Rural Community Products and Market Accessibility

 By fostering networks and providing access to markets, CRDT is supporting local communities to generate income to raise their standards of living. Farmers are able to identify value chains and become part of a collective group that enables them to get better prices for their products.

The Case of a couple in Mekong Flooded Forest:

Mrs. Hong Limhin and Mr Heng Sok live in Koh Char village in Kratie province. Mrs. Hong is 41 years old and her husband Sok is 40. Together they have three daughters. This family has been collaborating with CRDT project (funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF)) since 2010.

Chickens, pigs, and vegetables have been produced by that family thanks to the experience and techniques provided by CRDT. In fact, they received trainings on techniques for livestock raising improvement but also on but market value chain.  Mrs. Hung is vice chief of the chicken CBO and she also decided to grow vegetable every year to support her family income. She has around 15m x 35m of land to grow cucumber, wax gourd, papaya, bitter gourd, yard long bean, egg plant corn, banana…As this family has a strong experience and successes in her farming, they shared their experiences to around 8 to 10 families that are living in the village as those families are interested with these good results.

Usually, the products were just sold in the village but now the family decided to go sell these at Sambour market (the closest town).  The CBO network committees always shared about the market needs and demands during every monthly CBO meetings, which allowed this family to understand the market situation in Sambour district and find a way for their products to access the market. If challenges arise with for example the difficult long distance from their village to the market, the family still manages to have a yearly income from their harvested home garden and livestock of around 1,000 – 1,500 USD. In fact, Mrs. Hong told that she earned approximately 5,000,000 Riel (USD1,250.00).

What’s next?

Mrs Hung and Mr Sok intend to extend their production due to the high market demand of local products and increase their farm land to grow more kinds of vegetables. In order to achieve this, they will need more technical support from CRDT in the coming months.

By Bin Dim, Project Manager in Kratie Province