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NEW LIVE RADIO PROGRAM
CEDAC is now broadcasting a new Live Radio Program namely "Health and Nature" with Sarika FM 106.5 MHz (Every Saturday and Sunday from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m). Please keep listening to our program. You will benefit through increasing your knowledge of Natural Agri-Products and Health, as well as being entertained. There are also prizes to be won.
On 04 November 2008, CEDAC with funding support from DED and Agriterra, organized the National Assembly on Organic Rice Producer Community Federation at CEDAC's office in Phnom Penh. 130 participants including farmers, CEDAC staff members, and local and international journalists representing newspapers, magazines, radio and television attended. The agenda of the national assembly were:
- Review the progress of the paddy production plan for this wet season in comparison with the actual results
- Assess trend of paddy prices at national and regional markets
- Sum up the six months work of Organic Rice Producer Communities
- Sharing knowledge on soil fertility management and rice seed selection
- Electing new representatives of the national organic rice producer confederation
- Hand over money from the profits to the communities
- Prepare a strategy on the collection of paddy
Dr. Yang Saing Koma, CEDAC's president said during the assembly that the number of organic rice community members as well as rice yields have increased very rapidly since it began in 2005 with 2,000 members and the production of 10 tons of organic rice to more than 8,000 members, and 4,000 tons in 2008.
October 23-24, 2008, 18 senior staff members of CEDAC participated in a two-day internal workshop on practical leadership and management at Stung Meas Restaurant in Phnom Penh. CEDAC president, Dr Yang Saing Koma, facilitated the meeting.
The meeting aimed to improve the leadership and management skills and enhance effective cooperation between each CEDAC department. During this workshop, participants watched the Gandhi Film, and thereafter reflected upon the practical leadership and management styles and Gandhi’s strategies.
As a result, the review and reflection of work within each CEDAC department was illustrated. Importantly, key points were agreed upon for the promotion of effective cooperation between and among the departments. Agreement was reached to conduct the next follow-up workshop in December 2008.
 RED CROSS EXPOSURE VISIT
On 28 October 2008, CEDAC hosted an exposure visit for 23 staff of Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) to Tramkak district, Takeo province. The purpose of the visit was to learn and share practical experiences relating to the implementation of the project “Avian Influenza Behavior Change”. During the visit, Mr. Yim Sok Sophors, a CEDAC staff member presented an overview of the project and then the visiting team went to visit 3 farmers in the field. The practical experiences to share with the visiting team were the farmers’ behavioral change in terms of Avian Influenza Prevention, the practice of Ecological Chicken Raising, and the process of setting chicken farmer producer group as well as its advantages.
As a result, the visitors actively discussed and increased their learning around the practical experiences of the project. They could see directly the technical practices of farmers, specifically, chicken farmer producer groups as it helps farmers to generate improved incomes.
On 16 October 2008, CEDAC and Farmer and Nature Net (FNN) in cooperation with PAN AP (Pesticide Action Network Asia & the Pacific) organized a Press Conference on World Foodless Day at CEDAC's office in Phnom Penh. 62 participants including farmers, CEDAC staff members and local and international journalists representing newspapers, magazines, radio and television attended. During the press conference, Dr. Yang Saing Koma, CEDAC's president and farmers' representatives gave a brief presentation on general information on World Foodless Day, the Cambodia Food Crisis and Cambodian farmers’ situation including new rice-cultivation techniques, the effects of harmful chemical fertilizers used by farmers, the necessity of using locally produced food, the difficulty of food crisis upon women, and the current trend of Cambodian farmers selling rice farm land. After the farmers’ brief presentation, members of the press directed many questions to Dr. Yang Saing Koma as well to farmers in relation to the World Foodless Day.
In the afternoon, the program continued with a live talk back show through Radio FM 102 MHz for one and a half hours. During this time we extended an invitation to Cambodian people, especially farmers to call in and ask questions regarding World Foodless Day as well as Food Security or Food Crisis.
It is important to note that CEDAC and FNN come up with their own recommendations to the government and stakeholders. Many new approaches/articles were published in a newspaper as well being presented on air. Read more...
On 14 October 2008, Mr. Him Khortieth, CEDAC staff member participated in a live talk back program of Radio Sap Cham (Voice of Cham) FM 103 MHz at TV3 station, Phnom Penh. It was a daily talk show program which broadcasts in the Cham language from 8: 00 to 9:00 p.m. He was invited to talk about the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and also about CEDAC’S chicken raising projects for the Cham Muslim listeners. During this live talk back show, many Cambodian Muslims called in asking questions about SRI and chicken raising and suggested ways to be working with CEDAC.
Today, there is an estimated 600, 000 Cham Muslims in Cambodia who living in different provinces through out the country. Most of them are farmers and fishermen
On 27 September 2008, CEDAC and representatives of the Natural Agri-Products (NAP) marketing program conducted a Consumers’ field visit to Chheur Kheap village, Phong commune, Borseth district, Kampong Speu province. 20 Customers including 10 women from Phnom Penh participated in this visit to gain an understanding of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) from farmers in Chheur Kheap village.
The customers’ field visit aimed to:
- Increase mutual confidence between producer groups and consumer groups
- Strengthen solidarity between producer groups and consumer groups
- Facilitate opportunities for consumers to understand the production policies of SRI farmers
- Gain an understanding of producer group management
- Increase consumers’ understanding of the production site of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) farming.
This visit was lead by Mr. Chhim Phallyboth, marketing officer of NAP. During the visit, customers went on a tour to the SRI rice fields of Farmer Chhoum Chorn, Hourt Naikouy and Farmer Sam Lone who are both applying SRI methodologies, rearing chickens and raising fish. Besides applying SRI, these farmers also plant vegetables for family consumption. The visitors enjoyed the SRI learning experience and seeing that farmers are now achieving better yields. Some visitors counted tillers and found that there were more or less 40 tillers per plant. Meanwhile, customers expressed their concern about the limited quantity of organic vegetables currently being supplied to the NAP shop. During this visit, they found that only a few farmers are growing vegetables and most of them are growing only for their own family consumption. The consumers suggested that CEDAC encourages more farmers to grow organic vegetables, especially in urban areas.
Since 2003, CEDAC has been organizing field visits for interested customers, building consumer networks, and promoting an awareness of the benefits of producing and consuming healthy food.
CEDAC's Library
The Resource Center for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development was founded in March 2000 and inaugurated for public use in January 2001. The center was created with an aim to collect and disseminate information and documents related to rural development, agriculture and the environment in Cambodia. The readers include Civil Servants, staff of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Farmers, Researchers and Students who come to read on a daily basis. Mrs. Nem Chanmoly, CEDAC's receptionist reports that there are at least 5 -10 people who are reading in the library every day. CEDAC's Library is open daily from 8.00am to 12.00pm in the morning and from 2.00pm to 5.30pm in the afternoon, Monday to Friday.
"I can find easily here, the books I need", said Chan Malis, a third year student of Prek Leap National School of Agriculture. "It is my first time to be here with my friend, but I love it because it has a lot of books, especially Agriculture and rural development books", She said.
Mrs. Pean Sokha, CEDAC's Publication Coordinator says that the documents available in CEDAC's Library are collected from the libraries of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Planning, Department of Agronomy on soil Fertility Improvement, and NGOs such as JVC ,CDRI, CCC, UNDP, CIDSE, MCC, PADEK, CRD, FAO, etc. "So far, the Library has gathered 1497 copies of books, of which 75 % are written in English, 15 % in Khmer and 10 % in French. In addition, the Resource Center publishes Farmer Magazine every month; a magazine, as well as leaflets and booklets related to agriculture techniques," she added.
There are millions of people around the world who are now facing a ‘food security’ problem. In Cambodia, there are also hundreds of thousands of families facing this most serious problem, especially in the year 2008. This is due to the hiked price of rice and the limited capacity of income generation. Meanwhile, we are most concerned that this situation will continue if there is no appropriate solution found. Read more...
01 - 10 October 2008
CEDAC hosted a mission for MFR (Maison Familiale Rurale) and AFDI from France. Mr. Claude PILET (President of MFR of Charente maritime), Mr. Jean-Luc PITON (Director of MFR Charente Maritime department), Mrs. Valérie K.PLOUGASTEL (responsible of international cooperation of MFR at national level) and Mrs. Eliane ENQUEBECQ, the AFDI representative are the mission delegates.
The main focus of the mission was the training of young rural farmers. The specific objectives of the mission were to:
- Discover the situation of young rural farmers and of the young rural farmers educational system in Cambodia
- Prepare a concrete action plan for the cooperation between MFR and CEDAC/FNN in the establishment of an appropriate young rural farmer’s education facility in Cambodia.
During the mission, the delegation visited and met with young rural farmers and farmers trained by CEDAC in Kampong Chhnang, Prey Veng and Rattana Kiri provinces. They also visited and met with high school director of Baphnom district and provincial department of education of Rattana Kiri province. After the field visit and meeting with local stakeholders, the delegation shared their views and discuss with leaders of FNN (a national confederation of farmers associations) and young farmers trainees during a workshop in Phnom Penh organized by CEDAC and FNN. During the mission, the delegation also met with Mr. Hervé CONAN of AFD and with French Embassy.
It is noted that since 2003, in the framework of AFDI, CEDAC and FNN, that we organized a cross mission (South-North and North-South) of French and Cambodian farmers accompanied by technical staff and experts each year. Most of the South-North missions undertaken so far visited and discovered different MFRs in France.
06-07 October 208
Mr. Albert Khouth, CEDAC staff member attended the Seminar on the Development of National Consultant Services in Cambodia, organized the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at the ADB’s Cambodia Resident Mission. The objectives of the seminar were to:
- Strengthen Cambodia’s consulting industry by raising awareness of the requirements for strategic planning
- Provide national consultants with a better understanding of how to acquire profitable business opportunities with ADB.
The seminar comprised of a variety of lectures on ADB policies and procedures in the procurement of consulting services, including the identification of consulting opportunities, the preparation of proposals, the evaluation of technical and financial proposals and the contract negotiations.
On 10 October 2008, The Phnom Penh Post Daily published a long feature story on New rice-cultivation techniques SRI (System of Rice Intensification) are seeing family farms double their rice production. Ms. Eleanor Ainge Roy, Phnom Penh Post's reporter went to visit the rice field of Mr. Ros Mao and Mr. Prak Chres in Takeo province and has more about their life improvement.
Read more...
6-24 September 2008
CEDAC and French Agriculturist for International Development (AFDI) organized a farmer's visit to France in Sepember, 2008. A group of Cambodian farmers including Mr. Sim Kong, CESDE Program Director, Mr. Keo Sokha, FNN Executive Committee's President, Mr. Ngov Ham, President of Por Ang Krang Cooperative, Mr. Seng Chansotheara, Secretary of Saving for Self-Reliance (SfR) group in Kandal village, Preah Sdach district of Prey Veng province and Mr. Kong Sophonn, French teacher at Ba Phnom high school participated in this visit. The objectives of the visit were to learn about:
- Commercialization/trading of agricultural commodities, especially cooperatives.
- Experiences of saving and Credit from the history of Banque Crédit Agricole.
- Management structures and strategies of cooperatives and other concerned organizations active in agriculture development.
As a result, farmers learned a number of things including the current situation of French agriculture development, the past history and the current structures of cooperatives visited the production system of agricultural commodities and its marketing methods and gained knowledge in he area of fresh fruit and vegetables. Moreover, the two main achievements of the visit were:
- A convention between Por Ang Krang cooperative and Agrial on the revolving funds of 3,500 Euro.
- A partnership between the Bank, AFDI and CEDAC for supporting FNN activities from 2009-2011.
22-24 September 2008
CEDAC organized the monthly coordinating team meeting of field program (FP) at ILFARM-Kagn Chreach office, Prey Veng Province. 20 project staff including 3 women attended this meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to: share the progress of FP projects development that have been implemented, the preparation of specific action plans for the next month, and consultative processes around cooperation among relevant FNP projects; CEDAC Institute for Local Development (CILD) and CEDAC Consultant (CC).A field visit was included as part of the general meeting.
Project staff visited the household of five farmers in Baphnom during which the farmers were interviewed about the impact upon their livelihoods after cooperating with various CEDAC’s projects.
As a result, participants have learned effectively around practical experience gained from the various FNP development projects. Moreover, they have engaged in active discussions on the strategic approach of SRI extension, the participatory action research on System of Rice Intensification (SRI), and the setting up of internal Monitoring and Evaluation for FNP which is urgently needed.
16-18 September 2008
SRI Secretariat (Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) and Department of Agronomy and Agricultural Land Improvement (DAALI)) in cooperation with the Provincial Department of Agriculture in Svay Rieng province organized a Training of Trainers (TOT) on Ecological System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Participatory Approach in Agricultural Development at the Provincial Department of Agriculture Office, Svay Rieng province. Forty six trainees including 7 women from district and provincial Department of Agriculture of Svay Rieng, Prey Veng and Kandal provinces attended this training.
The three-day training focused on the impact of chemical agriculture, principles and practices of SRI, different approaches to extension work such as transfer of technology, farmer to farmer extension, session outline development, the art of facilitation kills, and data collection. Half a day was dedicated to a field visit which focused on field observation which compared SRI fields and conventional fields.
As a result, the training was fruitfull, well collaborated and participants gained considerably from this training: SRI principles and practices; impact of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, basic knowledge of soil improvement, the importance of the role of farmers and development professionals in SRI development and dissemination, the art of facilitation skills, data collection, and session outline development.
13-18 September 2008
CEDAC staff member, Mr. Lang Seng Horng attended a field visit in Nepal on Biodigester private sector which was organized by National biodigester Program (NBP) in Cambodia with funding support from Netherlands Development Organization (SNV). Seven participants from Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Department of Agriculture-Takeo, Svay Rieng, Kampong Cham, SNV, NBP and CEDAC attended this field visit. During the visit, the delegation from Cambodia met a number of people from various fields including: Biogas Companies, Nepal Biogas Promotion Association (NBPA), Biogas Support Partnership-Nepal (BSP-N), and Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC), Ministry of Environment and technology and SNV.
08-12 September 2008
Pesticide Action Network Asia and Pacific (PAN AP) in collaboration with CEDAC organized a Training of
Trainers Course on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) at the Goldiana Hotel, Phnom Penh. 21
participants including farmers and NGOs from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, China and
Cambodia attended this training. The objectives of the training were to:
- Discuss the principles and practices of SRI
- Share CEDAC's strategy and approaches in developing and disseminating SRI in Cambodia
- Share concrete experiences of farmers in using SRI ideas to improve rice farming
- Share concrete experiences of farmers in developing systems of intensification and diversification around production in rice fields
During the 5 days training, participants learned much about SRI including SRI principles and practices
in Cambodia and other Asian countries through an in-door session with presentation, video show, experience
sharing and an exposure trip to meet experienced farmers and observe field practices under farmer's field
conditions.
Dr. Yang Saing Koma, CEDAC's president and three other CEDAC's experts including Mr. Or thy,
Mr. Lang Seng Horng and Mr. Winfried Scheewe were very active in sharing their knowledge and
practical experiences of SRI with the course participants. As a result, participants learned
a lot about SRI principles and practices, from this training, especially the farmers from Kandal,
Kampong Chnang and Takeo provinces. They said they will apply what they learned from this course
within their communities, especially SRI principles, farmers’ and customers’ field visit and the
strategy of linking farmers to the market.
11-16 August 2008, in order to strengthening the capacity of indigenous youth in Ratanakiri province
on the community shop and collective buying and selling activities, Indigenous Community Marketing
Network Project in Ratanakiri province (ICM-RTK) had conducted the exposure visit of indigenous youth
to Kampong Cham Province, Phnom Penh Market and weekend market in Tramkork district, Takeo province.
16 indigenous youth and 2 Village Development Committees from DPA including five women attended this
visit. The visit supported by Spanish Government throughout ETEA Foundation. The objectives of this
exposure visit were to:
- Get experience on ecological agriculture activities
- Get experience on the processing and community shop management
- Understand about the agri-products in Phnom Penh and Community
- Understand about the processing and management of Natural Agri Product Market and Baksey Srok Restaurant
15-16 September 2008
As a member of EARWG (East Asia Rice Working Group), CEDAC, in cooperation with the Network of
Eco-agriculture Development in Cambodia (NEDC) organized a Local NGOs discussion workshop on Climate
Change and Rice Trade at the CEDAC Institute for Local Development (CILD) office, Phnom Penh.
32 participants including NEDC’s membership, EARWG's representative and CEDAC's staff attended this
workshop. The objectives of the workshop were to:
- Raise awareness among participants on the effects of climate change on rice production and its adaptation measures
- Enable participants to increase their understanding of basic trade concepts and advocacy around rice as a Special Product and Special Safeguard Mechanisms
- Enable participants to have a better understanding of PGI (Protected Geographical Identification) and link small farmers to the market
1 August 2008 – 30 June 2009
CEDAC is currently implementing the Saving for Self-Reliance in Pailin (SfRiP).
The project, sub-granted by CARE, aims to improve access to secure and profitable
financial services for the most vulnerable households in the Pailin Municipality.
To achieve this goal, there are 4 main objectives:
- To mobilize community capital. 56 community-led saving groups are operating in Pailin Municipality, with an average number of 10 members. The total capital mobilized by members is expected around 7 million Riel.
- To establish mutual learning and sharing for all SfRiP groups
- To increase villagers’ awareness on the concept of saving and community-led microfinance.
- To improve trust and mutual help among villagers.
The project is targeting 28 villages of CARE’s Australia-Cambodia Integrated Mine Action (ACIMA) project in two districts of Pailin city.
The project is designed to address the following key issues:
- Villagers’ lack of access to secure and profitable saving and credit facilities
- High dependency levels upon external resources (especially on Money Lenders)
- Limited community capacity to organize and manage revolving funds
- Villagers’ limited trust in community and collective action
...More Events... |
