IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2013) 4-1

Research articleerd

The Study on Conventional Farming Practice- A  Case  Study  of  Farmers’  Practice  in  Samroung  Village,  Cambodia
SOKORNTHEA PIN*
Institute of Environment rehabilitation and conservation, Cambodia Branch
Email:sokornthea.pin@gmail.com

MACHITO MIHARA
Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan /Institute of Environment Rehabilitation and Conservation, Tokyo, Japan
Received 15 December 2012

Accepted 27 March 2013(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract Agrochemicals application has been rapidly popularized in Cambodia due toagricultural development technologies. Although agrochemicals utilization has
significantly increased crop production, it has negative impact on human health,sustainability of land use and ecosystem. Therefore, this study has been focused onconventional farming practice in Samroung village of Kampong Cham province,Cambodia. The main objectives of this study are 1) to understand current situation offarming practices in the village and 2) to identify the condition of agrochemicals applied atfarmlands. To access the objectives of this study, various participatory researches, bothquantitative and qualitative have been conducted. Semi-structured interviews, in-depthinterviews, focus-group discussion were conducted, and secondary data were used in thisstudy. Data was summarized and analyzed to observe the significant difference and highconfident correlation of these variables by using One-way ANOVA and Regression
Analysis. The result of the study showed that rice and vegetable production is main
sources of farmers in Samroung village. In addition, chemical fertilizer and pesticide areapplied for increasing crop production. The amounts of chemical fertilizer and pesticides
applied did not correlate with the level education of famers, also with the size of farmland
as well (P > 0.05). In addition, the amounts of pesticide applied did not correlate with thetotal annual household income. However, the amounts of chemical fertilizer applied
showed slight correlation with the total annual household income from agriculture (P <0.05). Also, increasing expenses of agrochemicals application, especially chemicalfertilizer   application,   affects   to   the   farmer’s   annual   income.   Moreover, it affects to theirlife that depends on low income from their agricultural products. Furthermore, the survey
indicated that 92% of farmer in the village want to change their practice to sustainable
practice in the future. Therefore, agricultural education such as providing technicaltraining, workshop is necessarily required for promoting sustainable use of agrochemicals
as well as alternative ways based on organic farming practices and farming practice withlow chemical input.
Keywords conventional farming practice, agricultural education, agrochemical application,
CambodiaINTRODUCTION
Cambodia is located in the Southeast Asia region, and its topography has enormous potential foragriculture development. Agriculture is vitally important for economic growth and eradicating
poverty of the people. According to the statistics of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheriesof Cambodia in 2009, agriculture productions share 34.4% of total GDP, in which rice andvegetable represented 54% and 8% of total annual crop production. Increasing crop productivity isⒸ ISERD202

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a  main  factor  that  increases  farmer’s  income  as  well  as  national  economy.  In  view  of  this,  farmers  apply agricultural chemicals, such as chemical fertilizers, herbicide or pesticide, to maintain highlevels of crop yields. In 2001 chemical fertilizer and pesticide were imported into Cambodia, which
represented 45,335 tons and 200 tons respectively (MoE, 2004). The tendency of agrochemicals
application has been rapidly popularized in the country. In 2010, 245,854 tons of chemicalfertilizer was imported into the country (MoE, 2010).
Kampong Cham province is a main agricultural development zone in Cambodia. The major
activity of the people in this area is agriculture, mainly cultivating rice and vegetable. Agricultural
history of this area tends to change from traditional farming to conventional farming, and theamounts of agricultural chemicals applied to farmlands are increasing every year. According toNgo and Siriwattananon (2009) more than 60% of farmers in Prey Chhor district, Kampong Champrovince, have applied agricultural chemicals without understanding their impact. Although
agrochemicals utilization has significantly increased crop production, it has negative impact onhuman health, sustainability of land use and ecosystem.
This study has been focused on conventional farming practice in Samroung village ofKampong Cham province. The main objectives of this study are 1) to understand current situationof farming practices in the village and 2) to identify the condition of agrochemicals applied atfarmlands.
METHODOLOGY
Study site
The study was focused in Samroung village consisting of 196 households in Samroung commune,
Prey Chhor district, Kampong Cham province about 17 km from Prey Chhor Centre. Samroungcommune consists of 11 villages with 8,111 people in 1,714 households which account for 93 % of
total population, all of whom depends on agricultural sector, mainly on rice cultivation and cash
crops for living (CDB, 2010). Most farmers in Samroung village cultivate rice and vegetable. The
agriculture situation in the village converted from traditional practice to conventional farmingsystem.

Kampong ChamFig. 1 Location of Samroung village
Data collection and analysis
Secondary data collection: Existing relevant documents were collected from research institutions,journals and reports of experts who had carried out studies in the project area to better understandthe issues involved.
Primary data collection: Two steps were used in primary data collection. Firstly, focus group
discussion was carried out among7 key persons from the village. A semi-structured questionnaire(a) was used for key informant interviews; a structured-questionnaire (b) was designed for aⒸ ISERD203

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household survey on 51 farmers who were selected randomly for interview. This method focusedmainly on socio-economic and agricultural situations of the households, cultivation techniques andfarmers' perception on the tendency of converting from conventional farming to sustainable
farming practices.
Data analysis: The data was summarized; and descriptive statistics, including percentages, meanand standard deviations were used to analyze the data. Also, inferential statistic, including One-way
ANOVA and Regression Analysis were used to analyze the significant difference and high confident
correlation of these variables.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The current situation of conventional farming practices in Samroung village
According to the result of focus group discussion, it was included that rice is a main crop in
Samroung commune and is cultivated 2 to 3 times a year. Besides rice cultivation, cash crops arecultivated rotationally for the whole year depending on the water sources. The main cash crops inthe village are cultivated for additional income (Table 1).These vegetables are planted in 4
rotations at upland fields all year round, and a peak season of harvest is from August to October.
The results of the household survey showed that 63% of the households cultivate rice, 34%
cultivates rice and vegetable, and 3% does not conduct farming. The average total paddy fields andvegetable fields are 1.5 ha (SD = 1.05) and 0.04 ha (SD = 0.08), respectively.
Table 1 Crop calendar in Samroung village
JanFebMar

AprMayJunJulAug

SepOctNovDec

1) Rice2) Onion
3) Lettuce
4) Chinese Kale
5) Cucumber
6) Chinese cabbage7) Bitter melon
8) Long bean9) Tomato10) Eggplant
11) Chili
Source: ERECON, 2012

Fig.  2  Percentage  of  farmer’s  applying                                          Fig.  3  Time  of  applying  agrochemicals  andagrochemicals and organic materials
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The result of study also showed that cow manure, compost, and waste from bio-gas areapplied to improve soil condition as well as agrochemicals, fertilizers and pesticides to increase
crop production. According to the result of the survey, 100% of famers in the village have appliedchemical fertilizer, pesticide, and manure on both paddy fields and vegetable fields. Also, 10% of
the respondents applied organic pesticide, and 90% does not apply organic pesticide (Fig. 2).
Besides, organic materials have been applied on their farmland such as manure with 8510 kg ayear and only 10% of farmers applied organic pesticide with 44000ml a year. In addition, 75% ofrespondents applied chemical fertilizers with 2 to 4 times a year and 61% of farmers applied
pesticide 2 to 4 time a year (Fig. 3). However, organic fertilizer and bio-pesticide is limited source
for the farmers to apply on their farmlands. In addition, most farmers said organic pesticide is lesseffective than chemical one.
Markets of agricultural products in Samroung village
Main agricultural products, especially rice and vegetable are sold to the markets throughmiddlemen who come from inside or outside the commune. The middlemen come to buy somekinds of vegetables almost all day. Some middlemen sell vegetables to local market such as Skunmarket, Prey Torteng market and Kampong Cham market or other markets in Siem Reap province.
Before selling vegetable to the middlemen, farmers clean and sort their produce without grading bysize and classification. In addition, some vegetable farmers are collecting the vegetable from theirvillage and neighboring villagers and selling it to the local market.
The results of the survey showed that 98% of farmers in the village sell their rice production to
the middlemen, and 93% of vegetable growers also sell the vegetable to the middlemen; only 7%
bring their vegetable production to the local market directly (Fig. 4). In addition, price of theproducts depend on middleman.
The survey also indicated that price information sources of farmers in the village are obtained
from the middlemen, farmers in the village, mobile phone, radio/TV and NGO officers,
representing 62%, 16% and 10%, 6% and 4%, respectively (Fig. 5)

Fig.  4  Percentage  of  farmers’  selling  the                            Fig.  5  Farmers’  sources  of  price  information
agricultural products to market
for selling the products
Linkage between socio economic conditions and agrochemical application
The main indicators of socio economic such as the level of education, the size of farmland, and thetotal annual household income were selected to determine the sinificant differnce of amounts ofchemical fertilizer and pesticide application by using one-way ANOVA. Also, the relationship ofeach variable were analyzed by regression analysis.
An annual total household income is 606.93 USD (SD=55.20), and annual average ofchemical fertilizer and pesticide application is 321.76 kg (SD=154.81) and 1.12 L (SD= 0.95)
respectively. The result of analysis indicated that the amounts of chemical fertilizer and pesticides
applied  did  not  have  significant  difference  between  each  level  of  farmer’s  education  as  well  as  size  of farmland and total annual household income (P > 0.05). Moreover, the amounts of chemicalfertilizer and pesticide application did not correlate with the level of education of farmers and withⒸ ISERD205

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the size of farmland as well (R2=0.0926, P > 0.05). However, the amounts of chemical fertilizer
application correlated slightly with size of farmland (R2=0.1913, P < 0.05) as well as with total
annual household income (R = 0.1913, P <0.01) (Figs. 6, 7).
Fig. 8 showed that the total income from agriculture is not significant difference between eachgroup  of  farmers’  expense  on  chemical  fertilizer  application. As a result, it could be concluded that
farmers need to buy chemical fertilizer very year to increase their crop production. Therefore, theannual household income from agriculture will be low if the farmers increase expense ofagrochemical application every year.
Possibility of changing from conventional farming practice to sustainable farming practice
According to the result of the survey, 53% of respondents did not know about sustainableagriculture, and 39% knew less about sustainable agriculture (Fig.9). In addition, responding to thequestion   "do   you   want   to   convert   conventional   farming   to   sustainable   farming   practice?”   The  results indicated that 92% of the farmers want to change to sustainable farming practice (Fig.10).

Fig. 6 Correlation of size of farmland with chemical fertilizer and pesticide application

Fig. 7 Correlation of household income with chemical fertilizer and pesticide application

Non-significant difference between each group of annul expenses of chemical fertilizer application (P>0.05)

Fig. 8 Comparison of annual expense of chemical fertilizer application and total incomeⒸ ISERD

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Fig. 9 Percentages of farmers know about Fig. 10 Percentages of farmers want to changesustainable agriculture practice
conventional to sustainable practiceFig. 11 Percentages of farmer want to reduce amount of agrochemical application
Figure 11 showed the expectation of farmers who wants to reduce chemical fertilizer andpesticide through alternative agriculture. 40% of respondents want to reduce chemical fertilizer by
40% to 60%, 30% wants to reduce by 60% to 80% and 23% wants to reduce by 80% to 100%. In
addition, 40% of respondents want to reduce pesticide by 60% to 80%, 23% wants to reduce by
80% to 100%.
CONCLUTION
The study found that rice and vegetable production is main sources of farmers in Samroung village. In
addition, chemical fertilizer and pesticide are applying for increasing crop production. The amounts ofchemical fertilizer and pesticides applied did not correlate with the level education of famers, also withthe size of farmland as well. The amounts of pesticide applied did not correlate with the total annual
household income. On the other hand, the amounts of chemical fertilizer applied showed slightcorrelation with the total annual household income from agriculture. In addition, increasing expense ofagrochemicals application, especially expense of chemical fertilizer application,  affects  to  the  farmer’s  annual income. Moreover, it affects to their life that depends on low income from their agriculturalproducts. Furthermore, the survey showed that 92% of farmer in the village want to change theirpractice to sustainable practice in the future. Therefore, agricultural education such as providing
technical training, workshop is necessarily required for promoting sustainable use of agrochemicals aswell as alternative ways based on organic farming practices and farming practice with low chemical
input.

ACKNOWENEDGEMENTS
The authors are deeply grateful to Institute of Environment Rehabilitation and Conservation(ERECON)   and   ERECON’s   staffs   for   supports  and   assistance in conducting the survey. Without
these kinds of supports, this paper would not be completed.

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REFERENCES
Commune database (CDB). 2010. Commune database of Samroung commune from Sumroung commune in
Khmer version. Cambodia.
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (MAFF). 2009. Annual report of activites and achievement
2008-2009 and plan 2009-2010 of agriculture, forestry and fishery. Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Ministry of Environment (MoE). 2004. National profile on chemicals management in Cambodia. PhnomPenh, Cambodia.
Ministry of Environment (MoE). 2010. Unsustainable agricultural practices (unpublished handout, onCambodia. National Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) at Sunway Hotel. Phnom Penh,Cambodia.
Ngo, B. and Siriwattananon, L. 2009. Suitable timing of application of pelletized compost and farmers’  acceptance in Cambodia. J. ISSAAS, 15(1), 91-100.

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