Empower Cambodian Communities to Protect Forests

To help the community of Sovanna Baiton reach financial sustainability, Wildlife Alliance helped create a Community Orchard to increase income for community members through the cultivation of high-yield cash crops. The development of the Community Orchard began in 2013, and if projections bear out, the orchard should be fully supporting the community within 3-5 years.

Now in it’s third year of implementation, the communal plantation has seen sustained effective management with the implementation of field activities by the project team with support from the Agriculture Economic Development Committee of the Sovanna Baitong Agriculture Association. The 20-hectare fruit tree orchard has 3,564 trees consisting of durian, longan, rambutan, and jackfruit; most are two years old already. The fruit trees were intercropped with spinach, green spinach, radish and mustard green; also planted were 4,000 pineapples and 254 bananas.

Work at the plantation includes grass cleaning, plowing between the rows, applying fertilizer, fertigation, spraying, treating diseased sapling, and replacing dead saplings. The local people from the village received additional income to help complete this work.

Thanks to your generous support, the community of Sovanna Baitong is on its way to becoming self-sustaining. Farmers like, Nak Sok, who joined the project and gave up slash-and-burn farming in the forest now earn a steady income that has allowed them to build a new home for their large family, send their children to school and generate savings. Most importantly, the family has achieved a level of stability and financial success that they never dreamed would be possible when they lived in the forest.

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