A Study of the Farming Livelihoods on the Red Soils of
O Pork, O Laok, Chom Phkar and Anlong Khting ‘Areas’ (Villages),
Mean Rith Commune, Sandan District, Kompong Thom Province.
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1. Introduction
This report documents the livelihoods of the communities now living on the red soil areas of Mean Rith Commune Sandan District, Kampong Thom Province. There have been rumours of a 6,000 – 10,000 hectares red soil area of the Colexim concession in Mean Rith commune has been allocated for rubber, as has happened in the neighbouring Tum Ring Commune. This report documents the livelihoods of the people living on the red soils in the area that could be targeted for rubber planting. This hopefully may be used for advocacy for local people and for understanding and assessing the potential social, economic and environmental impacts of rubber developments.
The established villages of the area – Chaom Svay, Sam Aung, Rang Knay, Trapeang Tralach and Boeng depend on lowland and upland farming and on forest resources, particularly tree resin. They have grown upland crops on these red soil areas since the mid 1980s. Since 2000-2001 there has been considerable migration into this area by people from other parts of Sandan District and from other parts of Cambodia. This has resulted in the clearing of nearly all the forest on the red soils of the area and their almost total conversion to cash cropping. This land clearing was driven partly by the new road into the area built by Colexim logging company and by the land speculation caused by the rubber developments in Tum Ring Commune.
The objectives of this study are therefore;
1.1. Background - Rubber Development in Cambodia and in Tum Ring Commune
The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries has been ordered to facilitate the development of rubber plantations throughout Cambodia.[1] In August 2000, the Cambodian Government announced a policy of promoting “family-scale rubber plantations” in order to contribute to Cambodia’s rural development. Family scale development projects were intended by the Cambodian Government to be voluntary projects which would ensure livelihood security, land tenure, and technical assistance for those participating in the schemes.
In line with Government policy to promote new rubber plantations, areas of red soil have been identified which are either under cultivation by local people, or are located in forested areas, mostly in the north and northeast of Cambodia where different indigenous groups live. Government plans for red soil areas are reported to include Sunweeve and Oriental Grass rubber plantation in Pailin Municipality for 5,000 hectares; Seng Keang Co. Rubber plantation in Sandan District, Kompong Thom province for 10,000 hectares; Heng Brothers Co. Ltd. rubber plantation in Nhang Commune, Andong Meas District, Ratanakiri for 10,000 to 15,000 hectares; and Marubeni in O Reang and Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri Province for 10,000 hectares (COHCHR, 2004)
While agreements may have already been made, it is likely any announcements will be made once certain subdecrees, prakas etc have been formally approved. The relevant prakas and subdecrees outlined in the forest law include:
Subdecree on measures authorizing the use of forestlands for reforestation (with rubber or "traditional" fast growing species)
Prakas on Private Forests
Subdecree on procedures for creation, classification, registration and decommissioning of permanent forest properties (like the "degraded" forest areas in Mean Rith) (A Cock pers. comm.)
Tum Ring Commune (next door to Mean Rith also in Sandan District) has already seen major rubber developments since February 2001 when a 6,200 hectare rubber concession was awarded to the Chup Rubber Plantation Company.[2] The Sandan Asst District Chief said that the Government took 4,800 ha of the 6,200 ha of red soil area in Tum Ring Commune, which has affected 500 families. The money to pay for this development the Asst DC said came from $70,000 which the Government took from the $2 million that Chup earned from their business.
The Asst. District Chief also said he had been talking with the rubber company officials who said that the price of rubber has risen lately to $1600 per tonne for dry latex and raw latex was now worth $500/t. Income after 7 years from planting would be $500/ha rising to $1000/ha when the trees are 10 years old. Rubber company officials said that a 3 year rubber plantation development could be worth $3,000 per ha (Toeur Veasna pers. comm.). The Asst. District Chief said that people in Tum Ring will be rich in a few years time and he liked the government initiative to promote family scale rubber plantation. He said this was the right thing to do to reduce poverty in Tum Ring.
With the clearing of these forests however the livelihood change forced on approximately 2000 people inhabiting 8 villages is a period of difficult adjustment, into an uncertain future dependent on Chup company and fluctuating international rubber markets. Prior to rubber development local people relied on shifting agriculture, and NTFP collection. Many villagers tapped resin trees throughout the surrounding forest. One of the costs of the forest clearing (and illegal logging) has been the long term loss of these resin trees. This forest clearing however proved to be a windfall for the the Seng Keang company that carried it out, with a reported $20 million profit from selling and transporting the logs using firewood collection permits requiring negligible royalty payments.
Most (but not all) families in the villages so far affected in Tum Ring have been allocated land (3ha) for “family-scale rubber plantations”. There are now reports however of many families selling their 3ha back to the Chup company after realizing that they can’t wait 7-10 years while the rubber trees become established and start producing. People in Tum Ring Commune also say that they don’t have the knowledge nor can they afford the fertilizer (that the company is applying) to make their trees grow well and they are not receiving the technical assistance that was promised when they were first told about this smallholder rubber development. The community was poorly prepared or even aware of the consequences of rubber development in their commune.
1.2. Methodology
Two visits were made to Mean Rith at the end of June and the end of July 2004. The first visit was to collect largely PRA type data and the second visit was to conduct more in depth interviews with 40 families living in the 4 unofficial ‘Areas’ (Kh – Dambon) of O Pork, O Laok, Chom Phkar and Anlong Khting Areas (See Appendix 2 for people meet with and Appendix 3 for interview questions)
The first visit included 4 people Mr Toeur Veasna and Mr Jeremy Ironside (Mlup Baidong (MB) researchers), Mr. Puth Bon Kong (Director of CoDec an NGO who works in Mean Rith) and Mr. Srey Sang Kheng (Mean Rith Commune Councillor). Meetings were held in all 4 ‘Areas’ on the red soils in the area. Information was collected mainly through focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews, but also included sketch mapping, trend analysis and field walks. The second visit included 2 MB researchers (Mr Toeur Veasna and Mr. Chhun Vanthoeurn) conducting 39 family level interviews, as per Table 1.
Between 8-12 households were randomly selected from each area for interview. The interviewees were chosen using the village family list by choosing a random starting point and then selecting every 20th name on the village list. Due to time constraints and difficulties of meeting interviewees the researchers chose households to interview as they met them at their houses or in their fields in Chom Phkar and Anlong Khting Areas. Not all families gave full answers to the questionnaire. Fewer responses mean that the information presented here contains some distortions. To check the information it was compared with other red soil areas in the country where the first author has worked. Averages were proportionally calculated.
Table 1: Number of families involved in interviews and group discussions.
Area |
No. of families |
No. of villagers involved in group discussions |
No. households interviewed |
O Pork |
Over 207 |
10 villagers, elders and committee members (mainly men) |
12 – (6 women, 6 men)* |
O Laok |
Over 200 |
15 including the Chief and Assistant Chief of the krom (women and men) |
8 – (5 women, 3 men) |
Chom Phkar |
115 |
12 villagers and committee members (women and men) |
10 – (6 women, 4 men) |
Anlong Khting |
146 |
23 including the Chief and Assistant Chief of the krom (mainly men) |
10 – (4 women, 6 men) |
* There were 40 respondents but 39 were families interviewed a husband and wife were interviewed separately
1.3. Scope of the Research
Following the TOR for this study (See Appendix 1) this research has focused only on the livelihoods of people who are living on the red soil areas of Mean Rith Commune. People interviewed included both inhabitants from established villages in the area and people who have in-migrated into the area in the recent past. This research did not look closely at forest based livelihood activities because the livelihoods of the people on the red soils in Mean Rith are based overwhelmingly on cash cropping with only limited use of the surrounding forest areas. It is clear however that the development of cash cropping, the clearing of forest areas and cutting of resin trees in the recent past has resulted in the destruction of other forest based activities that local communities in the area carried out.[3]