Sustainable agriculture / Rural development / Technical schools

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Program background

In Cambodia where civil war that lasted nearly 30 years has ended eight years ago and rehabilitation and development of the country has been on the way, one third of the population still lives a life under the poverty line. Almost 70 percent of the population is engaged in agricultural sector, though, agricultural GDP is merely 30 percent and the economic gap between urban and rural areas is growing. Some farmers go to work at construction site or factories, however, there are cases that with low salary and hard working conditions, they ended up to return to village only to sell their farm land to pay debt, which makes them to lead a harder life.

To help solve these problems, JVC supports improving agricultural techniques and promoting mutual help activities among villagers.

Summary of activities

1. Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) and the Trainers' Re-source Center (TRC)

JVC has been helping to improve livelihood by promoting "sustainable agriculture" (SA) to grow different crops making the use of local resources, reducing chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which leads to reducing expenditure. Rural development activities such as "rice bank", "cow bank", "women's mutual assistance group" (MAG), "well construction" and other mutual help activities as well as "environmental education".

Furthermore, in Cambodia there is very little information available on agriculture and the environment and so we are also managing a library of documents on sustainable agriculture, the "Trainers' Resource Center" (TRC).

In 2006, 26 rice banks, 31 cow bank groups, 8 MAGs are operated among 50 target villages in Kan-dal Province, and JVC facilitated discussion and conducted leaders' training towards phasing out the project. In cooperation with a local NGO CEDAC (Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture), JVC also supported agricultural training and group activities in 40 villages.

For environmental education, some 500 pupils from 500 schools in the project site joined activities and learned on the local plants, waste problems and participated in tree planting.

TRC in Phnom Penh lists about 6000 books and materials and 993 users visited in 2006. In cooperation with farmers associations and libraries assisted by other NGOs, JVC supported establishing "Community Resource Center " (CRC) in 10 sites in 7 provinces for farmers to access to useful written and audiovisual materials on agriculture.

We will conduct final evaluation of this phase of SARD project, whereas SA follow-up and environmental education activities shall continue. TRC starts a series of seminars for university students. We will continue to monitor and improve CRC to ensure bet-ter use of TRC/CRC materials.

2. Community Livelihood Improvement through Ecological Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (CLEAN)

CLEAN project started this year in Chi Kreng and Sotor Nikom Districts in Siem Reap Province for the period of 3 years. In order for familybased farmers to lead a stable life, it is necessary to improve agricultural production and livelihood. JVC conducts agricultural training to increase production by eco-logical agriculture (EA), without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides that is a burden on farmers and environment.

In 2007 we conducts workshops and participatory research for farmers to analyze their village and own situation and start their activities in necessary fields. JVC also conducts EA training on System of Rice Intensification or SRI, chicken raising, home garden compost, etc.) in 35 villages, adding 15 new villages to improve agricultural production, which will be the bases of mutual help activities after 2008.

3. Technical School

With a goal to foster a young generation who will build the future of the country JVC established the technical school in Phnom Penh in 1986 with oneyear preparation. At present, 33 teach and mechanics teach 120 students at school for and engage in the repair work at the workshop. The school has been financially self-sufficient since 2000, and is able to continue providing free tuition thanks to the income from its own repair workshop.

In 2006, JVC continues providing scholarship to 11 students (from province and female), rice for 45 dorm students, and other welfare to students. Construction of new workshop and school started in the new site. By the end of fiscal year 2007, the school is scheduled to move and open the new school year in 2008.

4. Advocacy/Research/Networking

In Cambodia more villagers are losing their communal forests and private farmland because of a number of land issues. JVC, in cooperation with other NGOs, conducts survey, carries out advocacy work regarding Japanese ODA, and to make a venue for dialogue.

In 2006, with members of JNNC (Japanese NGO Network in Cambodia) and ENJJ (Embassy, NGOs, JICA and JBIC) , JVC coordinated a venue for dialogue on Japanese ODA to Cambodia and other issues. We will continue research and advocacy work on ecological agriculture, land issues, human rights issues, good governance and Japanese ODA.