Around 80 % of the Cambodian population lives in the rural areas, and they make their living primarily through agriculture, especially rice cultivation. Agriculture represents the largest share of both GDP and employment. Most of the 250,000 people joining the national workforce annually must be absorbed into the agricultural sector. To improve the socio-economic situation in rural areas of Cambodia, the following key issues should be addressed in rural development policies and strategies:
w Problems related to food insecurity[2] and malnutrition are still widespread in Cambodia, especially due to low rice productivity, limited options for agricultural diversification, insufficient income to buy food among poor and landless farmers, lack of access to land resources to produce food, as well as limited awareness on how best to maintain nutrition and health.
w Increasing numbers of rural youth are facing an uncertain future, as non-agriculture employment opportunities are limited, and they are not equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to create or exploit other economic opportunities.
w Farmer organisations have slowly emerged, especially with support from NGOs, Government, and bilateral projects, but they are still fragmented. Also, they have not developed in terms of coherent policy and collective action for the economic benefit of the farmers, especially in the field of marketing and credit.
w Limited access to technical information and agricultural materials/inputs, especially piglets, seeds, seedlings, fingerlings, and market information, pose constraints on agricultural diversification and the development of more market-oriented family agriculture.
w Problems related to agrochemical use in Cambodia, especially pesticides, are still widespread in many parts of the country due to uneven law enforcement, loose control over the importation of illegal pesticide, and a lack of adequate public education and awareness programs, as well as limited research and outreach on environment and health-friendly agriculture. This poses potential food safety hazards for consumers and producers alike.
w Very limited or unreliable access to water is widespread in farming communities mainly due to a lack of investment in small and medium-scale irrigation, and limited capacity of the community to operate and maintain the irrigation systems.
w Domestic insecurity at the community level is widespread, especially the theft of livestock, making farmers feel uncertain about making investments in agricultural development. This also negatively affects communal solidarity and trust.
The following recommendations focus on strategic approaches to address food insecurity, poverty, and social issues among farmers in rural areas of Cambodia:
1. In order to solve the problem of rice food insecurity, we strongly recommend that the priority of agricultural development programs should be disseminating the principles of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) throughout the rice farming communities in Cambodia[3], and to support farmer training and farmer-to-farmer extension. In addition, crop diversification within integrated farming systems should be encouraged as a strategy to improve nutrition and income for small farm households.
2. Experience has shown that self-help and community-based producer organizations, (e.g., farmer associations or cooperatives, saving groups, etc.) are keys to rural development in Cambodia, as they bring economic benefits to small farmers and enable farmers to play effective roles in overall community development. Thus, existing programs with participatory approaches to assist farmers to organize themselves (e.g., Farmer and Nature Net) should be assessed and further developed for nationwide support of farmer organizations. We also recommend that training centres run by farmers’ organizations be established with NGO support, to provide responsible and practical training services to representatives of farmer organizations.
3. Rural education should be improved to respond to the needs of the rural youth, especially in term of agricultural skills, environmental conservation, and community development. In addition, community-based professional and vocational training programs and training centres for rural youth should be supported.
4. Widespread public awareness and education programs on sanitation, health and nutrition – particularly vegetable production and consumption - and raising animals to prevent diseases including bird flu and mad cow disease should be supported. This requires strong cooperation among the agriculture, health and education sectors.
5. Resources for agricultural research and extension should not be organized in terms of ‘transfer of packages of technology’ to farmers, but rather how to support farmer experimentation and farmer-to-farmer sharing and learning, as well as the establishment of community-based input supply enterprises (seeds, piglets, fingerlings, etc.).
6. The subsidization of fertilizers and pesticides with donor money should be stopped as this practice does not help to improve the lives of small farmers in the long run; instead it will make farmers dependent on external aid and external inputs, while also having some adverse impacts on the environment. The content of agricultural extension should include some training in basic business management, marketing, saving/credit, and organizational skills. Donors should support the implementation of laws eliminating illegal pesticide use. Donors should also support research on the environmental and health impacts of pesticide and chemical fertilizers.
7. At this stage of rural development in Cambodia, external financial resources could be used more productively by investing in small and medium-scale irrigation systems which are manageable by farmers themselves, and the capacity of the water using community itself should be developed by using a genuinely participatory approach.
For more information on the issues raised in this paper, please contact:
Centre d’Etude et de Developpement Agricole Cambodgien (CEDAC),
Tel: 023 880-916, Email: cedac@camnet.com.kh
Lutheran World Federation Cambodia Program, E-mail: prog@lwfcam.org.kh
[1] Prepared by CEDAC, with input from Oxfam America, Oxfam GB, JVC
[2] According to data from Ministry of Planning (2005), the proportion of population below the food poverty line is estimated to be around 20 % in 2005.
[3] As of 2005, around 50,000 farmers are using SRI methods to improve rice productivity. With increased rice productivity (50 to 150 % increase), they are able to diversify part of their rice fields to other crops and species.
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