Food security in Cambodia

What is food security? Food security is reliable access to sufficient quantities of affordable, nutritious food.

Look at this diagram to find out what proportion of countries in the world have full food security.

What are the reasons why some countries don’t have a secure food supply?

Lack of resources means not having good seed and good equipment for growing food.

Low agricultural productivity means not being able to grow much in the soil. This might be caused by lack of water or lack of fertilizers and pesticides or poor quality soil.

Climate change can mean that an area experiences changes in temperature or changes in rainfall patterns that affect food production.

Development and Partnership in Action (DPA) is Caritas’ partner on the ground in Cambodia. Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand supports DPA projects in Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri provinces.

Ratanakiri province experiences flooding every year. After the flooding they have a drought.

To conserve water, DPA has taught farmers how to use drip irrigation. In this way, water is delivered to the root of each plant, rather than watering the whole area.

They also use a technique called plastic mulching. It prevents evaporation of moisture from the soil.

The plants can still breathe.

This is Klel Kret. He was given seedlings and training in organic gardening by DPA.

He is very proud of his organic fertilizers made from chicken and cow manure. He also makes organic pesticides from plant and animal material.

Klel Kret helps to feed his six children and their families from his garden.

Mr Mao Soeun is a ‘model farmer’ who has been trained by DPA to mentor other farmers.

Mrs Pen Kimsau is also a ‘model farmer’. Both she and Mr Mao Soeun grow eggplant, cucumber, corn, sugar cane, bok choy, beans, mango and citrus.

They are trialling organic techniques using herbs, neem, bitter vine and tobacco as alternative forms of pest control. The idea is that bugs avoid these. So if they plant them near their crops, the bugs won’t come near.

By using these techniques it is hoped that small farmers in Cambodia will increase the quality and quantity of their crops...

...and improve food security for future generations.

Photo credits: Murray Shearer (Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand)