Situation

Cambodia is a developing country emerging from decades of civil conflict and economic stagnation and moving towards becoming a dynamic economy in the Association of South-East Asian Nations. Cambodia has achieved impressive economic growth since the mid-1990s and has made significant progress in reducing national poverty. It is ranked 139 out of 187 countries on the UNDP 2011 Human Development Index.  The government's Commune Database estimates the 2010 national poverty rate to be 25.8 percent including both urban and rural areas. The proportion of the population living under the food poverty line is 18 percent according to data from national economic surveys.  Strong improvement has been reported over the years on most key health indicators, as per the 2010 Cambodia Demographic Health Survey. However, malnutrition rates in Cambodia remain stubbornly high; almost 40 per cent of children are chronically malnourished and micro-nutrient deficiencies, especially iron, vitamin A and iodine, are high among children under 5 and pregnant and lactating women. The maternal mortality ratio is 206 per 100,000 live births and life expectancy is low at 58 years for men and 64 years for women.

A stakeholder analysis provided additional insight into the complex challenges and rapid changes. While family health and education is perceived as important, family economic opportunities are by far considered the most important and dominate behaviors. Food security remained the cross-cutting issue, and the factors leading to rural poverty and food insecurity are strongly interlinked – particularly for the 29% of households living below or near the poverty line in the target Bakan District of Pursat according to the Ministry of Planning ID Poor Data 2010 (latest available). In the past Cambodia rural households have depended primarily on agriculture crops that they grew or foraged from local lands. Rice production remains critical to rural Cambodia and production rates have increased steadily and rural households sell rice to generate income for other needs. Poor household often have no or less land for agriculture production and manual labor for rice production is rapidly reducing with the introduction of tractors and mechanical rice harvesters. Farmers now need to have cash up front to hire tractors to plow their fields in addition to seed, fertilizer, and other material inputs. Over 80% of the poorer households still produce rice but are challenged by drought, pest control and, flooding and are interested in improving management of fertilization, pest control, and seed selection. Local household members indicated that while not preferred financial demands, lack of local labor opportunities, and opportunities that are emerging have led to a significant in labor based migration for parts of the year.

68% of poor farmers said they have some form of vegetable/cash crop production but only 11% said they do this year-around which leads to long periods with no productive gardening. Lack of water resources was cited as the major constraint to additional agriculture production while poor soil quality, pests, and limited markets for selling were also priority challenges. Communities are often referring to irrigation canals for second season rice production but ponds and wells are considered essential for most other livelihoods. 56% of households were interested in building their capacity and expanding production but ensuring markets and profitability were of greatest concerns. 90% of households said they raise some animals at their homes but this is often just a few chickens. 79% were interested to expand animal raising and make it more of a significant income source for their family. Water resources were not measured in the quantitative survey but focus group discussions with household members and local leaders identified that the lack of year around water continues to be a major constraint to expanded agriculture livelihoods. Livelihoods that were of greatest interest for supporting poor household members included sewing, vehicle/motorbike repair, business and marketing (cross-cutting), construction and repair skills, Livelihoods – interests included sewing, business and marketing, vehicle/motorbike repair, and support additional raising of livestock business skills and small scale marketing.

Lack of stable, productive livelihoods at home are leading to large scale migration including illegal cross-border migration to Thailand or to other local areas seeking work during parts of the year.   Those who migrate are most often poorer households having low education and skills.   The initial survey of poorer households showed that 72% had not finished primary school, 34% (41% for women) could not read and altogether 74% of women could not read at a functional level.  Even in the 18-34 age category where young children in the home are likely 61% of women and men were not functionally literate.  Also 10% of homes have at least one disabled family member (including elderly household members). Labor based migration is not wholly perceived as a negative issue as in many cases there are reasonable work opportunities to be had.  Incomes saved during work away from home is often used to pay off household debt which is often growing with informal loan rates from 40%-100% or more per year.  Poor households are most often at risk of rights abuse during migration and issues cited included wage cheating, exploitative labor, middle-men fees, poor living conditions and physical abuse.  One reason expressed is that for migration into Thailand it is too expensive to get a passport and visa so most work there is done illegally which places the workers at risk of abuse and exploitation.   Health risks and access to health care while migrating was the second highest issue of concern.

As indicated above, children are the ones most often impacted by poverty and a lack of understanding and financial coping means have led to the child malnutrition rates of 40% (stunting) according to the 2010 Cambodia Demographic health Survey. his rate is even higher in rural areas and the Pursat province had rates of 44.8% in 2010 (the most recent Ministry of Health statistics). Children born to mothers in the lowest wealth quintile are more than twice as likely (35 percent) to be underweight as children born to mothers in the highest wealth quintile (16%). Community focus groups indicated some awareness of malnutrition but the causes and methods of addressing this issue was not expressed and confirmed the issue of poor understanding and thus behaviors.   Poverty and child malnutrition/stunting and slow cognitive development have a proven relationship as children in poor households have little access to clean water, sanitary latrines or effective health care in addition to their more limited access to nutritious foods (Chambers 2013: Sanitation and Stunting in India). When families migrate, children are often left in the care of relatives or are taken along. In both cases they are then at greater risk of poor nutritional diets or educational opportunities. Over 75% of households in Bakan District do not have sanitary latrines and 50% of family members do not have access to potable water with these rates being much higher among poor and vulnerable households.