beans are planted after some years of growing rice in the same place. An indication of the fertility of these soils is given in Table 8 where farmers said they don’t change the sites of their crops from year to year. 

Table 8: Changing of sites for a particular crop

Area name

Don’t change the site

Change

Change crops and relay crop*

Change the site every 2 years

O Laok

7

1

 

 

O Pork

8

 

2

 

Chom Phkar

8

 

 

1

Anlong Khting

9

 

 

2

Total

32

1

2

3

*Relay crop – Plant immediately after harvesting the previous crop.

 

3.2.   Soils

The soil is generally extremely fertile with an open structure. The Sandan Asst District Chief informed that a specialist in red soil said Mean Rith soil was better quality than in Tum Ring. He said that the Mean Rith soil is very good for rubber, and also peanut, potato (cassava) soy bean, corn and sugar cane.

Farmers in O Pork commented that there are a lot of holes in the ground which are good for termites and this makes growing peanuts without ploughing difficult. There is one tractor in the red soil area of Mean Rith and another operator comes from Cum Village. The charge is 100,000 – 120,000riels to disc a ha, which only a few can afford. While the soil type is predominantly red farmers noted some variation in Chom Phkar and Anlong Khting.

Table 9: Farmer classification of their soils

Area name

Red

Red with white

Black

Black with red

Black with white

Sandy

O Laok

7

 

 

 

 

 

O Pork

10

 

 

 

 

 

Chom Phkar

2

 

3

1

1

3

Anlong Khting

6

2

1

 

1

 

Total

25

2

4

1

2

3

 

3.3.   Land Holdings

    Table 10 presents the average landholdings of the families interviewed;

Table 10: Average Land Holdings

Area name

Chamka area (ha)

No.  of respondents  

House area (ha)

No.  of respondents 

Paddy area (ha)

No.  of respondents 

O Laok

2.36

7

.75

2

 

 

O Pork

3.64

7

.6

1

 

 

Chom Phkar

3

10

.17

2

 

 

Anlong Khting

2.65

10

.2

1

2.3

2

Total

2.9

34

.4

6

2.3

2

3.4.   Crops 

3.4.1.      Rice

Usually 2 baie (1baie of rice = 40 to 50kg) are planted per hectare. Upland rice is planted with a chop hoe rather than a dibble stick as in other upland rice growing areas. Rice varieties range from 3 to 6 month maturity and include;

Table 11: Rice varieties

Variety

Maturity

Comments

Pnong Early season (3 months)  
Pha Krasang Early season  
Dongkow Early season small seed, not very nice to eat
Banko Early season  
Domrey chor Mid season (5 months) sticky
Beng Mid season sticky
Neary Kla ha Mid season  
Chree (Chreh) Late season (6 months) hard seed
Thai Late season  
Chamoc Ankrong   hard seed
Kaing    
Srou O    
Srou Mai    

3.4.2.      Soybeans

Soy beans are planted in July and up to the middle of Aug. Harvests of 1,000 – 2,000kg/ha of soy beans can be expected, however poor crops can be 700 – 800kg/ha. This sells for an overall average price of 1020 riels/kg but prices can down to 850 riels/kg. 

Soy bean seed is bought for 2500 riels/kg and the majority of families borrow from the soy bean buyer to buy their seed. Five hundred kilograms of seed will return around 4 – 5 tonnes of beans. 

3.4.3.      Peanuts

Peanut seed is bought for 3500riels/kg and is sold for between 1,000 – 1,500 riels per kg.

3.4.4.      Mung beans

People reported that mung beans sold for an average price of 1230, ranging from 1,500 to 800-900 riels per kg.

3.4.5.      Corn

A white corn variety that matures 2.5 months seems to be the only variety grown (in Anlong Khting at least). People in Chom Phkar only sell small amounts (30,000 – 40,000 riels) of corn to neighbouring villages as the problem is lack of access. In Anlong Khting corn is sold for 1,500-3,000 riels for 12 cobs, when the truck can get in. To cut down on reliance on transport in Anlong Khting corn is also dried and bagged and sold for 500 riels per kg. 

3.4.6.      Sesame

Sesame seed is bought for between 5000 to 7000 riel/kg and sells for 1,200 - 2,000 riels/kg for white seed varieties and up to 2,500 riels per kg for black seed. One farmer interviewed was keeping seed and selling it for 5000riels/kg, this raised the overall average selling price of sesame to 1420 riels/kg. 

Tables 12 and 13 give the average yields, income and expenses for the main crops grown based on family interviews asking about yields for the 2002 and 2003 seasons. Table 14 shows average yields, expenses and incomes per hectare for the main crops grown. As well as rice, corn peanuts and to some extent mung beans and sesame are also grown for home consumption and so the importance of corn especially for family livelihoods may be understated.

Table 12: Average areas planted and harvested and average yields per hectare (2002 & 2003). 

Crop

Average area planted per family (ha)

No. of responses

Average amount harvested per family (kg)

No. of responses

Average yield

kg/ha

No. of responses

Upland Rice

1.05

40

1289

42

1137

61

Soy bean

1.74

37

1940

34

1166

35

Mung bean

0.75

15

236

16

449

14

Sesame

1.17

9

451

10

283

6

Peanut

0.87

4

 

 

2333

3

Corn*

1.18

11

 

 

 

 

Lowland rice

 

 

 

 

1293

3

* Corn is not measured by weight but by amount sold, making it impossible to determine total amount harvested or kg/ha yield.

 

Table 13: Average income and expenses per family (2002 & 2003)*

Crop

Average Income per Family

No. of respon-ses

Average Expenses

No. of respon-ses

Average Net Income per family

No. of respon-ses

 

Riels

   $US  

Riels

   $US  

Riels

   $US

 

Soy bean

1,992,000

498

35

184,000

121

32

1,556,000

389

33

Mung bean

240,800

60.2

18

108,000

27

11

136,000

34

17

Sesame

652,000

163

11

128,000

32

4

556,000

139

10

Peanut

1,608,000

402

5

376,000

94

3

1,156,000

289

6

Corn

335,200

83.8

12

100,000

25

6

274,800

68.7

11

* Average Net Income does not precisely equal Income minus Expenses because the data comes from different questions. 

 

Table 14: Average income and expenses per hectare for the main cash crops (2002 & 2003)*

Crop

Average Income/ ha

No. of respon-ses

Average Expenses/ha

No. of respon-ses

Average net income/ha

No. of respon-ses

 

Riels

   $US

 

Riels

   $US

 

Riels

   $US

 

Soy bean

1,096,000

274

35

268,000

67

30

866,800

216.7

29

Mung bean

538,000

134.5

13

182,000

45.5

11

388,000

97

12

Sesame

444,000

111

7

86,000

21.5

4

277,200

69.3

8

Peanut

2,036,000

509

4

486,400

121.6

3

1,596,000

399

4

Corn

382,000

92.8

10

94,000

23.5

8

360,000

90

11

* Average Net Income does not precisely equal Income/ha minus Expenses/ha because the data comes from different questions. 

To get an idea of the quality of the crop for the 2002 and 2003 seasons farmer’s were asked whether the crop was good, normal or poor (Table 15). This indicates that the yields of the crops outlined above are generally either good or normal harvests.

Table 15: Farmer judgment of the quality of the crop for 2002 and 2003 seasons

Crop

Good (%)

Normal (%)

Poor (%)

No of responses

Upland rice

68

21

9

56

Soy bean

66

24

9

33

Mung bean

83

11

8

18

Sesame

55

33

11

9

Peanut

100

 

 

7

Corn

64

7

28

14

3.4.7.      Bananas

Bananas are a mainstay providing ongoing ready cash over a large period of the year. Several varieties are grown (Namoir, Dambong, Porng moen, Nuon) and are sold for 100 –150 riels per bunch. In Anlong Khting this is dependent on whether the truck can get into the village. With this money people buy their prahok, salt, etc. Bananas sell in Kampong Tmor for 200 – 250 riels per bunch. 

Table 16: Banana production and income generation

Area name

Don’t sell/no answer

Grow for family

Commercial production

No. of months sell bananas

No. of clumps/area

Income

O Laok

7

 

500 clumps

90,000r/mth

6 mths

O Pork

6

 

50 clumps

100 clumps

2 ha

3 ha

2 – 3,000r/mth

3,000r/mth

50-70,000r/mth

45,000r/mth

 

 

6 mths

7 mths

Chom Phkar

6

2

700 clumps

300 clumps

 

 

 

Anlong Khting

3

 

30 clumps

60 clumps

100 clumps

150 clumps

300 clumps

1000 clumps

0.5ha

40,000r/year

4,000r/mth

15,000r/mth

100,000r/year

10,000r/mth

 

30-40,000r/mth

All year

6 mths

2-3 mths

All year

6 mths– 1year

6 mths

All year

Total no. of families

22

2

14

 

 

 

3.5.   Indebtedness

A major issue for the livelihoods of the people in Mean Rith is indebtedness to the soy bean merchants. Many families stay perpetually in debt borrowing seed and money. People need capital to buy seeds, rice, pesticide (mentioned in O Pork but seems not to be common), to hire workers for planting, weeding, etc.

Families must pay a significant amount of interest if they borrow money. The soy bean buyer also has the power to take land, in the event that the owner cannot repay the loan. If the farmer has borrowed money off the buyer then the buyer will only pay 400-500 riels/kg for the soy beans at the end of the season. Interest therefore is charged at 500 or more riels/kg. If the grower cannot pay back the loan in full at the end of the season the buyer only pays 200r/kg at the end of the second season. People also say the scales that the buyers use are inaccurate and the growers loose 5kg for every 100kg of beans that are weighed.

If the grower only borrows beans for planting, O Laok villagers explained that the buyer takes back the amount of beans lent and then buys the rest of the crop at normal prices at the end of the season. After 1 year the grower has to pay back double the amount lent.

3.6.   The use of hired labour

Most of the cropping work is done by hand. As seen in Tables 3, 5 and 6 local people earn income by labouring during the busy planting, weeding and harvesting season for other farmers. Table 17 presents the percentages of farmers who either hire labourers, help each other or do all the work themselves. Table 18 breaks this down for the main cash crops showing the use of hired labour is highest for soy beans, mung beans and sesame.  

Table 17: Use of Labour (2002 & 2003 season)

 

Hire (%)

Help each other (%)

Own labour (%)

No of times mentioned

O Laok

53

 

47

15

O Pork

40

24

36

25

Chom Phkar

52

7

41

29

Anlong Khting

23

46

30

43

Total

 

 

 

 

Table 18: The use of labour per crop (2002 & 2003 season)

Crop

Hire (%)

Help each other (%)

Own labour (%)

No of times mentioned

Soy bean

45

37

18

38

Mung bean

46

20

33

24

Sesame

64

7

28

14

Corn

11

29

59

27

Peanut

33

0

66

9

 

3.7.   Average cash cropping income per family and per hectare.

Table 19 attempts to calculate overall family income from cash cropping and income per hectare. As pointed out below this does not include the value of subsistence production (rice, corn bananas, etc.) from the families landholding, the value of any animals sold or the income earned as a wage labourer on other families’ land. Generally rates of between 3,500 – 4,000r per day are paid for wage labouring. The calculation for Average cash cropping income/ha attempts to take out some of the distortion caused by the small sample (especially in O Pork). One family in O Pork for example with 7ha of land had an overall income from cash cropping (including sales of bananas) of 7,776,800 ($1944.2).

Table 19: Average cash cropping income per family and per hectare (2002 & 2003).

Area name

Average family cash cropping income*

No of responses

Average area of landholding (ha) of respondents

Average cash cropping income/ha**

 

No of responses

 

Riels

$US

 

 

Riels

$US

 

O Laok

2,896,000

724

7

3.28

852,000

213

8

O Pork

2,468,000        

617

8

5.12

716,000

179

15

Chom Phkar

1,680,000

420

10

3.15

596,000

149

17

Anlong Khting - 2002

1,656,000

414

7

3.14

664,000

166

12

Anlong Khting - 2003

2,426,400

606.6

7

3.14

588,000

147

17

Total

2,188,000r

$547

39

3.57ha

660,000r

$165

69

* Total family cash income - Includes

Does not include

** Average income per hectare – Attempts to calculate only the declared income of families from their cash crops

Does not include

3.8.   Food Security

Average period of rice shortage per year was found to be around 3 months (for both 2002 and 2003) with more than 5 months shortages in O Pork. The high average rice insecurity in O Pork is due to 1 family with no land that bought rice all the year and 3-4 others who were short of rice for 6 months for both 2002 and 2003. Some families have enough rice for the whole year, others exchange cash crops for rice and others get it from their relations in lowland villages. This offsets to a certain extent rice shortages as does buying rice with the income from the cash crops. Table 20 gives the period of average period of rice shortage and foods other than rice that families said they most lacked. 

Table 20: Rice and other food shortages

Area name

Period of Rice Shortage

Shortage of other foods

 

2002 –

Months

No. of respond-

ents

2003 –

Months

No. of respond-

ents

Fish

Meat

Veget-ables

Sugar

Other

O Laok

1.6

4

2.25

6

8

8

 

7

7

O Pork

5.4

7

5.2

7

11

10

8

1

1

Chom Phkar

2.7

9

3.2

8

10

10

 

4

 

Anlong Khting

2

6

1.12

8

10

10

4

 

 

Total average rice shortage

3.1

25

2.9

29

 

 

 

 

 

Total no. of times mentioned

 

 

 

 

39

38

12

12

8

 

3.9.   Forest livelihoods

As discussed in contrast to the original forest based livelihoods only 3 families out of 39 interviewed said they collect resin, with one family saying they only had 3 trees. The other 2 families who collected resin commercially originally came from Choam Svay village. One family said they had 400 trees, and the other had 1000 trees and earned 300,000r/month. Some remnant resin trees have been left standing in the chamka plots (in O Laok) and along roads which are still tapped. Two kinds of resin was collected – Chor tik (cher tiel, liquid resin) and Chor chong (dry resin). People also collect wood, fruit, vines, rattan, medicine, etc. In the past also people used to collect krakor (a kind of cardamom) for sale. This grew on the red soil areas but as these have now been cleared there is very little krakor left. Cardamom can also be planted under bananas, jackfruit and other fruit trees. Table 21 gives the main NTFPs that interviewees said they used from the forest. Forests that people use include Prey Domnak Sdach, which is in between Chom Phkar and Andoung Pring villages (See description of Chom Phkar Area). The other forest area that people mentioned was Prey Long.

Table 21: The Use of Forest Products by families interviewed.

Area name

Fruit

Wood

Resin

Seng*

Soung

**

Vines

Ratt

an

Bamboo

Medic

ine

Don’t use NTFPs

O Laok

1

3

1

1

 

1

 

 

 

2

O Pork

1

7

 

 

 

2

1

 

1

4

Chom Phkar

7

2

1 (dry resin)

1

4

4

3

1

 

2

Anlong Khting

1

3

 

3

1

2

 

 

2

3

Total no. of times mentioned

10

16

2

5

5

11

4

1

3

11

* Seng - For making walls of a house.

** Soung - Leaves for making the roof of a house.

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