Cambodia is officially known as the
Kingdom of Cambodia and once known as the Khmer Empire, is a country located in
the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Its total
landmass is 181,035 square kilometers (69,898 sq mi), bordered by Thailand to
the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of
Thailand to the southwest. Since 1993, UNRISD work in Cambodia has focused on
the difficulties of establishing peace and rebuilding a society that has
experienced many years of war, a sudden shift from international isolation to
aid dependency, as well as profound economic, political and cultural change.
Since 1995, research has continued under a new program on Vulnerability and
Coping Strategies in Cambodia, which focuses on issues of food security, psychosocial vulnerability and the impact of international assistance on the
development process.
Agriculture is a main significant part
of the country’s economic growth. Cambodia has average economic progress in
current years, with growth average around 10 percent annually during 2004 –
2008. It’s about 80 percent of the population relying on agriculture for their
livelihoods. Agricultural sectors consist of about 2.8 million hectares of
cultivated land, while fisheries which more focused on the Mekong River and
Tonle Sap (river’s name). According to ADB, with 12 projects totally $240.7
million during 1995 – 2008, emphasis on agriculture and rural development.
The most common agriculture production
is rice-based and crops. Having 2.8 million hectares of cultivated land and 80
percent of the population work in it, not surprised that Cambodia is the most
exporter rice-based in South-East Asia to Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and many
other countries. Cambodia also has four types of different rice-based farming:
Recession Rice (mid-December to end-April), Irrigated Rice (mid-January to
end-May), Pre-monsoon Rice (May to mid-August), Monsoon Rice (August to
mid-August). Another rice-based, common production of agriculture in Cambodia
is crops. The most common crops consist of sugar cane, sweet potato, cabbage,
and kind of beans. Food security is the most important problem after global
warming. With this all background, Cambodia is self-supporting country in the
world. Where another countries face lack of food, but Cambodia could manage
food security for its people.
Geographies condition of Cambodia
where suitable with rice-based and crops is in low-land areas. Lowland areas is
located in Southern-province of Cambodia including Kampot, Takeo, Kandal, Prey
Veng, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap and Kampong Cham. However, Northern-province also
has two province which support agriculture, Battambang and Pailin.
The method of farming that farmer use for agriculture are traditional and modern way. Many farmer in Cambodia use traditional way because they think that it is the technology of our ancestor use for plowing the field. They do not need to spend a lot of money to buy tractor. In addition, traditional way of plowing the field using cow or buffalo is the most ‘green’ technology for field. The feces of cow and buffalo could be natural fertilizer or compost which is good for rice or crops. On the other hand, some people use modern technology to plow their field using tractor. By the wide of agricultural land, tractor is the best solution to use. The power of human and cow will spend around 2-3 days if the field is large, but tractor takes only a day to finish. Fertilizing wisely could maintain the nutrient in the soil so that food security in Cambodia will go for several years on.