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Cambodia
Prak village: more food, more resilient
In Cambodia’s north-eastern province of Rata-nakiri, many of the indigenous small-holders struggle to make a living, and to produce enough
food to eat. Over the past decade, reduced availability of land and non-timber forest products, as well as increased frequency of hazards, have made the situation even more precarious. Annâdya, an EU-funded food security
project led by ULB1, aimed to improve conditions by introducing appropriate farming and conservation techniques to farmers. As the case of Prak village and Mr Kham Thong shows, the results have exceeded expectations - making it a
shining example of rural development.
The road to Prak, a village in Ochum district
some 25 kilometres outside the provincial
capital of Banlung is as rough as the conditions
under which the 161 Prak families live here:
bumpy and dusty in the dry season or muddy in
the wet. Members of the Tampuan people - one
of the seven indigenous peoples in this part of
north-eastern Cambodia, they have no school,
no health facility, and no power supply. Making
matters worse, Prak has been strongly affected
by forest clearance and conversion to cash-crop
production over the past ten years. With the
surrounding forests, the abundant and safe food
supply that they provided gradually vanished. “In
the past, we could find enough food in the
forest”, explain villagers. “But now almost none is
left. So we had to sell our labour force and cash
crops in order to buy our food. But it is
expensive, and we often fell sick because much is
dirty and full of pesticides - which meant we had
to pay twice: once for the food and once for the
healthcare.” Prior to the start of the Annâdya
project, the lean season extended over a
staggering 24 weeks.
From skeptic to champion
During 2012, the first year of the Annâdya
project, 13% of the population joined activities
as ‘cooperative farmers’. Fifteen households
started to set up fenced chicken-raising units,
while two had a pond and joined in the fish-
raising activity promoted by the project. A
handful more families, amongst them the family
of Kham Thong, tested the System of Rice
Intensification (SRI)2 in their lowland fields.
1
November 2014
!Mid-term review of the Annâdya project (Cambodia/Laos) !Against many odds, a fight for food security
This project is funded byThe European Union
!
!Mid-term review of the Annâdya project (Cambodia/Laos) !Against many odds, a fight for food security
This project is funded byThe European Union
!
Kham Thong, one of Prak’s farmer-promoters, shows his pond and vegetable garden. Fed from two large community ponds, he and his family can now produce fish and vegetables irrespective of rainfall patterns - but greater food security is just one of the
benefits. Photo: C. Delannoy
ULB is the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
The System of Rice Intensification is one of the several techniques promoted by Annâdya. It involves up to twelve steps such as regular weeding, better seed selection, and different spacing. For a brief description of the method, see: http://www.future-agricultures.org/farmerfirst/files/T1c_Uphoff.pdf
1.
2.
“When I tried the SRI system with Annâdya, I
had not much hope”, says Kham. “But I asked
myself: do I want my life to remain as it is, or do I
want it to improve? And I decided it had to
improve, so I had to take a risk and try.”
By the second year of the project, Prak was
chosen to set up a community nursery to supply
villagers with fruit trees and plant seedlings.
With its small lake nearby and a stronger
community bond than in many other villages,
Prak displayed two essential assets for this
activity.
Amongst the fifteen families who registered for
the activity, Kham Thong quickly stood out as a
dynamic farmer and committed leader. Nursery
members received technical training in fruit tree
crafting and bamboo seedlings, and the project
set up an irrigated facility with villagers’
contribution.
Meanwhile, Kham’s dynamism and promising
results led him to become one of the three
Annâdya farmer-promoters3 in his village, a role
he took on very seriously. He mobilized villagers
to request Annâdya to dig two community ponds
in order to better cope with erratic water
availability throughout the dry season.
Early success
Aside from being one of the main work
contributors at the community nursery, Kham
initiated a production unit at his homestead.
When the project launched its first Provincial
Agricultural Trade Fair in March 2014, he used
the opportunity to sell his plant seedlings and
managed to earn USD 150 (more than his
average monthly income).
Based on his commitment and leadership skills,
in July 2013 Annâdya selected Kham to
participate in an exchange visit to Takeo
province. At this occasion, Kham met Mr Rous
Mao, who, despite being illiterate and having as
few assets as him, became one of CEDAC’s4
most successful and best-known farmers and
trainers. Upon his return to Prak, Kham
2
!Mid-term review of the Annâdya project (Cambodia/Laos) !Against many odds, a fight for food security
This project is funded byThe European Union
!
Aerial view of Prak village
This view of central Prak village from the air shows 24 of the 34 household ponds and vegetable gardens (high-lighted by orange dots) that were established after promotion by the
Annâdya project. Photo: P. Bolte
Annâdya selected the farmer-promoters (who acted both as a village-level counterpart of the projects’s extension officers and as multiplicators) based on merit: rather than appointing farmer-promoters immediately, they were only selected once they demonstrated sound application of new techniques.
CEDAC - the Centre d’Etudes et de Développement Agricole Cambodgien - is the rural development NGO who is one of the partners behind Annâdya in Cambodia..
3.
4.
immediately set up a plastic-sheet pond to raise
fish and connected it to a homestead garden, an
activity he saw in Takeo. He also requested to
build a solar dryer in order to process some of
his products, and tested edible insect-raising
units, two activities designed by Annâdya.
Into the mainstream
Within just a couple of months, Kham convinced
33 other families to apply this integrated home-
gardening/fish-raising concept - providing
stable food supply throughout the dry season.
He was also elected by villagers to lead the first
micro-finance group set up with project
assistance. With 74 members and almost USD
1,000 of savings, the group quickly grew so big
that it was divided into three sub-groups (one
for men and two for women).
Prak - a model village
By July 2014, Prak had become a model village
and was selected to host the EU Delegation visit
to the Annâdya project, which made villagers
very proud and further encouraged them in their
efforts. On the usual cost-sharing basis, the
villagers then submitted a new collective request
to Annâdya to set up a community water
management system, as well as a community
shop. Villagers decided the community shop
should be built at Kham’s homestead, while the
recently completed water supply system now
connects the two collective ponds to each
household that has set up a plastic-sheet pond
linked to a home-garden.
Water supply also facilitated hygiene improve-
ments in the village, and several households have
put in place the recommended fixed point with
soap and water at their home. Unsurprisingly,
Kham led the way when he equipped his home
with the first water tab and latrine in the village.
Success factors
As the Annâdya project concludes, 117 out of
the 161 households in Prak (73%) are involved in
Figure 2 shows the results of a livelihoods analysis exercise conducted in Prak with a focus group in the course of the final evaluation. The charts show how both food and income sources have become more diverse. The particularly high increase of vegetables is largely attributable to the promoted home-gardening activities.
5.
3
!Mid-term review of the Annâdya project (Cambodia/Laos) !Against many odds, a fight for food security
This project is funded byThe European Union
!
10%
10%
25%
35%
20%
Rice cultivationOther crops, vegetablesAnimal productionNTFP collectionOther sources
10%
10%
20%
25%
35%
Figure 2 | Increased diversity of incomes and food sources5
...for income-generation ...as a food source
Small inner circle: 2011 retrograde assessmentLarge outer circle: 2014 final evaluation
10%
40%
15%
10%
25%
10%
45%10%
10%
25%
Figure 1 | Improved food security throughout the seasons
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
January February March April May June July August September October November December
A lot more food than needed
A fair bit more food than needed
A little bit more food than needed
Supply equals demand
A little bit less food than needed
A fair bit less food than needed
A lot less food than needed
2014 2011
The results of group-based food security analyses in Annâdya project villages visited for the final project evaluation show that food production has increased and that the lean period has been significantly shortened.
Proportional relevance of...
“Before the project,
people worked on their
own. Now, we work
together – in laying the
water system, in
savings groups, and in
community shops.”
Prak villager during focus group
discussion, when asked about the
most significant changes
various activities supported by Annâdya (on
average, each household is involved in three
such activities). The external evaluation of the
project identified several factors behind this
encouraging uptake - amongst them a) a project
management that thoroughly assessed and
addressed pressing local needs, b) a highly
effective field-level implementation based on
frequent and in-depth support and the use of
successful farmer-promoters, and c) strong local
leadership (as displayed by Kham) and
community dynamics.
Tangible results
While it can be reasonably expected that the full
impact of the Annâdya project will only emerge
in coming years (many activities are too recent
to have created their full potential), three key
results have been found through the evaluation.
First, the various activities have led to an
increase in food production to the extent that it
not only compensated the experienced loss of
non-timber forest products (NTFP), but indeed
led to a net positive trend in food supply (see
figures 1 and 3).
Second, the project led to a diversification of
food and income sources - an important element
from the perspectives of nutrition and resilience
(see figure 2).
Third, Annâdya greatly enhanced food security in
that it somewhat un-coupled the trends in
weather and hazards from trends in living
conditions in general and and nutritional intake
in particular. Greater yields (as an example, see
Kham Thong’s increased rice yields after
applying SRI in figure 4), more diversity, better
conservation and the availability of water year-
around have been the ‘ingredients’ for this un-
coupling that is a crucial element of resilience.
Into the future
Returning to farmer-promoter Kham Thong, he
already prepares his next move as the second
Trade Fair approaches: in addition to the
bamboo and plant seedlings he sold last year, he
now plans to sell dried leaves, vegetables and
fruits he produces with his solar dryer - as well
as processed food (such as pickled vegetables,
tofu and soya milk) that his family learned to
produce with the help of Annâdya.
4
Figure 3 | Perceived trends over the past three years
1
2
3
4
5
2012 2013 2014
Rice cultivationOther crops, vegetablesNTFPFood securityIncomeWater
Very good
Good
Average
Poor
Very poor
This publication was produced for Annâdya by Banyaneer, a consultancy that
specializes in the reinforcement of community resilience across South & South-East Asia. See www.banyaneer.com for more information.
Source: Trend analysis conducted as part of the external evaluation in December 2014.
!Mid-term review of the Annâdya project (Cambodia/Laos) !Against many odds, a fight for food security
This project is funded byThe European Union
!
Figure 4 | Rice yields of Kham Thong
SRISRISRI Non-SRINon-SRINon-SRI
Overall harvest (kg)
Harvest (kg)
Plot size (ha)
Yield (t/ha)
Harvest (kg)
Plot size (ha)
Yield (t/ha)
Overall harvest (kg)
2012 264 0.05 5.28 1,416 0.35 4.05 1,680
2013 540 0.10 5.40 1,380 0.30 4.60 1,920
2014 2,760 0.40 6.90 - no longer applied - - no longer applied - - no longer applied - 2,760
After initial skepticism and careful
testing of the SRI method on a small
share of his field, Kham Thong doubled
the share on which he applied SRI in
the second year. Encouraged by the results of first two years, he fully
converted to SRI in 2014 - a step for
which he was rewarded with a huge
increase in harvested rice.
What is Annâdya?
Annâdya, which is Sanskrit for
‘the happiness of having enough
food to eat’, is a food security
project targeting poor
indigenous small-holders in the
provinces of Ratanakiri
(Cambodia) and Attapeu (Laos).
Funded by the European Union
under its ‘Technology Transfer
for Food Security in Asia
(TTFSA)’ programme, the project
is being implemented by three
universities in collaboration with
local partners. For more
information , see
www.annadya.org or contact
Mrs Annick Schubert
