Rural Assistance Program Prey Veng (RAP), Cambodia

Our  original moringa farmer group continues to grow and sell their moringa leaves through our partnership with the moringa processsor in the capital city, Phnom Penh.  We now have dozens of farmers waiting to join  our moringa program with the expectaion that growing organic moringa can help them to greatly increase the cash incomes from their small farms.  Perhaps not surprisingly, the committment from the moringa processor in Phnom Penh to purchase ever larger amounts of moringa leaves from additional farmers seems to be, for the time being, too ambitious, at least in the short term. We are hopeful that later this year the capacity of the processor  to purchase our farmers' high quality harvest of moringa leaves will increase so that more farmers and their families can benefit from this program.  In the meantime, we continue to promote organic farming techniues and crop diversification.

Other things...

Our Green Champions team ( from the local high school in Prey Veng province) continues to nurture the tree seedlings along the most recently planted tretch of our Green Champions Program Road. The photos below show our team, in December 2018, checking on the growth of their young trees along that road.  You can learn more about Green Champions in previous program updates. 

Your  generous support continues to change lives in this remote area and we are deeply grateful.

Barbara & Mark Rosasco 

Wells are a vital to  the success of our organic moringa  farmers. The Morimga Program  presents our farmers and their families with a unique opportunity to create a sustainable income stream, something quite rare for subsistence Cambodian farmers.

We have 20 farmers who have been selected  on merit  to receive wells by our local consulting and advisory partners. Each well  costs $280 and each well  will make a profound change in the lives of these farming  families.   

Well drilling should start in January, the start of the dry season, so we are hoping to find sponsors for each of our 20 farmers or our farmers will need to wait , possibly until next year.

Well drilling  has been a long established foundation of our Rural Assistance Program and since our program  Program  began in 2000 , we have drilled and safety tested more than 500 water wells bringing reliable drinking water, at no charge,  to target families ( typically 2 to 4 families share a well) in 43 villages in NE Cambodia.  For many years, we have promoted our own  green farming program as a part  of our quest to provide both  sustainable income to our farmers and as well as a reliable and safe water supply.    Most of our  farmers are illiterate, so our nearly 2 decade focus on “ green farming” and sustainability has  resulted in better environmental hygiene and also higher crop prices to our farmers.  

As we have recently reported, our new organic Moringa program,  is  a group of 50 model farmers,  and 20 of them  still need wells. These farmers stand on the threshold of a revolutionary change, the ability to grow a sustainable cash, organic  crop, organic  moringa,  which is used in Cambodia as  a nutritional supplement. We have negotiated a 5 year contract with a local processor and our 20 farmers are eagerly awaiting their opportunity for a well which is possible only with your support.

Please join us and sponsor one of these 20 wells. Now that the holiday season is fast approaching, consider the “ gift” of a well to your loved one  as a truly memorable and long lasting gift of hope and generosity that will change lives.

Thank you for your kind support.

Barbara & Mark

Links:

• Kasumisou Foundation