Project Aims to Make Subsistence Farms Profitable
BATI DISTRICT, Takeo province – At a farming school here last week, 150 poor agricultural workers gathered to celebrate graduating a two-month training course. The new group of educators will now set out with their newly acquired skills to help transform the country’s poorest rural families from subsistence farmers into successful agribusinesses. … Agriculture remains the primary source of employment for Cambodians—with roughly 80 percent of people still living in rural areas. Yet while the country has seen a significant reduction in the number of Cambodians living below the poverty line, new opportunities are largely bypassing the rural population and most wealth creation has occurred in urban communities. The training program at the agricultural school in Bati is the first stage of the Project for Agricultural Development and Economic Empowerment (PADEE), a recent joint initiative by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries (MAFF), the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization and other partners. Each group will then receive a grant of $4,000 per year for 3 years, or about $80 per group member per year, to operate as a shared account that will enable farmers to access the capital to purchase produce, material or to use it as collateral for microfinance loans. Members are expected to help manage the money, borrow from the pot and pay back it back to the group at low interest. … The bulk of the $43-million, 5-year project is funded by IFAD in the form of a $17.5-million grant and a loan of the same amount, with the rest coming from the U.S.-funded FAO, the government and other development partners.
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/project-aims-to-make-subsistence-farms-profitable-39081/
