Rural Assistance Program Prey Veng (RAP), Cambodia

Meet One of Our Farmers !

Mr. T, age 46 , is one of our farmer leaders and lives in Tbleng Village, Prey Chhor commune , Kampong Trabek Dristrict , Prey Veng province. He is married and has 4 children, three of whom still live at home.

Mr. T owns 3.5 acres of land, 2.5 are used for rice production and the remaining is used as a homestead.   Mr. T joined our program in April 2014 and he has been trained and coached in technical innovation in organic agriculture by MOAD( our local partner, Mohaleap Organization for Agricultural Development ).

As a model farmer, he has received some incentives from the project such as fish fingerling, vegetable sed, breeding chickens, tree nursery canal rehabilitation and organic fertilizer. After his training , coaching and exchange visit, he has put many of these technical and ecological innovations to use as follows;

1. raised 400 walking catfish
2. created a tre nursery consisting of 350 seedling trees
3. raised 15 chickens and 50 ducks
4. made a movable chicken house to enable chicks to get Vitamin D from sunlight
5. raised 3 cows and one sow( pig ) who is now pregnant
6. makes master feed for animals from jack fruit and water convolvulus plants
7. created a composting pile that is well prepared and compost is stored for use on home garden
8. converted the use of dry paddy rice into germinated paddy rice for chicken feed
9. using organic fertilizer on one acre of rice field , has harvested 1000 kg ( 2200 pounds) of fragrant rice. He was able to sell neighbors about 300 kg at a price of $0.60 per kg . The use of fragrant rice allows for a higher selling price vs regular rice $0.60 vs $0.36 per kg. The remaining 700 kg was processed into Ambok, a kind of mash that is to be sold at the local market.
10. Is growing three kinds of vegetables as cash crop: winter melon, cucumber and sponge gourd.

Since participating with MOAD, Mr. T has successfully practiced vegetable and rice production and with the additional benefit that he has become a valued local resource: neighbors and one local organization have come to learn from him on his farm.

Mr. T's total income from Agriculture in the past year is $ 2,100:

1. Chickens - $ 180
2. Pig-$287
3. Duck - $50
4. Vegetable -$5
5. Paddy rice- $1480

The use of technical innovation in ecological agriculture brought Mr. T more benefits than simple income. These methods also helped to conserve and restore the environment and enhanced his families health. Consequently , he is very committed to transforming his farm into an organic farm from 2015 onward.

This program is a great example of how we are able to teach farmers to help themselves. Others, seeing their success , learn and begin to utilize better farming practices with combined effects of increasing income and protecting the environment.

 Barbara & Mark Rosasco