Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia – The residents of Boeng Leach Village, Sethey Commune, Samaki Meanchey District, Kampong Chhnang mostly grow rice and crops, and raise animals for a living. Their farming tends to rely on traditional methods. There is only limited use of modern techniques and therefore the yields are minimal. This has made it almost impossible for some farmers to provide for their families. Furthermore, agricultural product market prices often fluctuate at the whim of the middlemen and sometimes the merchants lower the price of farming products.
On 31 December 2012, with support from the Farmer and Nature Net (FNN), the national implementing agency of the AFOSP-MTCP2 Programme in Cambodia, the Boeng Leach Sambophal Agricultural Cooperative was established and registered officially on under the Law on Agricultural Cooperatives. The cooperative was registered initially with 53 members of whom 39 are female. The cooperative aims to (1) look for markets that can sell farming products at higher prices; (2) provide organic agriculture training, and; (3) encourage farmers to work as a team to produce agricultural products to meet market demands. The cooperative seeks to understand what exactly consumers need and want for farmers’ products in order to cater to these needs.
At the initial establishment of Boeng Leach Sambophal Agricultural Cooperative, they had KHR 25 million (Cambodian riels) (USD 6,083) in capital (each member contributes a share of KHR 50,000 or USD 12). So far, there are 288 members of whom 164 are female and their total capital has risen to KHR 865 million (USD 210,470) consisting of 905 shares (a share with a par value of KHR 50,000).
Since its establishment, many relevant organizations, particularly FNN as well as the Provincial Agricultural Department, have offered training courses for community members about techniques on growing crops and raising animals. Moreover, these partners also sponsored tools for farming and animal raising. Additionally, the cooperative built a paddy storehouse, paddy drying field, and provided pre and post cultivation techniques with the support of an Indian project.
Chak Thoeun, Chairperson of the Community Board, says, “At present, what we focus on is increasing organic vegetable yield and raising Khmer chickens, and to work on the community plan to ensure the supply chain to the market. As for vegetables, we sell to KOC Supermarket and Family Market, while Khmer chickens are sold to KOC Supermarket and Picnic Resort.”
Currently, as chicken farming and vegetable growing in the community cannot meet market demands due to the varying weights of the chickens, it is impossible to ensure the supply chain. To solve this problem, the cooperative established its own market to sell products not wanted by consumers in Phnom Penh by developing their products into a range of different menus such as grilled chicken for sale in the community.
“At first, I raised only a few chickens and the raising method was to release them to find food themselves. However, this did not provide a good yield. And then I joined the community and I was taught about chicken raising techniques. I implemented what I learned and the number of my chickens kept increasing. Nowadays, I have around 150 chickens and earn an average of KHR 200,000 to 300,000 (USD 49 – 73) per sale, which is once or twice a month,” shares Im Sarath, member of the cooperative.
Farmer Ry Yei, a member of the organic vegetable growing team, is speeding up her vegetable growing to meet the demands of supermarkets in Phnom Penh and the community-based market. The income from the growing of organic vegetables can ensure her children’s studies at a university in Phnom Penh.
“The vegetables grown organically can be sold at better prices compared to inorganic ones. I grow vegetables as per the demand of the community and I cultivate the vegetables twice a week. Each time it yields 50 to 60 kilograms on average,” she says. “When we lack growing techniques, the community offers training directly on our site.”
Despite facing some minor problems with markets that are based in Phnom Penh, organic vegetable growing and chicken raising members of the cooperative does not face a shortage of market demand. As the cooperative established their own market, sometimes the 32 chicken raising families cannot even sufficiently supply the demand in the cooperative itself. On average, the cooperative sells 500 to 600 grilled chickens per month—this is excluding the chickens made into other products.
As for the vegetables, the cooperative does self-arrangement whereby the growing members bring their cultivated vegetables for sale at stalls in the cooperative. As the market demand for processed chicken keeps progressing, the cooperative is now capable of hiring three staff to provide services for the cooperative.
The cooperative is set to increase its members in order to produce sufficient yield to meet market demands. The cooperative also plans to expand its chicken and vegetable market to another location. #
About MTCP2
The Medium-Term Cooperation Program Phase 2 (MTCP2), a five-year capacity building program supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the European Union (EU) , has been implemented in 22 countries across three sub-regions—Southeast Asia (through the ASEAN Farmer Organization Support Program-AFOSP-MTCP2), South Asia, and the Pacific—engaging 86 national federations of farmers organizations with 1,628 sub-national farmers organizations (FOs) with a total membership of around 43.5 million small-scale women, men and young farmers. The funding support (12 million USD) served as a catalytic fund that allowed FOs to enhance their capacity to engage in policy dialogues and to be effective channels of economic services to farmers. The program has contributed to the formation of strong national platform of FOs with improved capacity to engage in constructive policy processes and mobilize resources from mainstream agricultural development programs like extension services, credit, and pre and post-harvest facilities. The program also helped in re-structuring farmers’ associations into community-based social enterprises or as commodity-based cooperatives as well as consolidating FOs into agricultural cooperative federations/union to strengthen the role of small-scale farmers within an inclusive and sustainable value-chain. The program is being implemented by the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC).
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