Based on the intuition that promoting sustainable agriculture would prove highly beneficial, Amaury Peeters, Louvain Coopération's national director in Cambodia, initiated a research project in partnership with the Ecoland research centre at the Royal University of Agriculture and the Earth and Life Institute at UCLouvain. ‘The primary goal of this research was to measure the benefits of sustainable agriculture on households and, secondarily, to inform civil society,’ explains Neang Malyne.
This research was conducted among 80 farmers using the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's ‘Assessment of the Sustainability of Agricultural and Food Systems’ tool. To do this, they were divided into two groups: one practising sustainable agriculture (solid line) and one practising conventional agriculture (dotted line). These two groups were similar in terms of vulnerability (similar farm sizes, family structures and access to natural resources). The diagram opposite shows the performance of farmers on various sustainability themes: environment, economy, governance and social issues. All these performances are between 0 (low sustainability in the centre of the red circle) and 1 (high sustainability outside the dark green circle).
It seems that making households dependent on agriculture more resilient is a challenge that has been met with flying colours. Increased incomes, real food security, improved health, and a growing sense of solidarity: sustainable agriculture has brought about profound changes in communities.
Today, farmers can imagine a different future for themselves and their families: ‘Since I started using sustainable farming techniques, we are no longer afraid of getting sick and we can save money for our children's education,’ says Kan La, a beneficiary of the Louvain Coopération programme.