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3.      Mean Rith ‘Areas’ (Villages)[1]

These ‘Areas’ consist of scattered family chamka plots with some remnant trees and scattered clumps of forest. There are several small and 2 large roads in the area. One of these larger roads cuts through Chom Phkar Area built by the Mine Li Heng logging company and the other leading from Tum Ring through O Pork and O Laok Areas, built by Colexim logging company.

4.1.   Chom Phkar Area

This village mainly came from the neighbouring Andoung Pring village, which is 7-8 km away through Prey Domnak Sdach forest, which separates the 2 villages. Originally, during the Sihanouk era, there was a pagoda near the present Mien Li Heng road called –  Wat Srie Po. Other villages in the area at the time included – Pork, Kep, Srie Dong. People started returning to this area in 1983-85. In 1993 there were 40 families. Mien Li Heng forest concession company cut a road through the middle of peoples chamkas.

The village consists of 115 families with an average land area of around 4 ha per family, though some of the newer families have only 1-2 ha. Villagers said that the maximum size of landholding in Chom Phkar was 5 ha.  Six new families have come recently from Sandan District. Chom Phkar villagers want their village to be recognised officially and are worried about the plans they have heard (and seen in Tum Ring) about a company coming and taking their land. Villagers said they value land more than money and the $100 - $200 they would get if a company or the Government took their land would not be sufficient compensation. Villagers also want to establish a school. The only organisation that works in Chom Phkar is CoDec.

4.1.1.      Livelihoods

People mainly grow soy and mung beans, rice, bananas, sesame and corn. New land is planted in rice first then in soy bean and corn.The area has lowland paddy areas and 50-60 families have some lowland rice land, even though each family’s area is small. Some people are expanding their areas and people need both upland and lowland rice to have enough for most of the year. Paddy areas include;

Generally families are short of rice from Kduk (May) onwards around 3-4 months. In 1993 rice shortage was longer (7-8 months) and people generally agreed they are managing to make a reasonable living growing rice and cash crops these days. People say they lack seed for planting fruit trees.

4.1.2.      Logging/resin collection/forest products

The sketch map that the villagers drew included a large area of forest on white soils between Chom Phkar and Andoung Pring, which the villagers would like to establish as a community forest. Around 5 families tap resin trees in the village with around 200-250 trees each. Jong and Tik (Cher tiel) resin is collected. The logging company has been responsible for cutting a lot of resin trees. One villager said he lost 70 trees. A lot of trees (pdiek trees) were cut in the forest and left, especially in 1999. At this time logging was closed and logs were cut in the forest waiting for permission to start logging again, but logging was not reopened. In the past there was a lot of honey in the forests and some of the big trees had 50-60 hives. Now all the big trees are gone. There are also less tree flowers. Wildlife populations are also very poor. There are a very few pigs, but gaur, tigers, elephants, even samba deer are gone since the logging company operated in the area. Electric shock fishing also increased dramatically when the logging company was working in the area. 

4.2.   Anlong Khting Area

People in this village come from villages such as

1.      Cher Tiel, Popul Commune – the original village (near the Stung Sen) of a majority of families.

2.      Mean Rith, Mean Rith Commune – near Stung Sen

3.      Kalang, O Pour Commune

4.      Col, Tum Ring Commune 

5.      Some people have come from Kampong Cham and Kampong Thom

Historically people came to this area with good soils to escape the uncertainty of lowland farming along the Stung Sen which seems to be very flood prone, with poor sandy soils and small areas of land per family. People first came here in 1972 after a disastrous flood on the Stung Sen. In 1979 people left the Anlong Khting area because of the insecurity. The trend analysis below shows the numbers of families who returned and the increase since then.

Table 22: Trend Analysis of Anlong Khting Area

Anlong Khting – Livelihood activities over time

1992-94

1997-98

Present

In 5 years?

Number of families 30 70 146 200
Percentage of families collecting tree resin 10% 0% 0% 0%
Reliance of families on chamkar 70% 80% 100% 100%
Reliance of families on lowland rice 20% 20% 0 0
Quantity and reliance on fish stocks in the area 0 0 0 0
Quantity of Wildlife in the area 30% 10% 1% 0%
Illegal forest activities/logging 0% 100% 10% Not sure
Reliance and numbers of cows and buffaloes 0 0 0 0

During the early 1970s and later in the 1990s families still maintained some links with the lowland rice fields in their former villages. This was partly because when people first returned they only farmed very small areas 50-60m as they wanted to keep together as they were afraid of the Khmer Rouge (KR). As the trend analysis above shows these links with former villages have now decreased and while some people still maintain links with former lowland rice fields people are now largely dependent on what they produce on their upland fields. In some cases there is a division of labour where one part of the family will do the lowland farming and the other part will do the cash cropping.

The village area measures 3 kms from one boundary to the other. A large number of families have over 4 ha of land, and people who came later have smaller areas. The value of the land is $150-300 per ha depending on whether and how well the seller and buyer know each other. 

A major problem for growing cash crops is the lack of a good road. If there is too much rain the truck cannot get into this area. Villagers said that if there was reliable transportation they could grow crops like ash gourd for sale to local markets.

The other major problem is the lack of water in the dry season. Villagers rely on 3-4 wells dug in stream beds, with up to 50-60 families relying on one well. A new privately owned 20m deep well was recently dug this year. Papaya commonly die and lack of water seriously inhibits raising of pigs and the keeping of cows. The large numbers of mosquitos in the area are reportedly another problem for cattle raising. People do however keep small numbers of cows and pigs.

Many families did not have a mosquito net and they requested assistance for this. The village leaders had been measuring peoples land in Anlong Khting village during our visit at the request of the Commune Chiefs. CoDec visits monthly and assists the villagers with community organisation and in their attempts to be an officially recognised village.

4.2.1.      Livelihoods

People considered their most important crop to be rice followed by soy beans. In land area however 70% of some farms may be planted in soy beans. Peanuts, corn, bananas, mung beans, sesame, cowpea, are also grown. Papaya is only grown as a subsistence crop due to the difficulty in getting it to a market. Produce is generally taken to Kampong Tmor.

There is only enough lowland rice area for a very few families. Remarkably as an indication of the fertility of these soils we visited one farm where upland rice had been planted on the same piece of land for 16 years with no decrease in yield. The same applied to corn and the farmer said he saw no reason to change the sites where he always grows the same crops.

People say that cashew nut trees can be eaten by termites in this soil as there are a lot of hollows in the soil. They are being planted though also on white soils in Klien village. 

4.2.2.      Forest Livelihoods

In the past people tapped resin, with some families having 250 trees or more now the trees are gone. Logging began in this area in 1992 (cutting Beng and Tgnung) and in 1997 logging began to be really intensive. 

4.3.   Samaki O Pork Area

O Pork village has been in existence since the 1960s. A lot of the resin trees in the immediate area were cut as far back as 1964-65. In 1968-69 after the resin trees had gone people collected vines and rattan. In 1972 the KR distributed land to cadres for growing cotton and sugar cane, cassava and corn on about 70-80 hectares of land. Later on the KR had a prison (and killing field) here. 

The fallow areas that were used by the KR can still be seen. After the war people began settling here during the state of Cambodia. Most of the people in a group discussion conducted came to the area in the early 1990s. People were attracted here by the fertile soil and the chance of making a good living. People came from Sam Aung village, where the soil is poor and sandy, Tum Ring, Kampong Thom, Kampong Cham, Takeo, etc. Presently in O Pouk around 30% of the families come from Sam Aung. They go back to their village after the cropping season, about 7-8 kms.

The Colexim company started operating here in 1998. When they arrived they began saying that the Government has given them the forest and the land and they began to try and prevent people from planting crops. They confiscated peoples chop hoes and axes. People bought more tools and this banning and confiscating tools was particularly strong in 2000 when the company used soldiers. By 2002 the company had largely stopped its attempt to prevent people planting. Villagers said this was largely because of pressure from NGOs – RPFD and others. Global Witness was also mentioned for its role in putting pressure on the logging company forcing it to conceal its activities by blocking roads etc. Villagers said the company had caused a lot of destruction but was trying to accuse villagers of having caused it.

Mr. Heng Sok, a community committee member in O Pork, said he has the written proposal of Seng Keang company which planned to take 12,000 ha of the area for rubber plantation. An elder in the village said he heard that Seng Keang company want to plant oil palm? in the area. He saw some people came to investigate the land for the plantation. According to villagers the Seng Keang company have said that the company will take their land and they cannot claim land by planting on it. People said they have seen the impact of rubber development in Tum Ring and they are not interested in something like that happening here. Villagers also reported that they can hear the sound of illegal chainsaws day and night. There are about 15 to 20 small trucks carrying wood along the main road every day. 

Presently O Pork area consists of 207 families. The trend analysis below shows the increase in population over time. Around 15-20 Tum Ring families from Ronteah village have asked O Pork if they can do swidden along Tik Tlar stream which is recognized locally as the border between Mean Rith and Tum Ring Communes. Other families from outside the area have also cleared land closer to O Pork. Outsiders are still moving into the area despite any official recognition.

Table 23: Trend Analysis of O Pork Area

Samaki O Pork – Livelihood activities over time

1979

1991-94

1997-98

Present

In 5 years

Number of families 30-40 60 120 Over 207 350
Percentage of families collecting tree resin 100% 90% 0% 0% 0%
Reliance of families on chamkar 0 10% 100% 100% 100%
Reliance of families on lowland rice 0 0 0 0 0
Quantity and reliance on fish stocks in the area 0 0 0 0 0
Quantity of Wildlife in the area 50% 30% 30% 0% 0%
Illegal forest activities/logging 0% 0% 80% 100% Not sure
Reliance and numbers of cows and buffaloes 0 0 0 0 0

4.3.1.      Villagers’ problems

Main problems include – no school, lack of wells/water sources, no hospital, malaria and drought. In the past a lot of young children and older people died of malaria. Distance to water sources is a major problem in the dry season. Apart from obvious problems of supplying water for the household, there is not enough water in the dry season to water any large number of fruit trees. The soil is porous and dries out quickly and bananas stems simply broke this last dry season due to the dry conditions. 

4.3.2.      Livelihoods

In O Pork there is no paddy land. People generally grow around a hectare of rice and a hectare of soy beans, both crops seem to be equally important. Other crops include the usual – sesame, corn, mung beans, peanuts, bananas, cowpea, etc.

In 2003 the growing season was reported as good with adequate rain and good crops of sesame. This year the rains for the first half of the wet season have been disastrous. Rains also seem to be very localized and villagers said they don’t remember it being like that in the past. People had to plant corn and sesame twice and even after the second planting a lot of the crop died. People generally keep their seed but often they have to buy in seed if theirs doesn’t sprout. Planting the same crop twice significantly increases costs as the price of seed rockets. Sesame seed this year increased to 8000-10,000riels/kg for the second planting. A black seeded short duration variety from Pailin being the more expensive. 

Average land holdings from a small sample of 10 participants in a group discussion was 3.8 ha (see also Table 8). People said that only 10% of families have over 4 ha with 7 ha being the biggest holding. People also said that many families have a lot of children and by the time they divide their land amongst their children the plots will not be very big.

Some planting of fruit trees that don’t need a lot of watering in the dry season is happening – jackfruit, mango. Keeping cows is also difficult because of lack of water.

4.4.   O Laok Area

People arrived in this area as early as 1981. At that time there were a lot of wild animals – gaur, elephants. These have disappeared with the arrival of the logging company, the road and since a high value has been put on the price of gaur horns. Many gaur were shot in this area. Villagers would like to see some efforts made to allowing some of these animals to come back. Villagers also reported there has been some serious electric shock fishing in Chum Svay village.

In the beginning people would come and work on their land and then go home at night to their villages (Chum Svay and Sam Aung villages are around 7 kms away). People would plant chillies, corn, eggplant and didn’t consider planting rice. The earliest people around 1992 were about 20 families from Chum Svay who had lost their buffaloes during the KR period. Sam Aung villagers came later. After about 1993 people stopped returning to their original villages. One of the reasons why people from Chum Svay moved here was because the low fertility of their lowland rice fields. There was an increase in movement of villagers from other Sandan District villages since 1995.

The provisional authorities in the village do not actually know how many people are in the village. There are around 65 families from Chum Svay and 30 families from Sam Aung. Around 40-60 families have come from outside the area – Kampong Thom, Kampong Cham. 

There is a process of registration going on initiated by the Commune and over 100 families had already registered on the provisional village list. However people are afraid to register and thumbprint documents because they have heard that the Government might want to take their land and they are afraid they will thumbprint a document that allows this. This will leave the villagers vulnerable but they would rather hide than register. The trend analysis below describes the increase in population in the area and other changes in peoples’ livelihoods.

Table 24: Trend Analysis of O Laok Area

O Laok- Livelihood activities over time

1981

1992

1995-98

1999

Present

In 5 years

Number of families 15 40 60 100 Over 200 400
Percentage of families collecting tree resin 100% 40% 30% 0% 0% 0%
Reliance of families on chamka 0 60% 70% 100% 100% 100% and plant fruit trees
Reliance of families on lowland rice 0 0 0 0 0 0
Quantity and reliance on fish stocks in the area 100% 50% 50% 0% 0% 0%
Quantity of Wildlife in the area 100% 50% 30% 0% 0% 0%
Illegal forest activities/logging 0% 0% 0% 100% 100% Not sure
Reliance and numbers of cows and buffaloes 0 0 0 0 0 0

Villagers would like to build a dam at the bridge on the Laok stream for drinking water and keeping animals. They say it would also be a place for tourists. There is a water measuring device near the bridge over O Laok. Some wells have been dug and range in depth from 10-21m deep.

4.4.1.      Livelihoods

Average land holdings are between 2-4 ha, with only a small number of families with land over 5 ha. People in general are short of rice for 3-4 months. Soy beans and rice are both equally important. This year has been very dry and half the crops have been lost. First of all the sesame and mung beans died then the peanuts. People are hoping for a good soy bean season, but have no money to buy seed. Only 4-5 families have resin trees.

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[1] Area and Village will be used interchangeably in this report. Area in Khmer refers to these villages’ unofficial status