Cambodia

Les provinces de Kampong Cham et de Tbong Khmum, Takeo, Battambang et Kampong Thom

17

Local partners

9,360

direct beneficiaries
in 2023

Cambodia is a country of astonishing beauty, boasting rich biodiversity with rare species and diverse natural landscapes. It harbours an exceptional cultural and historical heritage, and the hospitality of Cambodians is as renowned as their cuisine. However, Cambodia also faces numerous economic and social challenges.

Over the past two decades, it has experienced rapid economic growth. Despite this, 17.8% of Cambodians still live below the national poverty line (€2.5 per day per person).

Au niveau de l’emploi, le pays est très dépendant de l’agriculture In terms of employment, the country is heavily dependent on agriculture: :

75% of the population lives in rural areas.
39% of jobs are in the agricultural sector.
Monocultures of rice and the use of chemical inputs are widespread.

In terms of the environment:

Illegal deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and issues related to natural resource management are major environmental challenges for Cambodia. They have both economic and ecological implications.
Cambodia is also highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as floods and sea-level rise.

Regarding health:

22% of children under 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition.
10% of children under 5 suffer from acute malnutrition
7.3% of the population aged between 20 and 79 suffer from diabetes.
27.4% of the population suffers from anxiety, 16.7% from depression, and 7.6% from PTSD.

Nos actions

Agroecology

Our aim is to contribute to economic and social change for rural farming families and farmers' organisations by improving food markets through agro-ecological transition and gender equity in agriculture.

To achieve this, we are working with our local partners to support the organisation, structuring and capacity-building of farmers' organisations in Takeo, Battambang and Kampong Thom.

Specifically, this involves training the members of the boards of directors of agricultural cooperatives and cooperative unions in administration, accounting and business plans. It also involves supporting agro-ecological innovations by developing a network of farmer trainers. The emphasis is on making the most of local knowledge and know-how. Leadership training is specifically offered to women, to encourage their access to management positions within farmers' organisations.

We also support the creation of collective enterprises within these cooperatives, and strengthen the agricultural value chains in which they are active, in order to promote the marketing and visibility of agro-ecological products. We are also aiming to increase agricultural productivity and farmers' resilience to climate change through improved on-farm irrigation systems. To strengthen the economic security and autonomy of rural women, we offer them entrepreneurship training.

In terms of learning, we organise the sharing of knowledge between farmers to stimulate innovation and the dissemination of agro-ecological practices. Finally, campaigns are set up with farmers' organisations to raise consumer awareness of agro-ecological products and healthy consumption patterns.

We also support the Agroecology Learning Alliance in Southeast Asia (ALiSEA) network in Cambodia in its advocacy of agroecology and stimulate agroecological innovation through small grants programmes. As a university-based organisation, we also promote local research capacity in the vast field of sustainable food systems, in particular by working with universities to carry out field assessments and action research on agroecology. We are also keen to build bridges between international and local student trainees to enable co-learning research.

Partners :