EU Launches Food Security Program Aimed at Minorities

29 March 2012
The Cambodia Daily
Agricultural production / Agriculture and fishing / Aid and development / Bilateral development assistance / Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members / Economic land concessions and plantations / Environment and natural resources / Ethnic minorities and indigenous people / European Union aid / Human rights / Land / Land tenure and land titling / Public land lease / Social development / The poor
Annick Schubert / ethnic groups / farming / food security / indigenous minorities / land / programs

The European Union has launched a $4.5 million program aimed at increasing food security among indigenous minorities in Ratanakkiri province, including those whose land has been affected by the growing number of economic land concessions in the area. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch in Phnom Penh yesterday, Annick Schubert, the program’s project manager and a researcher at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, said the program would take place over three years and would help train ethnic groups in small-scale farming techniques. “This is definitely a tricky situation. There is this need to develop this country; at the same time, there is this need to help the most vulnerable to stay on track with things,” said Ms. Schubert. “For those who have lost land, we want to try and introduce to them to new income sources generating activity.” …