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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Invited article
erd

Education for Sustainable Development: Challenges forTransformative Education and Research
MARIO T. TABUCANON
United Nations University - Institute of Advanced Studies,
Yokohama, Japan
Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand
Email: mttabucanon@ait.ac.th
Received 29 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract The world is experiencing tremendous challenges entering into the 21st century.
The enormous growing global population is expected to use more natural resources toachieve economic growth, while imperiling moral social values and degrading theenvironment. These gargantuan problems cannot be solved overnight. They have to be
tackled collectively by all sectors of society, and the consensus is that Education for
Sustainable Development (ESD) is the pathway towards a sustainable future. While there
is general consensus that ESD is the way forward, instilling this new educational paradigm
into peoples’ minds and hearts is a gigantic task. Higher education institutions, as well as
research institutions, together with non-formal education institutions, have important roles
to play in this defining human endeavor. In response to the United Nations Decade of
Education for Sustainable Development (UN DESD 2005-2014), the United Nations
University (UNU), collaborates with UNESCO, the lead UN agency for the UN DESD
Implementation, and other UN agencies and international organizations, in spearheading
the promotion and development of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) on ESD
worldwide. An RCE is a network of existing formal, non-formal and informal education
organizations, mobilized to deliver ESD to local and regional communities. An RCEbuilds an innovative platform for multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary information-sharing,
dialogue and collaboration for promoting ESD among regional/local stakeholders,
including joint efforts by stakeholders in working for transformative education andresearch on ESD in all levels of education and knowledge creation. It is important that thelessons learned from these RCE activities are shared globally, through the so-called Global
Learning Space on ESD, as they provide inspiration and knowledge to others wanting to
make contributions for a sustainable future. This paper provides an overview ofsustainability, highlights the concept of RCE as a new form of networking, and provides
examples of good practices of RCEs in tackling ESD issues.
Keywords education for sustainable development, regional centre of expertise,sustainability, transformative education and research

INTRODUCTION
In the last two decades there have been a number of important international commitments strongly
suggesting that the traditional development paradigm must change - the UN Conference on
Environment and Development or UNCED (1992), the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 (1992), theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development or WSSD (2002), and the UN Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development or UN DESD 2005-2014, among others. In the Rio Declaration, forexample, it was recognized that the current global patterns of consumption and production are notsustainable and if these continue, additional planets will be needed by 2050 and this is not possible.
The world is indeed consuming more and more, faster and faster that the entire world population
are living on ever decreasing natural capital. The human ecological footprint is now equivalent to
consuming annually 30 percent more biological resources than the earth can produce or regenerate© ISERD

1

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

in one year (Global Footprint Network). As the people consume more, more species go extinct.
The Living Planet Index of biosphere health fell by about 40 percent from 1970 to 2000, a periodof just 30 years, and the question is what will happen in the next 30 years (Worldwatch Institute
Report, 2004). The livability of the earth is getting unsustainable, and this situation must be
reversed.
As proposed by the Japanese Government and nongovernmental organizations in the
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation in 2002, the UN General Assembly in December 2002
adopted the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development during 2005-2014. The
International Implementation Scheme (IIS) for DESD, with UNESCO as lead UN agency, wasapproved in September 2005, and Governments of UN Member States are invited to consider
measures to implement DESD in their educational strategies and action plans. Sustainable
Development - one which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987) - must be adopted and integrated into
educational context. The vision of the UN DESD is to create a world where everyone has theopportunity to benefit from education and learn the values, behaviors, and lifestyles required for asustainable future and for positive societal transformation.
EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is about learning rather than teaching and therefore
requires reforming the structure and nature of basic education, reorienting existing education
programs, developing public awareness about what sustainability means, and building capacity
within education systems and across all other ESD partners. The three pillars of sustainability are
Society, Environment, and Economy, with Culture as an underlying and critical dimension. Thereis a need to understand the social institutions and their role in change and development. There
should be awareness of natural resources and the fragility of the physical environment. There mustalso be sensitivity to the limits and potential of economic growth and its impact on society and on
the environment. All of these must be embedded in ways of behaving, and acting which differ
according to context, history and tradition.
ESD is interdisciplinary, holistic and values-driven, promoting the ideals of gender equity, justand peaceful societies, human rights, environmental preservation and restoration, cultural diversity,and poverty alleviation, and focusing on critical thinking and problem-solving, multimethodological in approach, participatory in decision making, and locally relevant. Sustainability
is not only a “what” but it is more a “how”; it is a decision-making framework for continuous
improvement for creating a sustainable future. For each and every planned action, it is imperative
to ask and answer the big question - How will this action impact people, the environment, and theeconomy?
ESD research and development deals with longitudinal studies to evaluate the effects of ESD
programs implemented. It is designed to advance the conceptual and theoretical development of
ESD and identity appropriate ESD pedagogy, as well as research on quality teaching and learning
approaches for ESD. Research on and on topics related to Sustainable Development (SD) must be
demonstrated and put into education context so that they can be cases of good practices for theeducation sector - both formal and nonformal - to use and learn from them. Not only that theory
must be put to practice, but that also practice - sustainability practice, that is - must becontextualized in educational curricula and programs.
DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM SHIFT TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY
There is a need to effectuate change in peoples’ living and working styles, in enterprises doing
business, and on the whole towards sustainable consumption and production. These changes entail
exercise of leadership by all people in all segments of society. The change is everybody’s business,in bringing the present state, which is basically unsustainable, into a desired future state, which isand must be sustainable. The past cannot be undone, but it can be analyzed and lessons learned© ISERD

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from for purposes of designing a sustainable future. The desired future state is undoubtedly toattain the goals of sustainable development - e.g. those articulated in the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs); the Goals of Education for All (EFA); and in the Thrusts of the UN DESD. MDGs
aspire for ending poverty and hunger, providing universal education, attaining gender equality,
securing child and maternal health, combating HIV/AIDs, creating environmental sustainability,
and achieving global partnership. EFA aims at expanding early childhood care and education,
providing free compulsory education for all, promoting learning and life skills for young people
and adults, increasing adult literacy, achieving gender parity, and improving quality of education.
The major thrusts of ESD under DESD is to improve access to quality basic education,
reorienting existing education programs to address SD, developing public understanding, and toprovide training programs for all sectors of private and civil society. In response to the UN DESD,
the DESD vision of UNU is the creation of the so-called Global Learning Space (GLS) for SD. The
GLS for SD encompasses advocacy and dissemination of ESD and DESD, promotion of regional
centres of expertise (RCEs) and their networking, strengthening of ESD activities of higher
education institutions, further development of on-line learning for ESD, and training of teachers
and trainers on ESD. These thrusts constitute the UNU strategy to promote ESD.
REGIONAL CENTRES OF EXPERTISE
A Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) is a network of existing formal and nonformal education
organizations mobilized to deliver ESD in the region or locality where it is situated. It creates aplatform for dialogue among regional/local ESD stakeholders and for exchanging information,
experience and good practices on ESD. It develops regional/local knowledge base and assists inpromoting vertical alignment of curricula from primary through university education and in linking
formal and nonformal sectors of the education community. RCEs together and their mutual
relations form the Global Learning Space for SD, which is a visible output of DESD. As of
November 2009, there are 74 RCEs worldwide that have been acknowledged, 28 of them arelocated in the Asia-Pacific region, 22 in Europe, 13 in the Middle East & Africa, and 11 in theAmericas. RCE Greater Phnom Penh is one of the 8 new RCEs acknowledged in November 2009.
There are three levels of networking under the RCE framework. One is networking among
RCE stakeholder organizations, called intra-networking. The next level is the networking of RCEs
in the Asia-Pacific region. The widest level is networking among RCEs globally. The internetworking among RCEs, either continentally or globally, is in the form of thematic groups such as
Health and Traditional Medicine, Sustainable Production and Consumption, Youth, Teacher
Education, Climate Change, Energy, Biodiversity, among other areas. All of these areas cut acrossthe Conference theme of Environment and Rural Development. Some areas - Climate Change, andSustainable Production and Consumption - are further considered in the subsequent sections in thecontext of RCE activities.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change is an issue of concern to all of humanity, and many RCEs around the world haveengaged in programs and projects on this issue. Albeit the task is gigantic, it can be tackled withgreat impact in the long-run in the context of ESD. Climate change has serious impacts on food andwater security, on ecosystems and weather conditions. It causes falling crop yields in many areas,
particularly developing regions. Small mountain glaciers can disappear, threatening water supplies
in several areas. There can be significant decrease in water availability in many areas, and sea level
rise threatens major cities. Climate change can cause extensive damage to ecosystems andbiodiversity where rising number of species face extinction. It causes extreme weather conditions rising intensity of storms, forest fires, droughts, flooding and heat waves. There is increasing riskof dangerous feedbacks and abrupt, large-scale shifts in the climate system.
There is a need to have an integrated approach to tackle climate change, both in terms ofadaptation and mitigation. Mitigation requires reducing vulnerability and impact possibly through© ISERD

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sustainable production. Adaptation requires changes on where and how people live throughsustainable consumption. Another option in combating climate change is through sequestration ofgreenhouse gases. These responses to climate change can be effective if they are put into education
context. In this great endeavor, RCEs can play important roles.
SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND COMSUMPTION
Sustainable Production and Consumption (SPC) is another critical movement in pursuit of asustainable future and in which RCEs can play important roles. Changing consumption andproduction patterns towards more sustainable ones require improving policy framework to
stimulate sustainable production and consumption. The technologies, or in some cases adopting the
local indigenous knowledge, and processes involved in the productive activities need to beaddressed as well as on the way basic services are provided, managed and distributed to the
population. There is also a need to improve the way communication and information are provided
and the way consumers purchase. These changing patterns requires strategies that would change
public consumption behavior, increase resource-use efficiency by the production and service
sectors, and in changing the way administering and managing sustainable consumption is done in acountry.
Changing consumption behavior of the public sector entails several strategic options including
advocacy and public awareness on product and service selection, dissemination of informationfrom the government sector concerning sustainable consumption, creating a mechanism to support
green product and service marketing, and integrating sustainable consumption concept into
academic courses at all education levels. Promoting effective use of resource-base in production
and service sectors include strategies like applying the ecological footprint concept, promoting
research, development and application of clean and green technologies, promoting green design,
strengthening a recycle market for industry, and promoting a product design for recycle, to mention
some. Administering and managing for SPC should necessarily develop a strategy to take care andprotect the resource-base in the country. It should develop a mechanism to make a balance between
the use of renewable resource and restoration of ecological system of the resource that has beenused. It should also involve increase efficiency of the use of non-renewable resource and develop
other alternative resources, assign sustainable consumption as a national agenda, and accelerate theimprovement and development of laws/legislations of the government sector in supporting
effective sustainable consumption.
Instruments for SPC constitute a whole range of measures from “soft” to “hard” ones. The
hard measures are of regulatory type such as following norms and standards, imposition ofenvironmental liability, and environmental control and enforcement according to laws/legislations.
The soft measures are informational instruments such as eco-labeling and sustainability reporting.
The so-called in-betweens, from harder to softer in that order, are economic, research, educational,
and cooperation instruments, such as environmental taxes, environmental financing, green public
procurement, research & development, education & training, technology transfer, and voluntaryagreements.
SOME RCE GOOD PRACTICES ON ESD IN ASIA-PACIFIC
What follows are some examples (not exhaustive) of RCE education and research activities on ESD
in the region. These were contributed by the respective RCEs for presentation at the 2nd ASEAN+3
Leadership Programme on Sustainable Production and Consumption organized by UNU-IAS, theASEAN Secretariat, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, 8 August
2009, Cha-am, Petchaburi, Thailand.
· RCE Tongyeong, South Korea: As an example of a practical approach to ESD, the network
introduced values education through “Clean Plate Movement”. In the environmental context,
the movement conserves food resource and save cooking energy. It contributes towards
reducing carbon emission from cooking and transport; it leads to green consumption, and forest© ISERD

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·

·

·

·

·

·

cultivation. From the economic standpoint, the movement decreases unnecessary food waste,activation of safe organic farming industry, and decreases food price at the international market.
From the societal and cultural perspectives, the movement can prevent conflict instigated byfood shortage; it enhances safe and healthier food security, respect for various food culture, andhealthier eating manner by only eating moderate amount. The movement has impacted a large
number of the local population.
RCE Anji, China: The Anji County of Zhejiang Province of China is richly endowed withbamboo resources. About 70 percent of its land area is covered with forest, most of them bybamboo plantations. This is an example of utilizing its indigenous natural resource to propel
the local economy through the concept of sustainability from consumption to production. The
County has been awarded by the Government of China as an Eco-county, which practices theconcepts of sustainability. Bamboo forest is considered as among those with high carbon
sequestration capacity. The RCE helps promote ESD through the sustainable bamboo economy
as example.
RCE Bogor, Indonesia: The RCE contributes towards tissue culture training, engaging in riceorganic farming pilot project, and entrepreneurial training and practices. The target groups areteachers, students and the community. Entrepreneurial practices include fruit chips, aromaticoil distillation, mushroom production, and herbal drink production.
RCE Trang, Thailand: The RCE engages in biodegradable packaging. The process is fromsugarcane to bagasse pulp to biodegradable tableware, to compost in landfill, and back to
fertilize sugarcane plantation again. Products include common-use things such as bowl, box,
plate, tray, and biofoam. Promoting the use of biodegradable packaging is done in traditional
festivities including the municipality’s vegetarian festival.
RCE Cha-am, Thailand: The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy of His Majesty, The King ofThailand calls for a balanced and sustainable development at all levels. The theory is to makethe agricultural producers or farmers more self-reliant through a holistic management of theirland, while living harmoniously and within society. The RCE is engaged in promoting thissustainable philosophy in the locality. Sustainable production includes rice farming, livestock,mushroom culture, organic farming, solid waste disposal technology production, biologicalfertilizer production, and water bio-fermentation.
RCE Kitakyushu, Japan: The RCE is engaged in demonstrating an example of adopting acircular society through cardboard compost. Domestic garbage from households is put in thecompost, the compost is put in the field, then planting, and then harvesting. There were lessons
learned from the project including habit-forming behaviors such as - to stop throwing garbage
as disuse; getting into the habit of garbage compost; the pleasure of growing vegetables;
learning the circular system, etc. For the activity of using compost fertilizer for rice cultivation,
lessons learned include the pleasure of youth and adults working together, the fun anddifficulties of rice-making, knowing about the animals and plants in the rice fields, and sensing
a good taste of rice.
RCE Cebu, Philippines: The RCE adopts corporate social responsibility (CSR) by a cluster ofbusiness enterprises working together for a common purpose. Consideration of theenvironment is addressed through solid waste management which includes activities such as
segregation, garbage collection, composting, biodiversity conservation, and watershedmanagement. Entrepreneurship is demonstrated through recyclable collections in the form of
cash-from-trash project, product-from-waste project, waste exchange and seed bank project.
Education is impacted by the adopt-a-library project, vocational scholarship, and tutorials. The
movement also serves as a manpower source for the participating businesses. The movement
also contributes to peace and order through emergency preparedness activities. It also impacts
health through feeding programs, medical mission, and health center project. All of these arethrough the initiative of the RCE with the participation of a group of companies working
together for ESD.

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CONCLUDING REMARKS- ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
It is imperative that education institutions, especially higher education institutions (HEIs), integrate
SD philosophy into curricula as well as mainstream the sustainability paradigm in academic
programs. Research must be reoriented and new knowledge developed based on SD. There is alsoa need to develop new technologies, methods, tools and techniques to embrace SD.
There are obviously questions of competencies, however, which are critical. The focus must
not only be on teachers and students in formal education but also those in nonformal education
organizations engaged in teaching diverse fields. Training must also be in-service, not only preservice teaching, at the inter- and multi-disciplinary nature of ESD. ESD must be learned as a
general concept that allows for its adaptation to national and local needs and priorities.
As part of its Education for Sustainable Development Programme, UNU-IAS has under its
auspices, spearheaded the establishment of the Promotion of Sustainability in Postgraduate
Education and Research Network (ProSPER.Net) in Asia-Pacific. Members of the alliance,
currently 19 reputed higher education institutions, have committed to working together to integrate
SD into postgraduate courses and curricula as well as in research programs. The network is aplatform of collaboration for members to pursue postgraduate education and research on SD with
an emphasis on ESD. The process and content of education must change to be able to reach thegoals of sustainability.
REFERENCES
Global Footprint Network (http://globalfootprintnetwork.org/).
State of the World (2004) A Worldwatch Institute report on progress toward a sustainable society. 1-245,
USA.
World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) Report (1987).
United Nations University - Institute of Advanced Studies (http://www.ias.unu.edu/efsd) and(http://www.ias.unu.edu/efsd/prospernet).

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Invited article
erd

Establishment of RCE Greater Phnom Penh for Promoting
ESD in Cambodia
BUNTHAN NGO
Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: bunthan_rua@camnet.com.kh

MACHITO MIHARATokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, JapanLALITA SIRIWATTANANON
Association of Environmental and Rural Development, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Received 28 January 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Rapid development of agricultural technologies in Greater Phnom Penh hassignificantly increased agricultural production. The majority of farmers apply agriculturalchemicals. Agricultural chemicals released from farmlands to downstream cause various
environmental problems. So, the education for sustainable development (ESD) was
focused on agricultural sector. Especially, the students in the elementary schools wereprioritized as they will become farmers in the future. Forming RCE is expected to increase
the opportunity to build the public awareness and perception of the importance of making
harmony between farming practices and natural environment. This report deals with thebackground of RCE Greater Phnom Penh in Cambodia and its challenges. One of thechallenges in the RCE is enhancing the food, agriculture and environment education forelementary schools through the organic farming activities at elementary schools and thefacilitator training of elementary school teachers under the collaboration among
government, university, local NGO and local community.
Keywords ESD-education for sustainable development, RCE-regional centre of expertise,
Phnom Penh

INTRODUCTIONA RCE is a network among formal, non-formal and informal education organizations, mobilized todeliver education for sustainable development (ESD) to local and regional communities. A networkof RCE provides the Global Learning Space for Sustainable Development. RCEs aim to achieve
the goals of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, DESD, from 2005 to 2014
by translating its global objectives into the context of the local communities in which locals operate.
A RCE is expected to involve all levels as school teachers, professors at higher education
institutions, environmental NGOs, scientists, researchers, governmental officers, representatives of
local enterprises, volunteers, civil associations or individuals who work in the spheres ofsustainable development such as economic growth, social development and environmental
protection. Also, it aims to collaborate among institutions at the regional or local level in a RCE forpromoting ESD jointly. Innovative platforms should be built for sharing information andexperiences and for promoting dialogue among regional or local stakeholders for sustainable
development. In addition, a local or regional knowledge base should be created to support ESD
actors (Mochizuki and Fadeeva, 2008; UNU-IAS).
This report deals with the background of RCE Greater Phnom Penh in Cambodia, that is thefirst RCE established in Cambodia, and its challenges in the education for sustainable development,
ESD, focusing on the food, agriculture and environment education.

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TARGET AREA
Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia where more than 1.3 million people are living. Phnom
Penh covering an area of 290 square kilometers is located in the south-central region of Cambodia
at the confluence of the Tonle Sap, Mekong and Basac Rivers. These rivers provide potential
freshwater and other resources.
As shown in Fig. 1, Greater Phnom Penh covers not only Phnom Penh but also surrounding
provinces, such as Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Speu, Kandal, Prey Veng and
Tako. The area and population of each province are summarized in Table 1. These provinces being
close to Phnom Penh have a strong relation in food demand-supply and economical aspect. Total
area and population of Greater Phnom Penh is 34,641 square km and 7,250,881, respectively. Also
as shown in Table 2, more than 90% of population is in rural area in surrounding provinces,although 93% of population in Phnom Penh is in urban area.

Greater
Phnom Penh

Fig. 1 Location of Phnom Penh and Greater Phnom Penh
Table 1 Phnom Penh and surrounding provinces in Greater Phnom Penh
Name of province
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Area (Square km)

Phnom Penh
Kampong Cham
Kampong Chhnang
Kampong Speu
KandalPrey Veng
Takeo
Total

290
9,799
5,521
7,017
3,568
4,883
3,563
34,641

Population
1,325,681
1,680,694
471,616
716,5171,265,085
947,357
843,9317,250,881

RemarkcapitalThe economy in Greater Phnom Penh is based on agriculture. Agriculture is one of theimportant sectors of the Cambodian national economy. More than 70% of the total population in
Greater Phnom Penh is in the agricultural sector. Most of households in Greater Phnom Penh
depend on agriculture having the relation with sub-sectors such as livestock raising, fisheries oraquaculture for their livelihood. Agriculture produces a wide variety of crops in Greater Phnom
Penh. However, the major crop is paddy rice. Agricultural sector remains unpredictability, because
it still depends on geographical and weather conditions.

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Table 2 Population in urban and rural areas in Phnom Penh and surrounding provinces
Name of province
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Population in urban
area (%)

Population in ruralarea (%)

Remark

93
5
8
7
9
5
0

7
95
92
93
91
95
100

capitalPhnom Penh
Kampong Cham
Kampong Chhnang
Kampong Speu
KandalPrey Veng
Takeo

Source: Commune Database 2004

REGIONAL CHALLENGES
Phnom Penh being the capital of Cambodia is the center of economic, industrial, commercial,
cultural, tourist and historical aspects. Number of people living in Phnom Penh is rising every year.
Recently, rapid increase in population causes many problems in environment, life quality,
education and health, etc. Although education is the key to develop the human resources, it is noteasy to improve education system, because of lacking teachers, school facilities and low income ofpeople.
A net admission ratio for elementary school is 93.3%, however a net enrollment ratio of lower
secondary school is 34.8% and of higher secondary school only 14.8% based on the education
statistics of MoEYS (2007/2008). Female students from rural areas or students from the poorfamily are all grossly underrepresented in education statistics. Big number of students who didn’t
continue to secondary schools starts working in agricultural sector.
In the provinces of Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Speu, Kandal, Pray Veng
and Takeo, the conditions of education are much insufficient for children comparing to that in
Phnom Penh. The parents in rural area need their children to work in the farmlands. The poverty offarmers (Table 3) is a barrier for children to continue their study at elementary or secondary
schools.
Table 3 Poverty rate based on population under poverty line
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Name of province

Poverty rate (%)

Phnom Penh
Kampong Cham
Kampong Chhnang
Kampong Speu
KandalPrey Veng
Takeo

11.9
12.1
44.6
18.2
18.4
53.1
15.2

Source: WFP 2002

Agriculture plays an important role for economic growth with reducing poverty of the people.
Rapid development of agricultural technologies has significantly increased agricultural production.
Currently, the majority of farmers apply agricultural chemicals, such as chemical fertilizers,
herbicide or pesticide, to maintain high levels of crop yields. However, the overuse of agriculturalchemicals is damaging the long-term soil fertility and productivity of farmlands. Also, agriculturalchemicals released from farmlands to downstream cause the degradation of water environment.
This degradation is progressively accelerated with the transport of suspended substances caused bysoil erosion. It means that intensive farming practices depending on agricultural chemicals cause
various problems for natural environment and human health.
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Research institutes oruniversities
External advisorypanel

SocialEnvironmental

development

conservation

Sustainable development
Governmental

through the food,International or localorganizations

agriculture andNGOsenvironmental education

Economic

Local schools

Local communities

growthFig. 2 RCE Greater Phnom Penh focusing on the food, agriculture andenvironment education
Accordingly, as regional challenges in the education for sustainable development (ESD), an
attention has been paid to sustainable processes for rural development. Although there are somefactors constituting sustainable rural development as economic growth, social development andenvironmental conservation, the food, agriculture and environment education was focused as a firststep for approaching sustainable rural development in the area of Greater Phnom Penh as shown in
Fig. 2. Especially, the students in the elementary schools were prioritized, as they will become
farmers in the future. So, one of current challenges in RCE Greater Phnom Penh is enhancing thefood, agriculture and environment education for elementary schools through the organic farming
activities at elementary schools and the facilitator training of elementary school teachers under thecollaboration among government, university, local NGO and local community.

Fig. 3 Food, agriculture and environment education through cultivating vegetablesat school organic gardens in Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham
ON-GOING ACTIVITIESThe program on the food, agriculture and environment education has been conducted since 2006
under the collaboration among government organizations, universities, local NGOs, local
communities and elementary schools in Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham. In the initial stage of© ISERD

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RCE Greater Phnom Penh, all organizations in RCE Greater Phnom Penh are also involved andcollaborate in the program. The contents of the program are as follows.
• To make a model for enhancing the food, agriculture and environment education forelementary schools in Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham through conducting seminars andpracticing organic farming at schools.
• To publish and distribute various textbooks or guidebooks written in Khmer.
• To conduct the training courses for depper perception on the food, agriculture andenvironment education under the collaboration among government, university, local NGO andlocal community.
• To hold the workshop or conference for illuminating various ESD activities conducted not
only in Cambodia but also in other countries.
• To construct the network among governments, universities, local NGOs, local communities,
elementary schools and so on for managing RCE Greater Phnom Penh.

Fig. 4 Food, agriculture and environment education through compostingand students’ activity report at elementary schools
RCE Greater Phnom Penh comprises member organizations from various fields with a wide
range of expertise which are engaged in ESD and its related activities. The stakeholder
organizations include Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) and Institute of Environment
Conservation and Rehabilitation, Cambodia Branch (CaM-ERECON), which work as coordinatorsof RCE Greater Phnom Penh in the Secretariat Committee, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, several
elementary schools in Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham and so on.
In addition, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Institute of Environment Conservation andRehabilitation and Association of Environmental and Rural Development are in the external
advisory panel of the RCE Greater Phnom Penh.
CONCLUSIONRCE Greater Phnom Penh is established to promote ESD through the food, agriculture andenvironment education for sustainable development in the area of Greater Phnom Penh. This is thefirst RCE established in Cambodia.
In a short term for 2-3 years after the establishment of RCE Greater Phnom Penh, the food,agriculture and environment education for elementary schools is focused as a challenge of the RCE.
Also, some conference or workshop is held in Phnom Penh regularly for promoting the discussion
or the sharing of ideas concerning sustainable processes for rural development. This conference orworkshop held in Phnom Penh is expected to increase not only the quality of educators but also thecollaboration among school teachers, professors at higher education institutions, facilitators at© ISERD

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environmental NGOs, scientists, researchers, governmental officers, representatives of local
enterprises, volunteers, media, civil associations or individuals.
In a long term after 2-3 years passed from the establishment of RCE Greater Phnom Penh, theactivities on the food, agriculture and environment education for elementary schools will beadvanced at other provinces in Greater Phnom Penh, in addition to the activities for local
communities.
REFERENCES
Mochizuki, Y. and Fadeeva, Z. (2008) Regional centres of expertise on education for sustainable
development (RCEs), an overview. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9-4,
369-381.
MoEYS (2007/2008) Education statistics of MoEYS. Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Cambodia.
WFP, MoP (2002) Estimation of poverty rates at commune level in Cambodia. World Food Programme,
United Nations, Ministry of Planning, Cambodia.
MoP (2004) Commune database 2004. Ministry of Planning, Cambodia.
UNU-IAS Regional centres of expertise (RCE) (http://www.ias.unu.edu/).

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Research article
erdLand Conservation of Upland Hills with Severe Erosion- Promoting Field Schools to Increase Farmers’ Awareness
MUHAMMAD AQIL
Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture,
Tokyo, Japan
Email: agiltokyo@yahoo.com

MACHITO MIHARA
Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture,
Tokyo, Japan
Received 1 December 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Lack of knowledge and understanding of farmers about the risk of erosion havecontributed to the rapid degradation of watersheds in Indonesia. Research was carried out
to identify the topography and extent of land use in the upstream Bengawan Solowatershed to determine interactions between topographic characteristics and land use that
could explain the effect of agricultural expansion in hill areas on erosion occurrence. An
erosion model was applied to calculate the erosion risks using Geographic Information
System (GIS). Slope and land use assessments showed that more than 60% of the soil loss
occurred on upland and mixed crop areas under moderate to steep slopes. Field
investigation indicated that many farmers used to grow maize and cassava in the hilly
areas that are tilled repetitively and mostly left without vegetation cover. Moreover,farmers are not making efforts to use land conservation measures. Thus, these areas need
immediate attention for soil and water conservation activities to prevent further landdegradation. A land conservation map was created to identify land use features as well asrecommended conservation measures which should be applied in order to limit further
watershed degradation. Farmer field schools are proposed to increase farmer awareness on
the negative effects of soil erosion and the benefits of practicing soil and water
conservation.
Keywords upland hills, erosion, GIS, farmer field school

INTRODUCTION
Environmental-related problems, especially erosion, are major issues faced by developing countries
such as Indonesia. Increased illegal logging and inappropriate land conversion to expand theagriculture area have contributed to an increase in the number of critical watersheds in recent
decades. In 1984 the number of critical watersheds in Indonesia was estimated at 22. However,according to the latest survey the number of critical watersheds has increased to 108, or 6-fold,within two decades (Ministry of Forestry, 2009).
High population growth has led to pressure on land resources. Moreover, lack of knowledge
and understanding by local people about the dangers posed by the illegal exploitation of forests andways of ignoring the rules of land conservation have also accelerated land degradation. Thisphenomenon is now faced by Wonogiri Regency which is the case study in this research.
Uncontrolled land conversion in the upland and hilly areas has accelerated the occurrence oflandslides, floods and droughts in downstream areas. In addition, agricultural practice in the uplandand hilly areas has led to a decline in the productivity of upland fields as cropland is more prone toerosion because they are tilled repetitively and mostly left without vegetation cover. Soil erosion
levels in this area are still high and farmers are not making efforts to construct or maintain soil andconservation works. The Regional Development Agency of Wonogiri Regency has reported a© ISERD

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strong relationship between forest conversion and erosion, explaining the need to detect and assessland conversion systems as a first step in erosion evaluation.
In the present work, an attempt is made to assess the topography and extend of land use over
the watershed in order to find the relationship between topographic characteristics and land use that
could explain the effect of land conversion on erosion occurrence. Furthermore, farmer field
schools are proposed to increase farmer awareness of the negative effects of soil erosion and thebenefits of soil and water conservation.
MATERIALS AND METHOD
Because of the high erosion levels, a research area was selected in the Wonogiri Regency ofIndonesia. Wonogiri is located between latitudes 7º 32' S and 8 15' S and longitudes 110º 42' E and111º 18' E. A map of the study area is shown in Fig. 1. This area has a monsoon climate with anaverage annual precipitation of 2773 mm. Topography of the area includes elevations from 115 to1300 m. Major soil types are Latosol, Meditreran, and Andosol (Soewarno and Hardjosuwarno,2008). Dry land farming, paddy field and forest dominate the land use system in the river basin,
which account for more than 70% of the area. Widespread soil conservation measures have been
implemented in the area but these are in a poor state due to a lack of maintenance by farmers whoare expecting local government assistance.

Fig. 1 Map of the study site under consideration

A survey was undertaken from January to May 2009. Various types and sources of data werecollected including satellite image soil attribute data from the National Soil Survey Office, land use
and climate data. This information was used to identify the source of erosion as well as to develop
conservation strategies. Interviews were also conducted with local farmer about their perceptions ofsoil erosion and the constraints of the present existing soil and water conservation measures.
Data processing was implemented using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE)
in a GIS raster system. RUSLE computes the average annual erosion expected on hillslopes bymultiplying several factors together as: A = R.K.L.S.C.P, where A is the computed annual soil loss
(t/ha/yr); R is the rainfall erosivity factor (MJ mm/ha h); K is a soil erodability factor (t/ha/MJmm); L is a slope length factor; S is a slope steepness factor; C is a cover management factor; andP is a supporting practices factor. The values of these factors are determined from field andlaboratory experiments (Renard et al., 1997; Lal, 2001).
After obtaining information on the relative magnitude and spatial distribution of soil erosion
and potential soil erosion sites, we expand the analysis to create a land conservation map to protect
the watershed from degradation.
© ISERD

14

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Farming practice on slope areas and its effect on soil erosion
Soil erosion in this study area has become one of the important factors affecting land degradationand sedimentation deposition on the river. The results indicated that some regions of the watershedhave been identified as high erosion potential zones. To distinguish the level of erosion based on
the slope steepness the area was classified into four classes, namely 1. gentle slope (0-25%), 2.
moderate slope (25-35%), 3. steep slope (35-50%), and 4. very steep slope (>50%). Through slope
assessment in the GIS environment, the estimated distribution of erosion by soil class is shown in
Table 1.
Table 1 Soil loss and coverage area under different slope class
Slope class
GentleModerate
Steep
Very steep

Soil loss( ton/ha/yr)
53.75
185.36207.73
70.51

Percent (%)
9.17
43.38
35.43
12.03

Coveragearea (ha)133410
45393
3565
1676

Percent (%)
72.49
24.66
1.94
0.91

Most of the Wonogiri watershed has erosion values of 53.75-207.73 ton/ha/yr, with mostvalues in the range 185.36-254.31 ton/ha/yr, having a climatologically moderate to high erosion
potential. In addition, more than 60% of the total amount of erosion occurred on the moderate andsteep slopes. Most of the erosion occurred from November to March as this area is tropical wheremonsoon winds bring heavy rainfall during that period. During these months rainfall intensity
reaches 150-200 mm/day, which can cause considerable soil erosion.
As land use practice has a strong relationship with the erosion occurrence the five land uses,
i.e. mixed agriculture, settlement, upland crop, paddy field, and forest, were investigated todetermine the effect of land use on soil erosion, as shown in Table 2. The computed soil erosion
decreased in the following order: upland crop, mixed agriculture, settlement, forest and paddy field.
The average computed amount of soil erosion under upland crop and mixed agriculture contribute
more than 90% of the total soil loss.
Table 2 Soil loss and coverage area under different land use
Land use
Upland crop
Settlement
Mixed agriculture
Paddy field
ForestSoil loss(ton/ha/yr)
223.12
6.45
143.962.96
3.00

Percent (%)
52.26
1.71
38.24
0.79
0.80

Coveragearea (ha)
20854
28990
67115
30318
25041

Percent (%)
12.12
16.85
39.02
17.44
14.55

The major reason for high erosion in the area of upland and mixed agriculture was the rapid
expansion of agricultural activities in hill areas (Veldkamp and Verburg, 2004). Most of the crops(upland and annual) were cultivated in hill areas which are more prone to erosion. Rapid population
growth and reduced land availability in the flat areas have forced cultivation of crops (including
maize, cassava and beans) in areas of moderate to steep slopes. In addition, high profits due toincreased upland crop market prices have attracted more farmers to cultivate land more intensively,
shorten the fallow periods and till the land repetitively. This results in land left without vegetation
cover that accelerates soil erosion.
© ISERD

15

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Proposed land conservation area map
One of the challenges for the farmers living in the watershed is how to best manage their land
without adverse effects on the environment. To help farmers limit or reduce further landdegradation and its depleting effect on productivity, a proposed land conservation map has beencreated through overlaying erosion risk on land use maps. Risk assessment using GIS wasconducted to classify five conservation areas, namely A, B, C, D and E as shown in Fig. 2 andTable 3.

O

Proposed conservation
A
B
C
D
10

5

0

10 Kilometers

E

Fig. 2 Recommended land conservation for the study area
Table 3 Proposed land conservation map for the study area
Land
type

Existing land features

Area
(ha)

A
B

Very low erosion level
Settlement areas with
low to moderate erosion
level

22891
6412

C

Agricultural areas with
low to moderate erosion
level106783

D

Agricultural areas withhigh to severe erosion
level

31085

E

Agriculture on
mountainous areas andforest16969

Recommended land use/land conservation
No specific conservation efforts required•
A grassed waterway to reduce erosion and catch
nutrients•
Carry out settling ponds construction in the drainage
area•
Individual terrace construction•
Cover crop-any annual plant grown as monoculture•
Crop rotation or Crop sequencing- growing dissimilartypes of crops in sequential seasons•
Ridge terrace construction•
Strip farming-alternate strips of closely sown crops
with strips of row crops•
Contour farming- practice across a slope following its
elevation contour lines•
Drop structure construction•
Community based soil erosion management program
should be introduced•
Change upland agriculture into agroforestry•
Reforestation of the very steep area (slope>50%)•
Engineering construction such as check dam andgully control•
Community based soil erosion management program
should be introduced© ISERD

16

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

In Table 3 each different type of conservation contributes to a specific type of treatment.
However, attention should be paid to land types D and E as these areas are the most critical, andshould be treated immediately in order to maintain the sustainability of hydrological function.
Farmers growing upland crops (mainly maize) in these areas are advised to practice strip or contour
farming across a slope, as this system helps to stop erosion by creating natural dams for water andpreserving the strength of the soil. In addition, drop structure construction helps to stabilize steep
waterways and reduce gully erosion.
In addition, areas of land type E should be restricted from any upland farming activities suchas maize or cassava. Instead, local farmers may be advised to pursue a practice encouraging
environmental sustainability such as agroforestry in the border forest areas which buffer the more
intensively deforestation. Furthermore, very steep areas (slope >50%) should be reforested torecover destroyed forests.
Enhancing farmer awareness through farmers field schools
The best way to permanently conserve eroded land is to work closely with an established education
program in farming communities. Farmers field schools (FFSs) on soil and water conservation areproposed to help farmers obtain a deeper understanding of environment problems and their causes.
This program brings together concept and methods from agro-ecology, experimental education andcommunity development (FAO, 2002; Ministry of Agriculture, 2008).
The FFS is a group-based learning process with activities involving simple experiments,
regular field observation and group analysis. The knowledge gained from these activities enables
farmers to make their own locally-specific decisions about environmentally friendly crop
management practices. The curriculum of FFS involves a wide range of environmentally friendly
crop management such as tillage practices (direction and conservation tillage), crop rotations, useof organic fertilizer to manage soil fertility, use of crop residues, and soil and water conservation
structures (terraces, drop structure). This curriculum is built on the assumption that farmers canonly implement conservation measures once they have acquired the ability to carry out their own
analysis. Organizing FFS requires a facilitator for the activities associated with farming practices.
A flow diagram of FFS implementation is shown in Fig. 3.

Extension
officeExtension
staff

Farmergroup

Field school
Fieldlaboratory
Comparing conservation
with non conservation
plots (Area 1 ha)

Practice of conservation
agriculture (Area 10 ha)

Fig. 3 Flow diagram of FFS on soil and water conservation

Fig. 3 details the role of a facilitator in the various FFS activities. In general, the facilitator
introduces an activity, clarifies the process, sets participants to work, asks questions as groups
make their presentations, and summarizes presentations underlining the important points that werelearned during the exercise. The field facilitator (extension or researcher) organizes all activities
from beginning to the end of the crop season. Participants of FSS are farmers living within the area
© ISERD

17

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

around 10 ha. Farmers are divided into several small groups of 15 to 20 to maximize participation.
Of the 10 ha of FFS land, 9 ha will be managed by farmer groups and the remaining 1 ha is used asa field laboratory with field guides managed by the extension/researcher.
Working with 15 to 20 member teams, farmers enter and make observation/experiment in thefield laboratory plot (±1 ha). Once a week, participating farmers will come to the field laboratory
to make observations and analyze the problems occurred. They are expected to compare these
problems with the existing realities in the field. If there are differences in appearance between theconditions in a field laboratory with the field school, farmers are expected to have been able toexplain. At harvest, the participants compare the crop yield or other conservation measures (e.g.
erosion rate, soil quality) of the study samples (field laboratory) with the larger field (field school)
in which the supporting study is conducted. Thus, the experience and lessons gained from the field
laboratory can be a reference for farmers and motivate them to continue applied conservation
measures in their own fields.
CONCLUSION
Agricultural practices in upland and hilly areas have resulted in seriously declining land
productivity as cropland is more susceptible to soil erosion. The erosion model was applied toassess the effect of farming practice in slope areas on the occurrence of erosion. Through slope andland use assessments we found that more than 60% of the soil loss occurred on upland crops andmixed agriculture under moderate to steep slopes. Field investigation indicated that many farmers
grow maize and cassava in the hilly areas that are tilled repetitively and mostly left without
vegetation cover. Moreover, farmers are not making efforts to maintain land conservation measures.
Thus, these areas need immediate attention for soil and water conservation activities to prevent
further land degradation. One of the challenges for the farmers living in the watershed is how tobest manage their land without any adverse effect on the environment. A land conservation map
was created to localize land use features and recommended conservation measures which should beapplied in order to limit further watershed degradation, as well as depleting agricultural
productivity. Farmers field schools are proposed to increase farmer awareness of the negative
effects of soil erosion and the benefits of practicing soil and water conservation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors extend grateful thanks to the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) in
providing the postdoctoral research fellowship enabling research in Japan.

REFERENCES
FAO (2002) Ten years of IPM training in Asia-From farmer field school to community IPM. Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations, Italy.
Lal, R. (2001) Soil degradation by erosion. Land Degradation and Development, 12, 1-8.
Ministry of Agriculture (2008) Field school of integrated crop management on maize. Ministry ofAgriculture, Indonesia.
Ministry of Forestry (2008) Annual report on watershed condition in Indonesia. Ministry of Agriculture,
Indonesia.
Renard, K.G., Foster, G.R., Weesies, G.A., McCool, D.K. and Yoder, D.C. (1997) Predicting soil erosion bywater - a guide to conservation planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE).
USDA-ARS Handbook No. 703. United States Government Printing Office, USA.
Soewarno and Hardjosuwarno, S. (2008) Sedimentation control: Part 1. Intensive measures outside of
Wonogiri Reservoir, Central Java. Journal of Applied Sciences in Environmental Sanitation, 1, 9-17.
Veldkamp, A. and Verburg, P.H. (2004) Modelling land use change and environmental impact. Journal ofEnvironmental Management, 72, 1-3.

© ISERD

18

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Research article
erdLand Conservation of Upland Hills with Severe Erosion- Promoting Field Schools to Increase Farmers’ Awareness
MUHAMMAD AQIL
Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture,
Tokyo, Japan
Email: agiltokyo@yahoo.com

MACHITO MIHARA
Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture,
Tokyo, Japan
Received 1 December 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Lack of knowledge and understanding of farmers about the risk of erosion havecontributed to the rapid degradation of watersheds in Indonesia. Research was carried out
to identify the topography and extent of land use in the upstream Bengawan Solowatershed to determine interactions between topographic characteristics and land use that
could explain the effect of agricultural expansion in hill areas on erosion occurrence. An
erosion model was applied to calculate the erosion risks using Geographic Information
System (GIS). Slope and land use assessments showed that more than 60% of the soil loss
occurred on upland and mixed crop areas under moderate to steep slopes. Field
investigation indicated that many farmers used to grow maize and cassava in the hilly
areas that are tilled repetitively and mostly left without vegetation cover. Moreover,farmers are not making efforts to use land conservation measures. Thus, these areas need
immediate attention for soil and water conservation activities to prevent further landdegradation. A land conservation map was created to identify land use features as well asrecommended conservation measures which should be applied in order to limit further
watershed degradation. Farmer field schools are proposed to increase farmer awareness on
the negative effects of soil erosion and the benefits of practicing soil and water
conservation.
Keywords upland hills, erosion, GIS, farmer field school

INTRODUCTION
Environmental-related problems, especially erosion, are major issues faced by developing countries
such as Indonesia. Increased illegal logging and inappropriate land conversion to expand theagriculture area have contributed to an increase in the number of critical watersheds in recent
decades. In 1984 the number of critical watersheds in Indonesia was estimated at 22. However,according to the latest survey the number of critical watersheds has increased to 108, or 6-fold,within two decades (Ministry of Forestry, 2009).
High population growth has led to pressure on land resources. Moreover, lack of knowledge
and understanding by local people about the dangers posed by the illegal exploitation of forests andways of ignoring the rules of land conservation have also accelerated land degradation. Thisphenomenon is now faced by Wonogiri Regency which is the case study in this research.
Uncontrolled land conversion in the upland and hilly areas has accelerated the occurrence oflandslides, floods and droughts in downstream areas. In addition, agricultural practice in the uplandand hilly areas has led to a decline in the productivity of upland fields as cropland is more prone toerosion because they are tilled repetitively and mostly left without vegetation cover. Soil erosion
levels in this area are still high and farmers are not making efforts to construct or maintain soil andconservation works. The Regional Development Agency of Wonogiri Regency has reported a© ISERD

13

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

strong relationship between forest conversion and erosion, explaining the need to detect and assessland conversion systems as a first step in erosion evaluation.
In the present work, an attempt is made to assess the topography and extend of land use over
the watershed in order to find the relationship between topographic characteristics and land use that
could explain the effect of land conversion on erosion occurrence. Furthermore, farmer field
schools are proposed to increase farmer awareness of the negative effects of soil erosion and thebenefits of soil and water conservation.
MATERIALS AND METHOD
Because of the high erosion levels, a research area was selected in the Wonogiri Regency ofIndonesia. Wonogiri is located between latitudes 7º 32' S and 8 15' S and longitudes 110º 42' E and111º 18' E. A map of the study area is shown in Fig. 1. This area has a monsoon climate with anaverage annual precipitation of 2773 mm. Topography of the area includes elevations from 115 to1300 m. Major soil types are Latosol, Meditreran, and Andosol (Soewarno and Hardjosuwarno,2008). Dry land farming, paddy field and forest dominate the land use system in the river basin,
which account for more than 70% of the area. Widespread soil conservation measures have been
implemented in the area but these are in a poor state due to a lack of maintenance by farmers whoare expecting local government assistance.

Fig. 1 Map of the study site under consideration

A survey was undertaken from January to May 2009. Various types and sources of data werecollected including satellite image soil attribute data from the National Soil Survey Office, land use
and climate data. This information was used to identify the source of erosion as well as to develop
conservation strategies. Interviews were also conducted with local farmer about their perceptions ofsoil erosion and the constraints of the present existing soil and water conservation measures.
Data processing was implemented using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE)
in a GIS raster system. RUSLE computes the average annual erosion expected on hillslopes bymultiplying several factors together as: A = R.K.L.S.C.P, where A is the computed annual soil loss
(t/ha/yr); R is the rainfall erosivity factor (MJ mm/ha h); K is a soil erodability factor (t/ha/MJmm); L is a slope length factor; S is a slope steepness factor; C is a cover management factor; andP is a supporting practices factor. The values of these factors are determined from field andlaboratory experiments (Renard et al., 1997; Lal, 2001).
After obtaining information on the relative magnitude and spatial distribution of soil erosion
and potential soil erosion sites, we expand the analysis to create a land conservation map to protect
the watershed from degradation.
© ISERD

14

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Farming practice on slope areas and its effect on soil erosion
Soil erosion in this study area has become one of the important factors affecting land degradationand sedimentation deposition on the river. The results indicated that some regions of the watershedhave been identified as high erosion potential zones. To distinguish the level of erosion based on
the slope steepness the area was classified into four classes, namely 1. gentle slope (0-25%), 2.
moderate slope (25-35%), 3. steep slope (35-50%), and 4. very steep slope (>50%). Through slope
assessment in the GIS environment, the estimated distribution of erosion by soil class is shown in
Table 1.
Table 1 Soil loss and coverage area under different slope class
Slope class
GentleModerate
Steep
Very steep

Soil loss( ton/ha/yr)
53.75
185.36207.73
70.51

Percent (%)
9.17
43.38
35.43
12.03

Coveragearea (ha)133410
45393
3565
1676

Percent (%)
72.49
24.66
1.94
0.91

Most of the Wonogiri watershed has erosion values of 53.75-207.73 ton/ha/yr, with mostvalues in the range 185.36-254.31 ton/ha/yr, having a climatologically moderate to high erosion
potential. In addition, more than 60% of the total amount of erosion occurred on the moderate andsteep slopes. Most of the erosion occurred from November to March as this area is tropical wheremonsoon winds bring heavy rainfall during that period. During these months rainfall intensity
reaches 150-200 mm/day, which can cause considerable soil erosion.
As land use practice has a strong relationship with the erosion occurrence the five land uses,
i.e. mixed agriculture, settlement, upland crop, paddy field, and forest, were investigated todetermine the effect of land use on soil erosion, as shown in Table 2. The computed soil erosion
decreased in the following order: upland crop, mixed agriculture, settlement, forest and paddy field.
The average computed amount of soil erosion under upland crop and mixed agriculture contribute
more than 90% of the total soil loss.
Table 2 Soil loss and coverage area under different land use
Land use
Upland crop
Settlement
Mixed agriculture
Paddy field
ForestSoil loss(ton/ha/yr)
223.12
6.45
143.962.96
3.00

Percent (%)
52.26
1.71
38.24
0.79
0.80

Coveragearea (ha)
20854
28990
67115
30318
25041

Percent (%)
12.12
16.85
39.02
17.44
14.55

The major reason for high erosion in the area of upland and mixed agriculture was the rapid
expansion of agricultural activities in hill areas (Veldkamp and Verburg, 2004). Most of the crops(upland and annual) were cultivated in hill areas which are more prone to erosion. Rapid population
growth and reduced land availability in the flat areas have forced cultivation of crops (including
maize, cassava and beans) in areas of moderate to steep slopes. In addition, high profits due toincreased upland crop market prices have attracted more farmers to cultivate land more intensively,
shorten the fallow periods and till the land repetitively. This results in land left without vegetation
cover that accelerates soil erosion.
© ISERD

15

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Proposed land conservation area map
One of the challenges for the farmers living in the watershed is how to best manage their land
without adverse effects on the environment. To help farmers limit or reduce further landdegradation and its depleting effect on productivity, a proposed land conservation map has beencreated through overlaying erosion risk on land use maps. Risk assessment using GIS wasconducted to classify five conservation areas, namely A, B, C, D and E as shown in Fig. 2 andTable 3.

O

Proposed conservation
A
B
C
D
10

5

0

10 Kilometers

E

Fig. 2 Recommended land conservation for the study area
Table 3 Proposed land conservation map for the study area
Land
type

Existing land features

Area
(ha)

A
B

Very low erosion level
Settlement areas with
low to moderate erosion
level

22891
6412

C

Agricultural areas with
low to moderate erosion
level106783

D

Agricultural areas withhigh to severe erosion
level

31085

E

Agriculture on
mountainous areas andforest16969

Recommended land use/land conservation
No specific conservation efforts required•
A grassed waterway to reduce erosion and catch
nutrients•
Carry out settling ponds construction in the drainage
area•
Individual terrace construction•
Cover crop-any annual plant grown as monoculture•
Crop rotation or Crop sequencing- growing dissimilartypes of crops in sequential seasons•
Ridge terrace construction•
Strip farming-alternate strips of closely sown crops
with strips of row crops•
Contour farming- practice across a slope following its
elevation contour lines•
Drop structure construction•
Community based soil erosion management program
should be introduced•
Change upland agriculture into agroforestry•
Reforestation of the very steep area (slope>50%)•
Engineering construction such as check dam andgully control•
Community based soil erosion management program
should be introduced© ISERD

16

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

In Table 3 each different type of conservation contributes to a specific type of treatment.
However, attention should be paid to land types D and E as these areas are the most critical, andshould be treated immediately in order to maintain the sustainability of hydrological function.
Farmers growing upland crops (mainly maize) in these areas are advised to practice strip or contour
farming across a slope, as this system helps to stop erosion by creating natural dams for water andpreserving the strength of the soil. In addition, drop structure construction helps to stabilize steep
waterways and reduce gully erosion.
In addition, areas of land type E should be restricted from any upland farming activities suchas maize or cassava. Instead, local farmers may be advised to pursue a practice encouraging
environmental sustainability such as agroforestry in the border forest areas which buffer the more
intensively deforestation. Furthermore, very steep areas (slope >50%) should be reforested torecover destroyed forests.
Enhancing farmer awareness through farmers field schools
The best way to permanently conserve eroded land is to work closely with an established education
program in farming communities. Farmers field schools (FFSs) on soil and water conservation areproposed to help farmers obtain a deeper understanding of environment problems and their causes.
This program brings together concept and methods from agro-ecology, experimental education andcommunity development (FAO, 2002; Ministry of Agriculture, 2008).
The FFS is a group-based learning process with activities involving simple experiments,
regular field observation and group analysis. The knowledge gained from these activities enables
farmers to make their own locally-specific decisions about environmentally friendly crop
management practices. The curriculum of FFS involves a wide range of environmentally friendly
crop management such as tillage practices (direction and conservation tillage), crop rotations, useof organic fertilizer to manage soil fertility, use of crop residues, and soil and water conservation
structures (terraces, drop structure). This curriculum is built on the assumption that farmers canonly implement conservation measures once they have acquired the ability to carry out their own
analysis. Organizing FFS requires a facilitator for the activities associated with farming practices.
A flow diagram of FFS implementation is shown in Fig. 3.

Extension
officeExtension
staff

Farmergroup

Field school
Fieldlaboratory
Comparing conservation
with non conservation
plots (Area 1 ha)

Practice of conservation
agriculture (Area 10 ha)

Fig. 3 Flow diagram of FFS on soil and water conservation

Fig. 3 details the role of a facilitator in the various FFS activities. In general, the facilitator
introduces an activity, clarifies the process, sets participants to work, asks questions as groups
make their presentations, and summarizes presentations underlining the important points that werelearned during the exercise. The field facilitator (extension or researcher) organizes all activities
from beginning to the end of the crop season. Participants of FSS are farmers living within the area
© ISERD

17

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

around 10 ha. Farmers are divided into several small groups of 15 to 20 to maximize participation.
Of the 10 ha of FFS land, 9 ha will be managed by farmer groups and the remaining 1 ha is used asa field laboratory with field guides managed by the extension/researcher.
Working with 15 to 20 member teams, farmers enter and make observation/experiment in thefield laboratory plot (±1 ha). Once a week, participating farmers will come to the field laboratory
to make observations and analyze the problems occurred. They are expected to compare these
problems with the existing realities in the field. If there are differences in appearance between theconditions in a field laboratory with the field school, farmers are expected to have been able toexplain. At harvest, the participants compare the crop yield or other conservation measures (e.g.
erosion rate, soil quality) of the study samples (field laboratory) with the larger field (field school)
in which the supporting study is conducted. Thus, the experience and lessons gained from the field
laboratory can be a reference for farmers and motivate them to continue applied conservation
measures in their own fields.
CONCLUSION
Agricultural practices in upland and hilly areas have resulted in seriously declining land
productivity as cropland is more susceptible to soil erosion. The erosion model was applied toassess the effect of farming practice in slope areas on the occurrence of erosion. Through slope andland use assessments we found that more than 60% of the soil loss occurred on upland crops andmixed agriculture under moderate to steep slopes. Field investigation indicated that many farmers
grow maize and cassava in the hilly areas that are tilled repetitively and mostly left without
vegetation cover. Moreover, farmers are not making efforts to maintain land conservation measures.
Thus, these areas need immediate attention for soil and water conservation activities to prevent
further land degradation. One of the challenges for the farmers living in the watershed is how tobest manage their land without any adverse effect on the environment. A land conservation map
was created to localize land use features and recommended conservation measures which should beapplied in order to limit further watershed degradation, as well as depleting agricultural
productivity. Farmers field schools are proposed to increase farmer awareness of the negative
effects of soil erosion and the benefits of practicing soil and water conservation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors extend grateful thanks to the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) in
providing the postdoctoral research fellowship enabling research in Japan.

REFERENCES
FAO (2002) Ten years of IPM training in Asia-From farmer field school to community IPM. Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations, Italy.
Lal, R. (2001) Soil degradation by erosion. Land Degradation and Development, 12, 1-8.
Ministry of Agriculture (2008) Field school of integrated crop management on maize. Ministry ofAgriculture, Indonesia.
Ministry of Forestry (2008) Annual report on watershed condition in Indonesia. Ministry of Agriculture,
Indonesia.
Renard, K.G., Foster, G.R., Weesies, G.A., McCool, D.K. and Yoder, D.C. (1997) Predicting soil erosion bywater - a guide to conservation planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE).
USDA-ARS Handbook No. 703. United States Government Printing Office, USA.
Soewarno and Hardjosuwarno, S. (2008) Sedimentation control: Part 1. Intensive measures outside of
Wonogiri Reservoir, Central Java. Journal of Applied Sciences in Environmental Sanitation, 1, 9-17.
Veldkamp, A. and Verburg, P.H. (2004) Modelling land use change and environmental impact. Journal ofEnvironmental Management, 72, 1-3.

© ISERD

18

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Research article
erdPeople’s Livelihoods in the Suburbs - A Case Study at aCommunity of Ho Chi Minh CityVO VAN VIET
Department for Academic Affairs, Nong Lam University, Vietnam
E-mail: vvviet@hcmuaf.edu.vn
Received 11 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract The study focuses on the analysis of the effects of urban growth and land tenure
policies on access to the land and livelihoods of the people. In the process of urbanization,
suburbanization, and changes in land tenure status, practical evidence shows that thehouseholds’ situation has improved. The problem, however, is whether everybody isbenefiting equally. In order to understand the problem, the following questions need to beanswered: How do policies impact on the livelihoods of the households? How do people inthe community have to change their livelihoods to adapt to the new circumstances. The
study employed various participatory research methods, both quantitative and qualitative.
Semi-structured interviews, In-depth interviews, Focus-group discussion, Participant
observation, and Secondary data were used in the study. The results indicate that the mostsuccessful households are those that are characterized by multi-activity and risk-spreading.
This is achieved by exploiting rural and urban opportunities simultaneously. The least
successful and poorer households are generally those with non-diversified income-earning
activities and/or which do not attempt to maximize the utilization of rural and urban
resources. It seems that farmers are not well-prepared for the transition from rural to urban
living. Lack of skills and formal training prevent them from exploiting opportunities toadjust to rapid changes. Thus, we can now observe a new group of people who have fallen
into poverty. Tenure transformation in the suburban areas due to rapid urbanization has
created more hardships, in social and economic terms, for the most vulnerable in society.
Given the limited availability of land, farmers in the community generally have threemeans of maintaining and improving their livelihoods. First, they can increase the use of
agricultural inputs. Second, they can migrate to areas where agricultural land is available
or where non-farm employment offers higher wages. Third, they can establish themselvesin a local off-farm occupation. Each of these strategies can be carried out alone or in
combination.
Keywords urbanization, livelihood, suburbs, skills, Ho Chi MinhINTRODUCTION
Ho Chi Minh City, considered as one of Vietnam’s fastest growing cities, is the largest
metropolitan area of the country, with 22 districts, 17 urban districts (quan), and 5 rural districts(huyen). It is the economic, industrial, financial, cultural, and tourist center of the country, whichperhaps could explain partly the constant increase in population. In 1940, there were only 0.5
million people living in the city. This grew to 2.3 million some 20 years later, and then to 5 million
by the year 2000, a tenfold increase within 60 years (Table 2). This growth of the population has
resulted in dynamic suburban development and intense competition for sites of industry, housing,commerce, and public utilities. Rapid economic development in recent years has caused a shift inthe spatial pattern of industry within the city. Factories have decentralized increasingly toperipheral industrial suburbs, industrial estates, and more extensive sites with lower land values.
This study focuses on the changing socioeconomic characteristics of households in thesuburbs. The main question to be answered is “How do people in the community change theirlivelihoods to adapt to the new circumstances?” In the process of urbanization, suburbanization,© ISERD

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and changes in land tenure status, practical evidence shows that the households’ situation has
improved. The problem, however, is whether everybody is benefiting equally. Who are the“winners” and “losers” in this system? What groups of people tend to win more?
METHODOLOGYThis study is descriptive in nature. To draw a wide range of information, it employed various
participatory research methods, both quantitative and qualitative (i.e., secondary data collection,interviews, household livelihood analysis). The following techniques were used for data collection:
Semistructured interviews, In-depth interviews, Focus-group discussion, Participant observation,and Secondary data.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This study looked more intensively into the livelihood strategies of three types of households
classified according to access to land; households whose land was wholly expropriated; households
whose land was wholly or partly sold; and households who still cultivate the lands (landed
households), as well as those engaged in non-farm and off-farm livelihood activities.
Changes in livelihoods and livelihood strategies of households in Vinh Loc A
Because each person’s most important productive asset is the land; there is an evident link between
loss of land and livelihood. The impact on livelihoods is devastating especially for the asset-poorhouseholds. Before 1996, there were no landless farmers; even though some owned as little as2,000 sq m of land. People mostly relied on agriculture for their livelihoods. The wealth andincome gap between the rich and the poor was relatively small. Most owned about the same size ofland and pursued similar economic activities. Most if not all farmers were owner-operators of small
landholdings, possessing nearly the same basic productive skills and independently managing theirown land and money.
By the year 2000, the land-use pattern had changed; farming had ceased to be the backbone ofpeople’s livelihoods. There was an increase in the number of landless farmers. The gap between therich and the poor households also widened. Unemployment and underemployment has become amajor problem and those who can find jobs in the city or industrial zones nearby have to support amuch larger number of relatives than before.
The chief and elders (of the households?) estimate that only about one-third of the households
are still earning part of their livelihoods from farming and those still farming are doing so on amuch reduced scale. Moreover, income from the farm has become only a secondary source.
Farmers have also become vulnerable to losing the land they still held. Interviews with farmers
reveal that whether a farmer is eager or reluctant to sell land depends mainly on his/her ability tofind other occupations and opportunities for investment for the household.
To obtain a secure livelihood, in the context of an urbanized commune like Vinh Loc A,
people are forced to choose a livelihood strategy that combines agriculture, industry, and service
sectors. Most if not all successful households or households with secure livelihood in this suburban
area does not depend exclusively on agriculture for their livelihood. Services and trading provide
additional sources of earnings for local residents. It should be noted that occupational
diversification has a long history. The trend towards occupational diversification within lowerincome households more recently is the result of an expansion of livelihood possibilities
accompanying changes in the commune’s economy. It is important to acknowledge that the processof occupational diversification is one in which households play an active part. Nonetheless, forthose whose lands were expropriated by the State, some difficulties are found in the process ofchange in occupation. In this case, households play a passive part. Their social capital (e.g.,
membership in farmers’ association) gained through the holding of land is suddenly became© ISERD

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disrupted when land was lost. These households can be portrayed as victims of lost land and of theencroachment of the city upon the suburbs.
Livelihood diversification
In relation to the livelihood strategies, people in the area follow a pattern of production dependent
on income from both the land and urban development so that family incomes are likely to be thesum of several activities - agricultural and commercial activities and urban employment within thecity. In other words, people depend on a combination of on-farm, off-farm, and non-farm income
sources. Many households earn some income from the farms but also earn substantial income fromother sources. Certain members of the households may have part-time or even full-time
employment off the farm, or engage in cottage industries at home for part of the time. The principal
activity is small-scale farming while livestock serve to reduce risks. For some households,
livestock raising, particularly dairy cattle, has become a reliable income source.
The economy of households in the commune is tied to the economy of the metropolis, andtheir production strategies are developed in response to changing market conditions. Well afterfactories and industrial zones encroach into the formerly rural landscape of the commune, thesehouseholds had become occupationally diversified. People who settle near main streets or the Vinh
Loc industrial zones (commercial and industrial activities) have built their own small business suchas retail business, coffee shops, and workshops in a portion of their dwelling space. Alternatively,
they rent out space to others for those purposes or build houses for rent to workers.
The practice of diversifying the households’ occupation into various nonagricultural sectors
could be seen as a strategy of survival as much as status acquisition and maintenance. Nonetheless,the adaptation and the ability to diversify occupation and sources of livelihood of people in thecommune vary significantly between groups. The analysis of the household’s livelihood strategy inthe previous section indicates that the households in Case 1, 4, and 5 have chosen different
strategies depending on their asset statuses. Those who have more assets can diversify their sourceof livelihood from among the three economic sectors such as industry, services, agriculture, or a
combination of these sectors. Thus, it can be stated that the better the ability to access capital, thebetter the adaptation.
Opportunities and challenges faced by different groups
Research in the commune has brought to light cases of both successes and failures. In terms of
livelihood opportunities, landed households have a wide range of choices. They can either continue
to engage in farming with additional income from small services, or they can decide to sell landand become totally nonagricultural households. Otherwise, they can sell part of the land and invest
the money in animal husbandry and intensively cultivate the land with new varieties and techniques.
In contrast, land-lost households, in general, are not only unable to take advantage of thisopportunity but in many cases lose a well-established job with the disappearance of agriculturalland, which in the past had provided them with employment as agricultural workers or selfemployment. Among the land-lost house-holds, those whose lands are expropriated face more
hardship than their counterparts primarily because they are not prepared for the transition. They aretotally forced to seek other livelihood sources outside their traditional agricultural occupations thathave long been established in history. Clearly, the gravity of the consequences of such a loss
depends, for individual households, on the ability of its members to obtain other forms of
livelihood.
However, the effects are not entirely negative for all land-lost households. As mentioned
elsewhere in this study, a new environment also provides new opportunities for households tomove up. More jobs are being created in and around the commune, especially in and around theVinh Loc Industrial Zone, especially since the Zone has become fully operational. With thedemand for more services, from a growing population of industrial workers, shops can be set up to
meet the diverse needs of these workers in the area. Nevertheless, new job opportunities are not© ISERD

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being created at a sufficient rate to provide employment for the expanding labor force in thecommune and the increasing income needed to support large households. And even if employment
opportunities are available, indigenous workers cannot efficiently compete with migrant workers
by reason of inadequate technical skills and lower education level. Thus, migration to other areas insearch for work, especially manual work, becomes an option taken by a growing number oflandless and near land-less households.
To obtain a secure livelihood, in the context of an urbanized commune like Vinh Loc A,
people are forced to choose a livelihood strategy that combines agriculture, industry and service
sectors. Most if not all successful households or households with secure livelihood in this suburban
area does not depend exclusively on agriculture for their livelihood. Services and trading provide
additional sources of earnings for local residents. It should be noted that occupational
diversification has a long history. The trend towards occupational diversification within lowerincome households in more recent times is the result of an expansion of livelihood possibilities
accompanying changes in the commune’s economy. It is important to acknowledge that the processof occupational diversification is one in which households play an active part. Nonetheless, forthose whose lands were expropriated by the State, some difficulties are found in the process ofchange in occupation. In this case, households play a passive part. Their social capital (e.g.,
membership in farmers’ association) gained through the holding of land is suddenly disrupted whenland was lost. These households can be portrayed as victims of lost land and of the encroachmentof the city upon the suburbs.
In many cases, like the ones cited above, the loss of agricultural land poses a threat to thelivelihood of Vinh Loc A farmers, especially farmers with little or no assets. Earning a livelihood
becomes an increasingly arduous task for farmers because of intense competition for employment
and access to land. Farmers fear that this land is being lost to urbanization which, once lost, usuallycannot be regained. Very few landless households can expect any access to additional land, either
because all available land is now in use or highly priced. Not only do farmers depend on this land
to produce their food, it is also a major economic sector in the commune. When farmers lose theirlands, lack of access to credit is an inescapable consequence since land is the only meaningful
collateral accepted by agricultural banks. Households that have not considered starting a non-farmbusiness usually cite the lack of capital or financing as the chief reason why they have not done so.
The other most common responses for not diversifying are age and ill health.
Roads to achieve secure livelihoods
When land, a natural capital, is lost, lack of human capital is one of the greatest difficulties that
Vinh Loc A households have to face. The majority of the households have been engaged inagricultural work. Now that agricultural land is no longer available, they are forced to find otherjobs to earn a living. However, the requirements to be employed in other sectors are not the same as
in agriculture. Technical and scientific skills are needed if one wants to be employed in theindustrial zones or in the industrial sectors. The loss of land for some households whose main
source of income is based on the farm can be seen as an adverse shock.
In fact, households who have sold land are not necessarily poor. They may have spent
substantially on building and repairing houses, purchasing consumer goods for their families, ordepositing savings in bank accounts to draw interest for consumption. Investments in production,
animal breeding, or professional training are still low. This constitutes another contradiction to besettled and to draw lessons from in order to shift actively the attitudes and behavior patterns ofresidents in these areas. Improving the people’s technical skills and education levels would help
solve the problem. With good human capital, people can easily capture opportunities whenavailable to improve their status.
In the process of adaptation to the new environment, there is a general pattern easily observedin the commune; most farmers having low education are old age and have no technological skills
and therefore they face more hardships. Occupational training for farmers in the process oftransformation also has many difficulties. Old farmers face health and aging problems. For the
younger generation, education is a major constraint. Interviews with the young people reveal that
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they prefer short-term training of about 2-5 months to be employed at the Industrial Zones. Those
whose parents have cash from selling land or whose land was expropriated often are not interested
in job training when they consider the low salary that can be gained with the money they have.
Interviews have shown that many young people lack the education and skills needed to benefit
from new economic opportunities. Farmers are particularly ill equipped for the urban transition.
Several reports from the Districts admit that job training, vocational guidance and job creation forhouseholds whose lands were expropriated have not been effective. Almost all the adjustment
strategies depend heavily on the households. In short, these households receive little help from thegovernment.
The loss of land will likely create a sense of confusion among many farmers who presently
make a living in agriculture. While agriculture certainly does not bring them much money, many
farmers cannot instantly adjust to new circumstances. Most of them still rely on agriculture despite
having smaller plots of land and other difficulties. As a result, the poor have become poorer, andthere are many new poor households that have been pulled further below the poverty line.
In many cases, non-farm and off-farm activities were essential components in the household
economies of the commune. Data collected for this study show that the most successful households
are those that are characterized by multi-activity and risk-spreading. This is achieved by exploiting
rural and urban opportunities simultaneously. The least successful and poorer households are
generally those with nondiversified income-earning activities and/or which do not attempt tomaximize the utilization of rural and urban resources. These households still do not have an
opportunity to move away from rice farming.
Interviews with KIs and households have demonstrated that the biggest losers in the process ofland use changes and loss of land are the farmers, who are dependent mainly on agricultural workfor their livelihood and who have little formal education and experiences (human capital) thatmight offer opportunities in the urban economy. The most economically successful and securegroup of households are those that, after the loss of land in the commune, used profit from the land
(in terms of compensation and proceeds from land sale) to purchase land in other areas where
agricultural land was cheap, or to invest in room-for-rent services or other nonagricultural
productive activities. Their strategy is a combination of crop production and marketing, with avariety of non-farm and off-farm income-generating activities.
By analyzing the livelihood strategies of selected households, the study found that the successor failure of households in the commune depends on a composite of personal and nonpersonal or
institutional situations. On the personal level, it means the ability of the individual or household toacquire the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, and clothing. On the nonpersonal level, itmeans the ability of the State and other socioeconomic institutions to provide assistance to people
in terms of access to education, vocational training, health, information (including labor market
information and urban planning information), job attainment, and loans among others. Good
personal ability combined with a favorable institutional situation would likely provide people with
better and more secure livelihoods and vice versa. The absence of one of these two components
would cause difficulties for households in obtaining a secure, sustainable livelihood.
CONCLUSION
It is obvious that suburbanization is not entirely beneficial to all suburban people. Many problems
remain, some of which have been in existence for a long time, while others have recently emerged
but for which no absolute solutions have yet been found. Based on the findings of the research, tI
provides some recommendations for improvement of people’s livelihoods. The following
recommendations are based mainly on the notion that the biggest problem for the people in thecommune is the availability of assets, both tangible and intangible: 1. Providing nonagricultural
income sources and assisting farmers in improving cultivate productivity efficiently; 2. Protecting
agricultural land and livelihood; 3. Investing in human capital through education and vocational
guidance; 4. Accessibility to information, especially planning information; 5. Participation ofpeople in project planning that directly affects their lives; 6. Investment in infrastructure (physical© ISERD

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assets). For those whose lands were lost, their future lies increasingly in labor-force participation
outside agriculture. How to move people from the agricultural sector to other sectors of theeconomy is the chief objective of State policy. To accomplish the objective of moving agricultural
workers to other nonagricultural sectors, improving educational levels and occupational skills isvital in order to give people the means to obtain sufficient income for their households. Training in
nonagricultural skills is a critical factor in increasing the ability of farmers to take on off-farm work.
Those whose agricultural lands are to be affected by planned urban development should be given ahigher priority in job training and vocational guidance, as well as in employment in the industrial
zone built on their land. However, this would require more support from the government at alllevels. Improving education would help people recognize the new challenges they are facing in theurban environment so that they would develop coping and adaptive mechanisms to ensure a stable
livelihood.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many institutions and people gave me their support, assistance, advice, and encouragement during thecourse of writing my thesis. I wish to make special mention of the Vinh Loc A people and officers who
willingly participated in the prolonged interviews which I conducted during my stays. These people
spent many hours explaining their livelihoods to strangers from whom they could not expect much inreturn. To all of these people I am sincerely grateful. The success of the thesis is due to one person inparticular, my advisor Dr. Anna Marie A. Karaos, who showed enthusiasm, contribution, and energy
beyond the call of duty, to who I deeply grateful.

REFERENCES
Nguyen Trong Chuan and others (2000) Social policy. Socioeconomic Renovation in Vietnam, Institute ofSoutheast Asian Studies, 139-172, Singpore.
Norvarl, Glenn (1973) Suburbanization in the United States since World War II. The Urbanization of the
Suburbs, Sage Publication, 51-78, UK.
O’Callaghan, J.R (1996) Land use: the interaction of economics. Ecology and Hydrology, Chapman & Hall,
UK.
Pal, Agaton P. and Polson Robert (1973) Rural people’s responses to change, Dumaguete Trade Area,
Philippines. New Day Publishers, Philippines.
Pham Xuan Nam, Be Viet Bang and Hainsworth, G.B. (2000) Rural development in Vietnam, the search forsustainable livelihoods. Socioeconomic Renovation in Vietnam, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 148, Singapore.
Popkin, Samuel L. (1979) The rational peasant. The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam,
University of California Press, USA.
Potter, R.B. (1992) Urbanization in the third world. Oxford University Press, USA.
Quan Julian (1998) Land tenure and sustainable rural livelihoods. Sustainable Rural Livelihoods, Russell
Press Ltd., 167-180.
Ratcliffe, John (1976) Land policy. An Exploration of the Nature of Land in Society, Huchinson of London,
UK.
Sam, Truong Thi Minh (2002) Chuyen dich co cau kinh te nong nghiep vung nong thon ngoai thanh Thanhpho Ho Chi Minh (Structural transformation of agricultural economics in rural areas of Ho Chi Minh
City). Nha Xuat ban Khoa hoc Xa hoi (Social Sciences Press), Vietnam.
Shearer, E.B. and others (1999) The reform of rural land markets in Latin America and the Caribbean:
research, theory, and policy implications. Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

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Research article
erdRubber Farmers’ Perception of Rubber Technologies in
Dambae and Peam Cheang, Kampong Cham
SOVANN AUN
Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia
Cambodian Rubber Research Institute, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: ausovann@yahoo.com

VISALSOK TOUCH
University of Battambang, Battambang Province, Cambodia

VATHANA SAN
Council for Agriculture and Rural Development, Council of Minister, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

TORY CHHUN
Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia
Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan
Received 13 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract The main objectives of the study were to 1) determine the level of the farmers’
awareness of recommended technologies related to rubber tapping and 2) identify thefarmers’ perceptions of rubber technologies. A multistage random sampling technique wasused to select the sample of 92 rubber smallholders from Dambae, a non traditional rubber
region, and Peam Cheang, a traditional rubber region. Data were collected through pocket
voting and preference ranking which are the tools of participatory methodology.
Friedman’s test and multiple comparisons were used to analyze the data. The study
showed that rubber farmers were not well aware of recommended technologies related torubber tapping, for instance required girth (23%), height of measurement (34%), cup
hanging (46%), thickness of tapping (21%) and tapping angle (21%). However, theawareness of tapping panel marking was high (97%). It was discovered that there weresignificant differences in the participants’ rank ordered preferences for techniques, during
immature and mature stages, related to rubber collection works and dissemination media(p<0.001). Establishment of cover crop, land preparation, correct tapping method and latexpreservation methods were considered by the rubber smallholders as the most important
techniques (p<0.05) that they need the extension officers to address in designing extension
activity programs for these regions. Workshop was the most preferred area (p<0.05) ofdissemination media through which the rubber farmers need the researchers and extension
officers to transfer information and knowledge.
Keywords pocket voting, preference ranking, participatory method, Friedman’s test

INTRODUCTION
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is a family of approaches and methods to enable local people
to present, share and analyze their knowledge of life and conditions in order to plan, to act, tomonitor and evaluate the situations. There has been increasing interest in PRA as it has beensuccessful on many occasions in planning and decision support since its development in the late1980s. An extensive review on the evolution, methods and practices of PRA can be found in
Chambers (1994). Unfortunately, PRA has not been used for research on rubber smallholding in
Cambodia. It has been found that the Cambodian smallholder rubber yield is very low (845kg/ha/year) compared with the average smallholder rubber yield of other countries (Sovann, 2009).
Malaysian smallholder rubber yield is 1047 kg/ha/year and for Thailand, 1530 kg/ha/year© ISERD

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1(Pondikou, 2005). The low rubber yield is attributed to poor plantation management, use of
conventional clones, low fertility of soil, use of old tapping systems, poor skill of the tappers andpoor knowledge of rubber smallholders on rubber management techniques. To improve theknowledge of rubber smallholders’ onrubber management techniques is an important factor inincreasing the rubber yield. A better result can be achieved by collaboration with the farmers andby means of understanding their needs. Therefore, the topic “Rubber farmers’ perception of rubber
technologies in Dambae and Peam Cheang, Kampong Cham” is an important study.
The specific objectives of the study were 1) to determine the level of farmers’ awareness ofrecommended technologies related to rubber tapping and 2) to identify farmers’ perceptions ofrubber technologies.
METHODOLOGYThis study was conducted in Peam Cheang and Dambae regions. Peam Cheang is located on thesouthern side of Kampong Cham and Dambae is on the Northern side of this province. A total of
92 rubber smallholders were selected. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used forsample selection from the two regions. Actual data collection used a variety of participatory
methods such as, pocket voting and preference ranking. The study was conducted from September
16 to November 25, 2008.
Pocket voting was used to find the level of the smallholders’ awareness of recommended
technologies related to rubber tapping. Awareness on correct tapping practices among thesmallholders was assessed using 12 questions with multiple choice answers. When all had voted,
the slips were taken out from each pocket and the votes were registered (Wasana et al., 2006).
Preference ranking was used to identify the farmers’ perception of areas for which the techniques
were needed and preferred dissemination media. Preference ranking was done by individual
farmers, where a set of options was ranked according to their perception.
All data gathered from the pocket voting were analyzed using frequency and percentage
statistics. Number of votes for the correct answer was awareness on correct tapping practices.
Friedman’s test (Fr.) was used for the analysis of preference ranking. When the number of rows
and/or columns is large, it can be shown that the statistic Fr. is distributed approximately as chisquare (χ2) with d.f. = k-1 (Abeyasekera, 2001). SPSS version 12 was employed in this analysis.
For the options above the null and alternative hypotheses are given below:
H0 = There is no difference in the participants’ rank ordered preferences for techniques during
each stage of rubber and dissemination media.
H1 = There is a difference in the participants’ rank ordered preferences for techniques during
each stage of rubber and dissemination media.
Afterwards, multiple comparisons were made using the following inequality (Siegel andCastellan, 1988).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Farmers’ awareness of recommended technologies related to rubber tapping
According to the results given in Fig. 1, the farmers’ overall awareness of recommended
technologies related to rubber tapping was moderate (54 %). The overall awareness of Sri Lankan
rubber farmers of recommended rubber technologies of 55% to 58% was similar (Wasana et al.,2006). The plausible reasons for this moderate awareness could be traced to: a) the very low
intensity of extension services provided by relevant research and development bodies. 83% of therubber farmers responded that researchers and extension workers had never visited their regions(Sovann, 2009); b) Lack of funds to support the institutions related to the rubber smallholder
development. The rubber farmers lacked the necessary knowledge of tapping techniques especiallybark thickness of tapping and tapping angle (21%). When bark consumption has been excessive,
capital value is lost through reduced economic life span of trees.
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54

Overall awarenessOverall awareness of tech. tapping
Overall awareness of basic tapping
Thickness of tapping
Tapping depth
Tapping angle
Correct time of tapping
Cup hanging
Tapping system
Frequency of tapping
Tapping panel marking
Correct height of tapping panel
Height of measurement
Required girth
Required number of tappable trees

35
60
21
64
21
59
46
84
70
97
59
34
23
70
0

20

40

60

80

100
%

Fig. 1 Farmers’ awareness of aspects of tapping technologies
Farmers’ perceptions of rubber technologies during the immature stage of rubber trees
The rubber techniques used during the immature stage of trees that the smallholders selected forextension activity were land preparation, establishment of cover crops, fertilizer application,
weeding and disease control. It was found that at least one treatment comparison was significantly
different (χ2 =73.63, d.f =4, p<0.001, Table 1). The rubber farmers considered that land preparationand the establishment of cover crops were the most important techniques (lowest rank sum) andweeding was the least important (highest rank sum) during the immature stage that they needed toknow (p< 0.05, Table 2).
Table 1 Friedman's Test of smallholders’ rank of techniques in different stages anddissemination media
Parameter
N
Chi-Squared.fAsymp. Sig

Immature stage
92
73.6304
0.000

Mature stage
92
101.496
4
0.000Collection works
92
31.3702
0.000

Dissemination media
92
122.9224
0.000

Table 2 Rank sums of smallholders’ perception of different techniques
during the immature stage of rubber
Technique
1 Land preparation
2 Cover crop
3 Fertilizer application
5 Disease control
4 Weeding

Mean rank
2.20
2.68
2.83
3.21
4.09

Sum of ranks*
202
a
247
ab
260
ab
295
b
376
c

*Sums of ranks with different letters are significantly different (p<0.05)
Highest priority for the lowest rank sum

This was consistent with Wasana et al. (2006) who reported that land preparation was also
considered as important by the rubber smallholders in the Badalkumbura area of Sri Lanka. In 2005,
the International Rubber Research and Development Board recommended zero burning concepts
for rubber plantation establishment (Abdul, 2005). Burning the field causes the microbial
populations to die and loss of organic matter in the vegetation. Farmers therefore wanted to know
more about the zero burning method for establishing the rubber plantation. At the immature period,
the rubber trees are not yet tapped and the rubber farmers do not have income, so it is only the© ISERD

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cover crops planted between the rows of rubber trees that the rubber farmers can earn money from.
In addition, farmers want to know which cover crops give the biggest profit and the impact of thecover crops has on the rubber growth. Accordingly, land preparation and establishing of cover crop
were priority techniques.
Farmers’ perceptions of rubber technologies during mature stage of rubber
The management techniques during the mature stage of rubber that the smallholders selected forextension activity programs included marking panel, correct tapping method, fertilizer application,
weeding and disease control. It was found that at least one treatment comparison was significantly
different (χ2 =101.496, d.f =4, p<0.001, Table 3). According to multiple comparisons, the rubber
techniques used during the mature period can be categorized into 3 groups as proposed in Table 3(p<0.05). The rubber smallholders have considered correct tapping method to be the mostimportant technique (lowest rank sum) and fertilizer application to be the least important (highest
rank sum). The main reasons for choosing correct tapping method were sustainable production,
good health of rubber trees, reasonable consumption of bark and high quality of rubber. Alcala et al.
(2005) concluded that a poor tapping system was also the most important factor to make rubber tree
yield very low in the Philippines.
Table 3 Rank sums of smallholders’ perception of different techniques during the rubber
mature stage
Technique
2 Correct tapping method
1 Marking panel
5 Disease control
4 Weeding
3 Fertilizer application

Sum of ranks*
157
a
275
b
275
b
306
b
367
c

PriorityHigh
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Low*Sums of ranks with the different letters are significantly different (p<0.05)
Highest priority for the lowest rank sum

Rubber collection works
The techniques related to rubber collection that the smallholders selected for extension activity
programs included preservation method, coagulation method and stocking method. It was foundthat at least one treatment comparison was significantly different (χ2 =31.37, d.f = 2, p<0.001,
Table 1). According to multiple comparisons, the management techniques related to the rubbercollection can be categorized into 2 groups as proposed in Table 4 (p<0.05). The rubber
smallholders considered latex preservation method as the most important technique (lowest ranksum) that they need to know, and stocking and coagulation methods as the least important (highest
rank sum). The main reasons for choosing the latex preservation method as most important wereprice of latex and the distance between their rubber plantations and the rubber processing factory.
Table 4 Rank sums of smallholders’ perception of different techniques related to the rubbercollection works
Technique

Sum of ranks*

Priority

1 Preservation method

143

a

High

3 Stocking method

191

b

Low

2 Coagulation method

218

b

Low

*Sums of ranks with the different letters are significantly different (p<0.05)
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Farmers still think that the rubber coagulum they sold is not rated on the quality but its weight.
It was the same in Indonesia (Akiefnawati and Joshi, 2006). It was for this reason, that
smallholders in these study regions considered that the coagulation method and the stocking
method were the least important techniques.
DISSEMINATION MEDIA
The media that the smallholders preferred for dissemination were lectures, workshops, video
documentary, radio programs and newspaper supplements. It was found that at least one treatmentcomparison was significant difference (χ2 = 122.922, d.f = 4, p<0.001, Table 1). According tomultiple comparisons, the dissemination media can be categorized into 3 groups as proposed inTable 5 (p<0.05). The rubber smallholders considered workshops as the most preferred type(lowest rank sum) of dissemination media and radio programs as the least important (highest ranksum). The rest of the dissemination media were considered as moderately important. It was thesame in Sri Lanka (Wasana et al., 2006). The main reasons for not preferring mass media were due
to absence of discussion, inappropriate time of broadcasting and lack of delivery means. The rubber
smallholders preferred workshops because they thought that in workshops they could easily discuss
their specific problems and share their knowledge and experience.
Table 5 Rank sum of smallholders’ perception of different dissemination media
Dissemination media
2 Workshops
5 Newspaper supplements
3 Video documentary
1 Lectures
4 Radio programs

Sum of ranks*
150
a
260
b
276
b
317
bc
377
c

PriorityHigh
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
low*Sums of ranks with the different letters are significantly different (p<0.05)
Highest priority for the lowest rank sum

CONCLUSION
The study showed that the rubber farmers’ awareness of tapping techniques was poor. The
awareness of tapping angle and bark thickness of tapping was only 21%. This poor awareness has
made an impact on the economic life span of rubber trees, yield and income stability. This study
has opened up the need for an awareness program on tapping rubber trees. Following analysis ofresults, it was concluded that there were differences in the participants’ rank ordered preferences
for techniques during each stage of rubber growth and for dissemination media (p<0.001). At theimmature period, the rubber farmers considered that land preparation and the establishment ofcover crops were the most important techniques that the rubber smallholders need to know about.
The smallholders gave least priority to weeding. According to the study on smallholders’perception of different techniques during rubber mature stage, the smallholders considered correct
tapping method as the most important technique. Fertilizer application has been considered by thefarmers as the least important. Among the techniques related to rubber collection methods, thesmallholder considered the latex preservation method as the most important technique that required
awareness raising. Rubber stocking and coagulation methods were considered by rubber
smallholders as less important areas for awareness raising. Based on the results of the study,
workshops were nominated by the rubber farmers as the most preferred area of dissemination andradio programs were considered as the least important. Establishment of cover crop, land
preparation, correct tapping method and latex preservation method were the most important
techniques which should be addressed in designing extension programs for the study areas.
Workshops were the most preferred area of dissemination media through which researchers andextension officers can transfer the above techniques to farmers.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution made by H.E. Siphan Men, Ex Director general ofPeam Cheang Rubber Plantation, Mr. Reth Iv and Mr. Sitho Lim who were the personnel of Peam
Cheang Rubber Plantation.

REFERENCES
Abdul Aziz, S.A. (2005) Overview on the future of the natural rubber industry in the millennium.
Proceedings of the International Rubber Conference, Philippines.
Abeyasekera, S. (2001) Analysis approaches in participatory work involving rank or scores. Statistical
Services Centre, the University of Reading, UK.
Akiefnawati, R. and Joshi, L. (2006) Improving quality of rubber and market mechanism at the farmer levelin Bungo, Jambi province, Indonesia.
Alcala, T.B., Taposok, L.A., Testado, A.M. and Testado, R.A. (2005) Assessment of the status, problems andconstraint of the Philippine rubber smallholders. Proceedings of the International Rubber Conference,
Philippines.
Chambers, R. (1994) The origins and practice of participatory rural Appraisal, World Development, 53-969.
Pondikou, P.T. (2005) Some salient issues of the rubber smallholding sector. Proceedings of the International
Rubber Conference, Philippines.
Siegel, S. and Castellan, N.J. (1988) Nonparametric Statistics for Behavioral Sciences. McGraw Hill, USA.
Sovann Aun (2009) Assessment of rubber smallholding status. Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Rural
Development, Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia.
Wasana, W., Anura, D., Mahinda, W., Keminda, H. and Jagath, E. (2006) Participatory methods fordevelopment of the smallholder rubber sector in Sri Lanka. Preprints of Paper, International Natural
Rubber Conference, Vietnam.

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Research article
erd

Development of the Indigenous Chironomid Species as
Ecotoxicology Test: Tool for Water Quality Management inThailandATCHARAPORN SOMPARN
Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
E-mail: somparn_a@yahoo.com

CHULEEMAS BOONTHAI IWAI
Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand

BARRY NOLLER
The University of Queensland, Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation,
Brisbane, Australia
Received 21 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract In Thailand, heavy metal contamination of the aquatic ecosystem is of concern
because of the effect on water quality and toxicity to aquatic biota. The aim of this study
was to develop ecotoxicology test protocols using a standard test organism the midge,
Chironomus striatipennis Kieffer for measuring acute and chronic toxicology.. This
species is an important indigenous freshwater invertebrate in Thailand. The acute effectsof cadmium using cadmium chloride and lead as lead nitrate on midge larvae were
investigated by static bioassay under laboratory conditions. The observed mortality data of
the acute test for median lethal concentration 48 h LC50 of cadmium chloride on first,
second, third and fourth instars of midge larvae were 25.1 (14.6-40.7), 201 (60.1-367), 579(537-620) and 641 (564-717) mg/L, respectively. The 48 h LC50 of lead on first, second,
third and fourth instars of midge larvae were 99.9 (14.7-209), 55.5 (266-897), 1,540(1,200-1,870) and 3790 (2,890-4,410) mg/L, respectively. The results showed that
cadmium chloride and lead nitrate were highly toxic to the first instar larvae followed bysecond, third, and fourth instar larvae, respectively. Sublethal studies of cadmium and leadon midge showed that both cadmium and lead had effects on the body length of larvae, thedevelopment time of larvae, dry weight and the number of female and male adults. The
results from this study would be useful for developing a biomonitoring tool for heavy
metal contamination assessment in freshwater ecosystem and water quality management inThailand.
Keywords ecotoxicology test, heavy metal, freshwater management

INTRODUCTION
Aquatic ecosystem contamination with heavy metals has been an increasing concern in Thailand,
due to their persistence and high toxicity to many living organisms when they exceed thresholdconcentrations (Chen et al., 2007; Be´chard et al., 2008). The impact of heavy metals on theecosystemare significant as they cannot be completely removed from water by natural self
purification in aquatic ecosystems and could accumulate in overlay water and in sediment and thus
enter the food chain (Loska and Wiechuła, 2003) and subsequently cause ecotoxicologicalproblems and then affect human health. Because of the great importance of this issue, there is anurgent need to have practical tools for water quality management and ecological risk assessment inThailand. However, the study of ecotoxicology is quite new and has many limitations, especiallythe availability of ecotoxicological data on aquatic organisms in Thailand. As with many
developing countries, we have relied upon overseas data (US.EPA, ATSM, OECD, etc.) for© ISERD

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developing ecotoxicology test guidelines. However, these guidelines may not be suitable for
Thailand. Because indigenous aquatic organisms in Thailand may be more or less sensitive tocontaminants than surrogate species, the characteristic of sediment and water in Thai river systems
may differ from other temperate locations.
Chironomid species have been adopted as test species for ecotoxicological assessments
because they are an important component of freshwater ecosystems and represent one of mostwidely distributed group of benthic organisms. They are adapted to almost every type of aquatic
ecosystem (Vos, 2000). These species are important as prey for juvenile and adult fish and aquaticbirds and can be easily cultured under laboratory conditions with a relatively short life cycle(Taenzler, 2007). Two species of Chironomus are typically used in ecotoxicity testing: these are C.
tentans and C. riparius (Watts and Pascoe, 2000). Unfortunately, these species are few in numberin Thailand freshwater ecosystems. Therefore, the use of indigenous species to assess contaminatedaquatic ecosystems should be investigated because the toxic response of such species represents
more accurately the adverse effect of pollution on the tropical invertebrate species in Thailand. In
addition, standardized protocols for acute and chronic aquatic toxicity testing should be developed
using indigenous species.
The aim of this paper is to study the ecotoxicology of cadmium and lead on the indigenous
freshwater invertebrate Chironomus striatipennis, a non-biting midge (Diptera; Chironomidae)
found in Thailand. The result would be a useful component in developing a biomonitoring tool
using an indigenous species test for evaluation heavy metal contamination in aquatic ecosystems
and provide useful information for pollution control authorities involved in water quality
management in Thailand.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Test organism
Initially, a local chironomid species was found in Thailand, Chironomus striatipennis Kieffer,isolated from the field and cultured under control laboratory conditions at the Ecotoxicology andEnvironmental Sciences Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. C.
striatipennis were cultured in 3 L glass tanks of 15 x 30 x 30 cm3 in the aquarium and covered withnetting to trap the emerging C. striatipennis. Overlying water was replaced every three days. Eachegg mass was collected and placed in a 1 L beaker containing 500 mL of aerated water. When all
eggs hatched, larvae were transferred in to a clean beaker and cultured until the larvae reached asuitable stage and were ready for use in experiments. The test species was given fish food at a rateof 0.5 g/L for food and conditions were maintained at 23±2 oC, on a 16:8 h light: dark regime withpH of 7-8 and a dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration of 5-7 mg/L.
Test chemicals
The test heavy metals were cadmium chloride (CdCl2 99.5%) and lead nitrate ([Pb(NO3)2] 99%).
Stock solutions were prepared by dissolving the heavy metal directly in distilled water and test
solutions were prepared by appropriate dilution immediately before each experiment.
Acute toxicity test
Acute toxicity tests were conducted in order to calculate the Cd and Pb LC50 data of first, second,
third and fourth instars of midge larvae. All experiments were performed according to the US.EPA(1991) method for determining 48 h LC50 values for C. striatipennis. Five dilutions were prepared
for Cd: 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1,000 mg/L, and 6 for Pb: 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 and 1,000
mg/L. Three replicates of 10 midge larvae per treatment plus a control were used. The larvae were
exposed in 20 mL glass beakers containing 10 mL for each test concentration and control and were
undertaken as static bioassay under laboratory conditions. Test organisms were not fed during the© ISERD

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testing period. Observations were made after 24 and 48 h, and results recorded. For water quality
purposes DO, pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and temperature were monitored at the beginningand end of the test. Mortality data were used to calculate 48 h LC50 values and 95% confidence
intervals by Probit analysis with the Statistical Analysis System (SPSS) Version 12 statisticalsoftware.
Chronic toxicity test
Chronic toxicity testing for heavy metal effects on midge larvae followed the procedure
recommended by USEPA document 6004-91/002 (1994). Based on the acute toxicity result, C.
striatipennis were exposed to Cd concentrations of 0, 0.5, 2.5 and 5.0 mg/L. Lead concentrations of0, 5, 25 and 50 mg/L were used.
The effects of Cd or Pb on the growth of midge larvae were evaluated by using 60 midge
larvae and 300 eggs to study the effect on emergence of adult, length, the development time anddry weight of larvae. These were randomly sampled from each treatment and control and were
exposed in 500 mL glass beakers for static bioassays containing 300 mL for each test
concentration. Test organisms were fed with fish food 0.5 g/L. The water quality at the beginningand end of the test on control and treatments were measured. Data from chronic tests were analyzed
using analysis of variance (ANOVA) to detect significant differences between treatment andcontrol. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Version 12 statistical software.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Acute toxicity
Table 1 shows the estimated 48 h LC50 for Cd and Pb that were calculated from standard toxicity
tests on the first, second, third and fourth instars of C. striatipennis. The results of this investigation
demonstrated that the 48 h LC50 values of first to fourth instars of C. striatipennis for Cd
concentrations were between 25.1 - 641 mg/L and for Pb concentration between 99.9 - 3,720 mg/L,
respectively. The 48 h LC50 value of Cd on second, third and fourth instars of C. striatipennis were8, 23 and 25 greater than for first midge larvae, respectively. The 48 h LC50 value of Pb on second,
third and fourth instars of C. striatipennis were 6, 15 and 31 fold greater than for first midge larvae,
respectively.
On the basis of the experimental LC50 values from this study, C. striatipennis were moretolerant to the heavy metals Cd and Pb than some other Chironomid species (Bechard et al., 2008;
CCME, 2006; Milani et al., 2003; USEPA, 1996; Watts and Pascoe, 2000). Comparison of the LC50
values showed that C. striatipennis was more sensitive to Cd and Pb than other aquatic insects suchas stonefly and mayfly (William et al., 1985). Acute toxicity results from this study showed higher
Cd toxicity on C. striatipennis than found for Pb and LC50’s in similar reported findings (CCME,
2006; Suedel et al., 1997; US.EPA, 1996). The observed LC50 values of Cd and Pb showed hightoxicity to the the first instar larvae followed by the second, third, and fourth instar larvae,
respectively. The results were similar to other reported findings (Gills and Wood, 2007; Hooftman
et al., 1989). This study showed that the second instars of midge larvae were a suitable stageorganism to assess the ecotoxicology test because of its sensitivity as a test organism, suite size andbeing stronger than other instars of midge larvae. Williams et al. (1986) also reported that thesecond instar of midge was useful to assess the ecotoxicological test.
Chronic toxicity
Table 2 shows that the effect of sublethal Cd and Pb concentrations on emergence of the adult werereduced significantly (P<0.05) and that the number of females and males at 2.5 mg Cd/L and 50
and 5 mg Pb/L, respectively, were reduced. The LOEC of the number of emergent female and malewas 2.5 mg Cd/L and NOEC was 0.5 mg Cd/L. The LOECs of Pb concentration for the number of© ISERD

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emergent females and males were 50 and 25mg Pb/L; a NOEC of 25 mg Pb/L was obtained for thenumber of emergent females.
Table 1 Acute toxicity (Medium lethal concentration [LC50]) of Cd and Pb on larvae of C.
striatipennis at 48 h
Larvae instar
First
SecondThird
Fourth

48h LC50 of Cd (95% C.I)
25.10 (14.61 - 40.67)
201.30 (60.05 - 367.03)
579.31 (536.74 - 620.07)
641.12 (564.30 -717.21)

48h LC50 of Pb (95% C.I)
99.89 (14.68 - 209.13)
555.49 (265.69 - 896.62)
1,539 (1,201- 1,874)
3,720 (2,890 - 4,405)

Table 2 Effect sublethal Cd and Pb concentrations on the number of female and male C.
striatipennis (n=300)
Chemical
Cd

Pb

Concentration(mg/L)
Control
0.5
0.6
5.0
Control
525
50

Number of emergence (number)
FemaleMale
6.83±0.75c
7.17±0.75b
6.50±1.05c
6.83±1.17bb5.50±0.55
5.33±0.82a
4.50±0.55a
5.50±0.84ab
6.83±0.75
7.17±0.75bc
6.83±1.47b
7.50±1.05cb6.67±0.82
6.33±0.82ab
4.83±0.75a
5.50±0.55a

Emergence (%)
Female
Male
2.20
2.39
2.17
2.28
1.83
1.78
1.50
1.83
2.28
2.39
2.28
2.50
2.22
2.11
1.61
1.83

Note: Values are mean ± standard deviation. Means with the same letter in the same column are not significantly
different (P>0.05)

The effect of sublethal Cd and Pb concentrations on length, development time and dry weightof C. striatipennis are shown in Table 3. Length of midge larvae in the control and 3 additional
concentrations of 0.5, 2.5 and 5 mg Cd/L and 5, 25 and 50 mg Pb/L showed no significant
reduction (P>0.05) in length of the first to fourth instars of C. striatipennis.
The development time of the second, third and fourth instars of C. striatipennis was reduced
significantly (P<0.05) at 0.5 mg Cd/L and higher concentrations. Lead concentrations at 0.5, 5 and25 mg/L significantly reduced (P<0.05) the development time of the first, third instars, and secondand fourth instars of C. striatipennis, respectively (Table 3). The development time is also an
important endpoint for the chironomid as it reflects larval growth to development emergence datathat were also similar to those found in other studies (Sikanchadra and Crane, 2000; Suedle et al.,1997). For the development time at each Cd concentration on the second, third and fourth instar of
C. striatipennis, a lowest observed concentration (LOEC) of 0.05 mg/L was obtained and for Pb
concentrations on the second and third instars, a LOEC of 5 mg and 50 mg/L was found while the
LOEC of the third instar was 50 mg/L and no observed effects of concentration (NOEC) for Pb at
25 mg/L were obtained.
No difference in reduction of the dry weight (P>0.05) of C. striatipennis was observed
between control and treatment with Cd concentration but in the fourth instars of C. striatipennis
there was a significant reduction on dry weight (P<0.05) with Pb at 5 and 25 mg/L (Table 3). The
LOEC of Pb concentration on fourth instar was 50 mg/L.
Table 3 shows that the effect of sub lethal Cd and Pb concentrations significantly reduced
emergence of the adults (P<0.05) and that the number of females and males at 2.5 mg Cd/L and 50
and 5 mg Pb/L, respectively, were reduced. The LOEC of the number of emergent females andmales was 2.5 mg Cd/L and NOEC was 0.5 mg Cd/L. The LOECs of Pb concentration for thenumber of emergent of female and male were 50 and 25mg Pb/L; a NOEC of 25 mg Pb/L was
obtained for number of emergent females.
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Table 3 Effect of sub lethal Cd and Pb concentrations (mg/L) on the body length (mm), thedevelopment time (days) and the dry weight (mm) of instar larvae of C. striatipennis(Effect)
InstarControl

Concentration of Cd (mg/L)
0.5
2.5(Length)
1st
2.21±0.46
2nd
3.88±1.17
3rd
8.60±1.83
4th
6.65±0.47(Development time)
1st
6.65±0.47
2nd
3.17±0.38a
3rd
4.33±0.48d
4th
8.67±0.75c(Dry weight)
1st
0.03±0.01
2nd
0.10±0.00
3rd
0.11±0.03
4th
0.30±0.01

5Control

Concentration of Pb (mg/L)
5
25

50

1.21±0.30
2.31±0.42
4.00±1.26
8.72±1.80

1.17±0.24
2.16±0.41
3.41±0.73
7.91±2.03

1.20±0.30
2.27±0.40
3.61±1.14
8.17±2.08

1.18±0.25
2.21±0.46
3.88±1.17
8.60±1.83

1.21±0.29
2.24±0.37
3.68±1.06
8.22±1.95

1.13±0.22
2.06±0.31
3.24±0.78
7.61±2.16

1.04±0.13
1.88±0.34
3.01±0.51
7.59±2.09

6.63±0.66
3.50±0.50b
4.00±0.22c
8.17±0.38b

6.62±0.51
3.50±0.50b
3.83±0.13b
7.50±0.97a

6.62±0.42
3.50±0.50b
3.67±0.48a
7.33±1.11a

7.00±0.47d
3.17±0.38b
4.33±0.48b
8.67±0.75c

6.50±0.50c
3.00±0.12a
4.33±0.75b
7.17±0.38b

6.00±0.23b
3.00±0.00a
4.17±0.91b
7.00±0.11a

5.00±0.12a
3.15±0.36b
3.67±0.48a
7.18±0.39b

0.03±0.00
0.07±0.02
0.16±0.00
0.26±0.02

0.04±0.00
0.15±0.06
0.12±0.05
0.24±0.02

0.04±0.01
0.11±0.05
0.10±0.00
0.21±0.10

0.03±0.01
0.10±0.01
0.11±0.03
0.30±0.01a

0.03±0.01
0.05±0.01
0.16±0.03
0.21±0.10b

0.04±0.00
0.08±0.01
0.26±0.01
0.31±0.00a

0.05±0.00
0.08±0.01
0.17±0.11
0.42±0.05b

Note: Values are mean ± standard deviation. Means with the same letter in the row are notsignificantly different to control (P>0.05)

CONCLUSION
The development of a method using an indigenous Chironomid species, C. striatipennis, as abioindicator and aquatic organism for ecotoxicology tests is reported as a biomonitoring tool forevaluation of heavy metal contamination in the aquatic ecosystem of Thailand. Compared to lead,
cadmium had higher acute toxicity to the first instar larvae followed by second, third, and fourth
instar larvae of C. striatipennis, respectively. Sub lethal effects of Cd and Pb concentration
significantly reduced the length of larvae, the development time for larvae, dry weight and thenumber of emergent females and males. These endpoints are also important for Chironomids
because they reflect larval growth and the development of the emergent Chironomid species and its
abundance in the aquatic ecosystem.
The results showed that C. striatipennis was sensitive to Cd and Pb concentrations. Thus thisspecies is suitable as a bioindicator and as a test organism for aquatic ecosystem assessment.
However, revision of water quality guidelines is required to provide more precise and conclusive
toxicology data for heavy metals on other indigenous aquatic organisms.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to the research project participants: Graduate School,
Groundwater Research Center, Development Center for Integrated Water Resource Management inNortheast Thailand, Research Centre for Environmental and Hazardous Substance Management(EHsM), National Center of Excellence for Environmental hazardous Waste Management Khon Kaen
University (Thailand), Association of Environmental and Rural Development (AERD) and Prof. Dr.
Machito Mihara for special support.

REFERENCES
Be´chard, K.M., Gillis, P.L. and Wood, C.M. (2008) Acute toxicity of waterborne Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn tofirst-instar Chironomus riparius Larvae. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 54, 454-459.
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) (2006) Canadian water quality guidelines for theprotection of aquatic life, Publication, No. 1299, Canada.
Chen, C.W., Kao, C.M., Chen, C.F. and Dong, C.D. (2007) Distribution and accumulation of heavy metals inthe sediments of Kaohsiung Harbor, Taiwan. Chemosphere, 66, 143-1440.

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Hooftman, R.N., Adema, D.M.M. and Kauffman-Van Bommel, J. (1989) Developing a set of test methods
for the toxicological analysis of the pollution degree of water bottoms. Netherlands Organization for J.
Applied Scientific Research, Netherlands.
Loska, K. and Wiechuła, D. (2003) Application of principal component analysis for the estimation of sourceof heavy metal contamination in surface sediments from the Rybnik Reservoir. Chemosphere, 51, 723733.
Milani, D., Reynoldson, T.B., Borgmann, U. and Kolasa, J. (2003) The relative sensitivity of four benthic
invertebrates to metals in spiked sediment exposures and application to contaminated field sediment.
Environ. Toxicol. Chem., 22, 845-854.
Gillis, P.L. and Wood, C.M. (2007) The effect of extreme waterborne cadmium exposure on the internal
concentrations of cadmium, calcium, and sodium in Chironomus riparius larvae. Ecotoxicol. Environ.
Saf., 71, 56-64.
Sildanchandra, W. and Crane, M. (2000) Influence of sexual dimorphism in Chironomus riparius Meigen on
toxic effects of cadmium. Environ. Toxicol. and Chemist, 19(9), 2309-2313.
Suedel, B.C., Rodger, J.H. and Deaver, E. (1997) Experimental factor that may affect toxicity of cadmium tofreshwater Organism. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 33(2), 188-193.
Taenzler, V., Eric, B., Michael, D., Verena, P. and Lennart, W. (2007) Chironomids: Suitable test organisms
for risk assessment investigations on the potential endocrine disrupting properties of pesticides.
Ecotoxicology, 16, 221-230.
Watts, M.M.P. and Pascoe, D. (2000) A comparative study of Chironomus riparius Meigen and Chironomus
tentans Fabricius (Diptera: Chironomidae) in aquatic toxicity tests. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 39,299-306.
William, K.A., Green, D.W.J. and Pascoe, D. (1985) Studies on the acute toxicity of pollutants to freshwater
macroinvertebrates. Archives of Hydrobiologia, 102(4), 461- 471.
William, K.A., Green, D.W.J. and Pascoe, D. (1986) The acute toxicity of cadmium to different larval stagesof Chironomus riparius (Diptera: chironomidae) and its ecological significance for pollution regulation.
Oecologia, 70, 362-366.
Environmental Protection Agency (1994) Short-term methods for estimating the chronic toxicity of effluentsand receiving waters to freshwater organisms. Environmental Protection Agency, USA.
Environmental Protection Agency (1991) Methods for measuring the acute toxicity of effluents and receiving
waters to freshwater and marine organisms. Environmental Protection Agency, USA.
Environmental Protection Agency (1996) Water quality criteria of priority pollutants: Cadmium. EPA-822-R01-001, Environmental Protection Agency, USA.

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Research article
erdEarthworm Distribution under Different Land Use Systems
in Northeast of Thailand - Benefit for Land Resource
Reclamation
CHULEEMAS BOONTHAI IWAI
Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Email: chulee_b@kku.ac.th

MATIPHUM ARPORN AND SURASAK SERIPONG
Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Received 21 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract The aims of this paper were to study the influence of land use system type on
earthworm distribution in Northeast Thailand. The experimental systems were a naturalforest, a eucalyptus plantation and an organic agricultural and a conventional agricultural
farming system. The effects of land use systems and their management on the distribution
and characteristics of the earthworm, Pheretima sp. on related soil properties were
investigated in the rainy season (August-September 2008) and the dry season (December
2008-February 2009) in Baan None Daung Mun, Tumbon Sa-Ead, Amphur Muang, Khon
Kaen, Northeast Thailand. Earthworm populations varied and there were significant
differences between systems (p<0.05). Numbers were highest in the natural forest
followed by the organic agricultural system, lower in the conventional agricultural system
and lowest in the eucalyptus plantation in the rainy season. The same result was found in
the dry season but the organic agricultural system had a higher number of casts than in thenatural forest. The same trend was found for earthworm cast height and cast width. The
results showed that the earthworm cast width in the eucalyptus plantation was lowest in
the rainy season but not significantly different in the dry season between land uses. These
results suggest that land use type strongly influences the abundance and characteristics ofearthworm casts in the various soil ecosystems. The results of soil analyses showed thatthe biological soil quality, measured as soil respiration, in soil samples from each land use
type were not significantly different (p<0.05) from each other but was highest in theorganic agriculture system and lowest in the eucalyptus plantation. The soil respiration inearthworm’s casts was higher than in soil in the rainy season. The results showed that thesoil properties of earthworm casts were different in each land use system. Particularly, theincrease of % silt and % clay and an associated decrease of % sand was found in theearthworm cast compared with the surrounding soil in every land use system. The results
for soil quality showed that the earthworm casts had higher electrical conductivity (EC),
organic matter, cation exchange capacity (CEC), total nitrogen, available phosphorus, andcalcium and magnesium concentrations than found in soil especially the level of available
phosphorus in casts.
Keywords earthworm, land use systems, land resource reclamation

INTRODUCTION
Soils of Northeast Thailand generally have low fertility due to their coarse texture and low organic
matter content. Organic matter plays a useful function in supporting plant growth and sustainabilityof a land-use system. The earthworm as a soil invertebrate plays an important role in cycling
nutrients within the terrestrial ecosystem by decomposing organic matter, nutrient cycling andenergy transformation within the food web. The changes of land use from forest to agriculture
affect the biodiversity of soil invertebrates. Soil degradation is related to a decline in activity and© ISERD

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diversity of soil fauna among other aspects. The soil biota including soil microbial biomass and soil
fauna provide a means of regulating the transformation of organically bound nutrients into plantavailable forms through mineralization. Dispersion of agrochemical residues from conventional
agriculture into the environment has attracted a great deal of public interest over the past few
decades. The widespread use and misuse of persistent pesticides has resulted in their occurrence
throughout the biosphere. Contamination of land from indiscriminate use of agrochemicals has
been a significant issue for Thailand. Because earthworms play a significant role in soil functioning
and soil fertility, their ecological and physiological features make them excellent indicators of soil
pollution compared to other terrestrial invertebrates (Bunning, 2003). However, limited study has
been undertaken to monitor the ecological significance of the influence of land use systems on theearthworm distribution in Northeast Thailand. The distribution, chemical and physical properties ofearthworm casts as compared to bulk soil under a range of different land use systems in Northeast
Thailand was studied in this paper.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this paper was to study the influence of four land use systems on the earthworm
distribution in Northeast Thailand: (i) to investigate the potential of the earthworm as a bioindicator
for the change of land use in Thai soil ecosystems; and (ii) to investigate the chemical and physicalproperties of earthworm casts as compared to bulk soil under a range of different land use systems
as related to the distribution of the earthworm Pheretima sp.
MATERIAL AND METHODSThe experimental systems included in this study were a natural forest, a eucalyptus plantation, an
organic agricultural and a conventional agricultural system. The effects of land use systems andtheir management on the distribution and characteristics of the earthworm, Pheretima sp. on related
soil properties were investigated in the rainy season (August-September 2008) and the dry season(December 2008-February 2009) in Baan None Daung Mun, Tumbon Sa-Ead, Amphur Muang,
Khon Kaen, Thailand (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Study site in Khon Kaen, Northeast Thailand, ○ natural forest, ▲ eucalyptus
plantation, ★ an organic agricultural and ■ a conventional agricultural system
Soils and earthworms were collected at the four different land use systems during 2008-2009. The
study area was selected from paired farms, with one utilizing organic practices (as an organic
agricultural land use) and a second adjacent farm using conventional methods (as a chemicalagricultural land use). Pair-wise comparisons of two study sites were made for the agro-ecosystems
in Northeast Thailand within 50 km of the city of Khon Kaen, 450 km NE from the capital
Bangkok. Natural forests and eucalyptus plantations were also used as comparisons. The four
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different land use systems were chosen because of their similarity with respect to the pedalogicalconditions and soil characteristics except for agrochemicals used, agricultural practices andmanagement systems. Soil samples were collected and analysed for pesticide residues(organochlorine, organophosphate, carbamate and pyrethroid groups) and measurements weretaken of physical and chemical properties of soil and earthworm casts. A survey of earthworm
populations was conducted at each land use management site. The sampling site for eachexperimental system (natural forest, eucalyptus plantation, an organic agricultural and a conventional
agricultural system) included 27, 9, 9, and 9 sampling sites, respectively.
RESULTS
Earthworm populations were significantly different between systems (P<0.05). They were highest
in the natural forest followed by the organic agricultural system and lower in the conventional
agricultural system. The lowest population was in the eucalyptus plantation in the rainy season. The
same result was found in the dry season but the organic agriculture system had the highest numberof casts compared with the natural forest. The same trend was found with the earthworm castheight and width (Table 1). Earthworm cast width in the rainy season was significantly greater in
the natural forest and organic system compared to the conventional agricural system and the
eucalyptus plantation was lowest of all. Earthworm cast width in the dry season was snot
significantly different for land use excepting for the eucalyptus plantation site which wassignificantly lower. These results suggest that land-use types are strong factors for determining theabundance and characteristics of earthworm casts in Thai soil ecosystems.
Table 1 The number, height and width of earthworm cast of Pheretima sp. per square meterin different land use system and agricultural practices
Land usesystemNatural forest
Organic
agricultural
systemConventional
agricultural
system
Eucalyptus
plantation

Number of earthworm
cast per square meter

Earthworm cast height(cm)

Earthworm cast width (cm)RainyseasonDry season

Rainy
seasonDry season

Rainy
seasonDry season

20.3±1.5a

16.3±3.9b

11.3±2.0a

10.8±2.6a

3.4±0.5bc

4.6±0.9a

9.4±1.9c

19.6±3.8a

9.4±1.1ab

8.0±1.8b

4.4±0.6ab

5.3±0.3a

3.2±0.3d

2±0.5d7.2±2.4bbc

5.0±1.4cd

4.8±1.1a

5.2±1.0a

3.67±0.6d

2.3±1.2d

4.5±0.4d

4.1±0.2d

2.3±0.3d

2.6±0.5cd

Data are expressed as mean + se (n= 20).Values indicated by different letters are significantly different (p < 0.05)

The results showed that the biological soil quality expressed in terms of soil respiration in thefour land use systems was not significantly different (P<0.05). However, the trend was for highest
soil respiration in the organic agriculture system and lowest in the eucalyptus plantation. The soil
respiration in earthworm casts was higher than in soil in the rainy season. The results showed thatthe soil properties of earthworm casts were different in each land use system. An increase in the %silt and % clay and decrease of % sand was found in earthworm casts compared with surrounding
soil in all land use systems. As for chemical properties, the results showed that the soil in theearthworm cast had higher EC, organic matter, CEC, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, andcalcium and magnesium concentrations than in soil and especially higher levels of available
phosphorus. The characteristics of the soils and earthworm casts were comparable (Table 2 and 3).
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Table 2 The physical soil properties of soil and earthworm cast in rainy season in different land use systems
Bulk density(g/cm3)

Land use system

Natural forest
Organic
systemSaturated hydrolic conductivity(cm/h)

Particle density(g/cm3)Porosity(%)

Soil Moisture
(%)

soil

cast

soil

cast

soil

cast

soil

cast

soil

cast

1.40±0.19a

1.39±0.04a

0.33±0.29a

0.47±0.49c

2.54±0.05ab

2.62±0.09ab

45±0.07a

47±0.03a20.61±4.75ab

28.30±4.44a

1.49±0.07a

1.45±0.12a

0.79±0.84a

0.92±0.71bc

2.50±0.08b

2.62±0.07ab

40±0.03a45±0.05a22.84±2.71a

26.96±6.22a

1.49±0.09a

1.36±0.08a

1.62±2.48a

2.66±2.32a

2.54±0.12ab

2.60±0.06ab

41±0.06a

48±0.03a18.64±2.55ab

31.95±4.20a

1.58±0.05a

1.35±0.13a

1.16±0.54a

2.98±2.22a

2.53±0.06ab

2.68 ±0.03a

41±0.01a

47±0.03a12.81±6.30b

23.43±3.43a

agricultural

Conventional
agricultural system
Eucalyptus plantation

Table 3 The chemical soil properties of soil and earthworm cast in rainy season in different land use systems
Land usesystempH (1:1)

EC(1:5) dS/m

OM (%)

T-N (%)

Avail.P (ppm)

Exch.K (ppm)

soil

cast

soil

cast

soil

cast

soil

cast

soil

cast

soil

cast

5.14±0.75a

5.41±0.62a

0.03±0.01a

0.05±0.00a

1.60±0.21a

2.96±1.05a

0.08±0.01 a

0.15±0.05a

8.38±2.38ab

9.46±3.12b

32.67±5.69a

42.67±4.16a

Organic
agricultural
system

5.00±0.46a

6.16±0.31a

0.04±0.00a

0.06±0.03a

1.07±0.61ab

1.90±1.50a

0.05±0.03ab

0.10±0.07a

24.36±17.97ab

39.42±24.97ab

47.67±26.39a

119.00±25.51a

Conventional
agricultural
system.

5.19±0.35a

5.68±0.54a

0.04±0.02a

0.06±0.03a

1.06±0.44ab

2.63±1.34a

0.05±0.02ab

0.13±0.07a

35.58±26.73a

42.13±22.08a

94.67±87.65a

165.33±135.2a

Eucalyptus
plantation

4.76±0.03a

5.99±0.06a

0.03±0.00a

0.06±0.01a

0.71±0.03b

1.66±0.09a

0.04±0.00b

0.08±0.00a

3.68±0.83b

9.22±0.85b

42.33±3.06a

77.67±4.04a

Natural forest© ISERD

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

CONCLUSION
The earthworm, Pheretima sp., has the potential to be a soil bioindicator that can be used to assess
and monitor land use change, soil pollution, soil health and ecosystem functioning under different
land use systems and management practices. Chemical analysis of contaminated soil can be
expensive and uninformative regarding environmental hazards associated with polluted soil. The
use of biomonitoring to evaluate hazardous agrochemical contaminated sites provides a direct,
inexpensive, and integrated estimate of the impact of the contaminant on the ecosystem. Therefore,
the role of soil biota and biodiversity should be urgently recognized as important tools for
improved knowledge and management practices for soil conservation and sustainable land use in
Thailand. Sustainable agriculture involves the successful management of agricultural resources tosatisfy human needs while maintaining and enhancing environmental quality and conserving
natural resources for future generations. Improvement in agricultural sustainability will require theoptimal use and management of soil fertility and soil physical properties. Both rely on soil
biological processes and soil biodiversity. This implies that management practices which enhancesoil biological activity and thereby build up long term soil productivity and health are beneficial(FAO, 2004). This study found that earthworms could improve biological, physiological andchemical properties of soil. Moreover, earthworm casts contain valuable nutrients that are very
useful for increasing soil fertility and plant production. Earthworm conservation should beundertaken for beneficial land resource reclamation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to Khon Kaen University for its financial support andto the Faculty of Agriculture and Department of Land Resources and Environment, KKU for theirgenerous provision of facilities to enable this experiment to be carried out. Many thanks go to thefarmers at the study sites. Special thanks go to the Groundwater Research Center, Research Centre forEnvironmental and Hazardous Substance Management (EHsM), National Center of Excellence forEnvironmental hazardous Waste Management, Development Center for Integrated Water Resource
Management in Northeast Thailand, Khon Kaen University, Thailand, Prof. Dr. Machito MIHARA and
Association of Environmental and Rural Development (AERD) for very kind support. Also, thanks to
Prof. Dr. Barry Noller for kind editing.

REFERENCES
FAO (2004) Soil biodiversity. (http://www.fao.org/ag/AGL/agll/soilbiod/ defaulth.htm).
Marinari, S., Mancinelli, R., Campiglia, E. and Grego, S. (2006) Chemical and biological indicators of soil
quality in organic and conventional farming systems in Central Italy. Ecological Indicators, 6, 701–711.
Rodri´Guez-Castellanos, L. and Sanchez-Hernandez, J.C. (2007) Earthworm biomarkers of pesticidecontamination, Current status and perspectives. Journal of Pesticide Sciences, 32(4), 360–371.
Bunning, S. (2003) Indicators and assessment of soil biodiversity, Soil ecosystem functioning for farmers andgovernments. Proceedings of OECD Expert Meeting on Soil erosion and Soil Biodiversity Indicators, 116, Italy.
Edwards, C.A. and Lofty, J.R. (1977) Biology of earthworms. 2nd Edition, Chapman and Hill, London.
Hendrison, N.B. (1997) Earthworm effects respiratory activity in a dung-soil system. Soil Biology andBiochemistry, 29(3/4), 347-351.
Jordan, D., Stecker, J.A., Cacnio-Hubbard, V.N., Gantzer, F., Li, C.J. and Brown, J. (1996) Earthworm
activity in no-tillage and conventional tillage systems in Missouri soils, A preliminary study. Soil
Biology and Biochemistry, 29(3/4), 489-491.
Jouquet, P., Bottinelli, N., Podwojewski, P., Hallaire, V. and Duc, T.T. (2008a) Chemical and physicalproperties of earthworm casts as compared to bulk soil under a range of different land-use system in
Vietnam. Geoderma, 146, 231-238.
Jouquet, P., Podwojewski, P., Bottinelli, N., Mathieu, J., Ricoy, M., Orange, D., Tran, D.T. and Valentin, C.
(2008b) Above-ground earthworm casts affect water runoff and soil erosion in Northern Vietnam.
Catena, 74, 13-21.
Materechera, S.A. (2002) Nutrient availability and maize growth in a soil amended with earthworm casts© ISERD

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from a South Africa indigenous species. Bioresource Technology, 84, 197-201.
McLean, M.A. and Parkinson, D. (1996) Changes in structure, organic matter and microbial activity in pin
forest soil following the introduction of Dendrobaena octaedra. (Oligochaeta, Lumbricidae). Soil
Biology and Biochemistry, 29(3/4), 537-540.
Muys, B. and Granval, P. (1996) Earthworms as bio-indicators of forest site quality. Soil Biology andBiochemistry, 29(3/4), 323-328.
Pitkanen, J. and Nuutinen, V. (1996) Distribution and abundance of burrow systems after inculation of
Lumbricus terrestris L. and Aporrectodea caliginosa Sav. in the soil profile. Soil Biology andBiochemistry, 29(3/4), 463-467.
Schrader, S. and Zhang, H. (1996) Earthworm casting: stabilization or destabilization of soil structure. Soil
Biology and Biochemistry, 29(3/4), 469-475.
Shakir, S.H. and Dindal, D.L. (1997) Density and biomass of earthworm in forests and herbaceous
microecosystem in central New York, North America. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 29(3/4), 275-285.
Zou, X. (1993) Species effects on earthworm density in tropical tree plantation in Hawaii. Biological Fertility
Soils, 15, 35-38.

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Research article
erd

Spatial Analysis of Human Activities Performed in Cheung
Ek Inundated Lake, Cambodia
PHEARITH TEANG
Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
E-mail: Teangphearith2006@yahoo.com

PUY LIM
Ecole Nationale Supérieur Agronomique de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
Received 25 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Cheung Ek is an important lake for the livelihood of local communities throughdifferent functions, it acts as a wetland area to control flood waters and removes pollutantsfrom Phnom Penh city. However, industrialization, urbanization and uncontrolled humanoccupation on the bank of the lake has decreased the lake’s surface and caused the lake tobecome incapable of the evacuation and retention of storm water under the conditions ofheavy rain. Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping was undertaken to analyze the lakeborder, water spinach and water mimosa surfaces and other human activities while othersurveys were conducted to understand the method of cultivation and yield estimation of
the main aquatic vegetables. The surface area of Cheung Ek Lake in the dry season is 992
ha and more than 50% of the area is occupied by human activities: 429 ha of water
spinach; 32 ha of water mimosa; 13.5 ha of dry season rice field; 10-20 ha of fishingactivities and around 10 ha of duck raising. In Cheung Ek Lake, water spinach and water
mimosa are grown in rows secured by strings between the poles to prevent the crop fromfloating away. During the dry season, a water spinach cultivator can obtain an average
yield of 16-17 tons/ha for a six-month production cycle while a water mimosa producer
obtains an average of 15.5-16 tons from a production area of 5000 m2 during a five monthproduction cycle. In conclusion, during the dry season, the lake provides from 6864-7293
tons of water spinach and 992-1024 tons of water mimosa for human consumption.
However, aquatic vegetable production is also facing many problems particularly with
insect damage and disease outbreaks during the production period.
Keywords spatial analysis, GPS, aquatic vegetable, inundated lake, Cambodia

INTRODUCTION
The majority of untreated wastewater from the major cities in Asia is discharged into peri-urban
wetlands that serve as sites for natural treatment and extensive aquatic vegetable cultivation(Marcussen et al., 2004). The cultivation of aquatic vegetables in the peri-urban wetlands iswidespread throughout many cities in South and Southeast Asia and is found to a lesser extent in
Africa, Europe, Latin and North America (Bunting et al., 2005). Similar to many cities in Southeast
Asia, peri-urban areas of Phnom Penh are very important for food production and supply(Dalsgaard et al., 2004). The use of humid zones as a lagooning system to purify urban waste is
wide spread around the world and a lot of literature is available on this topic. In Southeast Asia,
lagoons are used and have been studied in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia (Lim and Chhouk,2008). In Phnom Penh, Cheung Ek Lake is a large body of water that receives a major part of thewastewater from Phnom Penh’s population and from industrial activities. The lake also receives
rain-water run-off (Seyha and Tuan Anh, 2004). The people living around the lake mostly produce
several types of aquatic vegetable, particularly morning glory which contributes to the purificationof urban waste water. In Phnom Penh, aquatic vegetable production systems in peri-urban areas,
especially in Cheung Ek Lake, provide many benefits, not just income for producers and low cost
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waste water treatment, but also the employment and income generation opportunities for manyseasonally hired labourers. However, uncontrolled human occupation on the lake’s bank has
decreased the surface area of the lake without any compensation from year to year. Moreover, rapid
urbanization and industrialization can be seen as the main future threat for the continued productionof aquatic vegetables in this peri-urban waste water fed lake. Thus, the mapping of the lake’s
surface, the area occupied by water spinach fields and other human activities, are necessary forunderstanding the problems. The purpose of this paper is to describe and make reference to thehuman activities on the lake with particular reference to the farming of aquatic vegetable used forhuman consumption. This paper consists of two specific objectives: (i) to map the Cheung Ek lakeborder, water spinach area and other human activities in the dry season and (ii) to understand thelife cycles of the aquatic vegetables (methods of cultivation and yield estimation).
METHODOGY
Site selection
The research was conducted at Chueng Ek lake which borders with the districts of Mean Chey,
Dang kor and Takmao in the South of Phnom Penh city and about 5 kilometers from the centre of
the city.
Table 1 Sample size selection
VillageAquatic vegetableproducers
175
21
10
11
10
48
75
350

Number of households

Prek Takong 1
Prek Takong 2
Prek Tanou
Thnoat Chhrum
Thnoat Chhrum 3
Kvar
Cheung Ek
Total

341
309
416
569
296
749
424
3077

Sample size
25
4
2
3
3
10
30
77

Data collection
Secondary data collection: Existing relevant documents were collected from research institutions,journals and information obtained from personal contact with scholars and researchers who had
carried out studies in the project area to better understand the issues involved. A satellite image ofCheung Ek Lake was also obtained which was used to determine changes in the lake border andhuman activities compared with aerial photos taken in 2008.
Primary data collection: Two steps were used in primary data collection. Firstly the area ofaquatic vegetable cultivation, lake border and other human activities were mapped using GPS.
Secondly was an interview with key informants and farmers. A semi-structured questionnaire (a)was used for key informant interviews and a structured-questionnaire (b) was designed for ahousehold survey which focused mainly on cultivation techniques for aquatic plants (setting-up,
maintenance and harvesting).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Human activities in the lake
Activities within Cheung Ek Lake represented an important source of household income for many
households in the Phnom Penh peri-urban area. Floating vegetable production particularly water© ISERD

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spinach and water mimosa, rice cultivation, fishing activities and duck raising contribute to the
dynamic economic activities in the Cheung Ek area.
Table 2 Area occupied by human activities at Cheung Ek Lake in the dry season
Human Activities
Water spinach area
Water mimosa area
Dry season rice fieldFishing activity
Duck raising
Other aquatic plant and water surface
Total lake surface

Total area (ha)
429
32
13.5
15
10
492.5
992

Percentage (%)
43.2
3.2
1.5
1.5
1
49.6
100

Fishing activity
Cheung Ek Lake is in general not used for fish production. However, fishing of wild fish species isdone by men from the nearby households. A diverse range of fish species is caught such ascommon carp (Cyprinus carpio), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), tilapia (Orechromis
niloticus), Snakehead fish (Channa striata) and Walking catfish (Clarias batrachus). The fish aresold at local markets or used as a supplement in the house diet.
Dry season rice cultivation
The people living around the Cheung Ek Lake started growing paddy rice after they returned totheir village after the Pol Pot regime (1975-1979). However, by the late 1980s many families hadabandoned rice farming in order to cultivate aquatic vegetables, particularly water spinach, when
they could see greater market demand and higher prices for aquatic plants. Currently rice farmingin the Cheung Ek lake area is only practiced in the dry season by a small number of households inthe western part of the lake particularly in Kvar and Cheung Ek village for use as a daily foodsupply and sold in emergency cases. The area of dry season rice cultivated in the Cheung Ek area isonly 13.5 ha with a high yield of 2.5 - 3 tons per hectare.
Duck raising
Duck raising is popular within the lake surface area especially in the western part mainly in Cheung
Ek village. There are around 20 households in Cheung Ek village who raise ducks on both small
and large scale from 100 ducks to 1,000 ducks. The KORKY variety is most popular because it is agood egg producer, resistant to disease and adapted to the climate conditions. Duck raising helps
people to improve their living standard by earning profits from sale of eggs and can be sold formeat after two years of egg production. Moreover, this animal and their eggs can be used for daily
food consumption.
Water spinach (WS) production
Water spinach is the most common species grown in Cheung Ek Lake in terms of aquatic vegetableproduction. It is grown in rows secured by strings between two poles to prevent the crop fromfloating away. Water spinach or water morning glory (Ipomoea aquatica) is also planted on land
and watered from ponds near the village with motor pumps and hoses. These plants are raised as
seedlings and planted in the lake as the water level rises. Large water surface areas around 429 hain the north and northwest part of Cheung Ek Lake are overgrown with water spinach, covering
43% of the total lake surface in the dry season.

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Water mimosa (WM) production
Water mimosa (Neptunia oleracea) is the second aquatic vegetable which is grown in Cheung Ek
Lake. Similarly to water spinach, it is grown in rows secured by a string between two poles toprevent the crop from floating away. Because of higher input requirements and greater technicaldemands compared to water spinach cultivation, water mimosa is only planted by a small numberof households in the western part and northeastern part of the lake particularly in Cheung Ek andPrek tanou village. It occupies a small area of water surface covering 32 hectares equal to 3.2% of
the lake surface.

Fig. 1 Map of Dry season rice field in the LakeFig 3 Map of WM surface in the Lake

Fig. 2 Main area of duck raising

Fig. 4 Map of WS in the Lake

Aquatic plant cultivation methods
Setting up
Seed Propagation: Water spinach or water mimosa stems are folded into a small piece and buried
into a hole in the soil of depth 20 cm width and 10cm depth, with two sides of the stems exposed tothe air. The seedlings should be planted in rows with 30 - 50 cm between each seedling.
Taking care of aquatic plant seed: Aquatic plants are regularly taken care by removing weeds
and applying pesticides in order to allow them to grow well. One week after planting the seedlings
should start growing and the farmers usually apply fertilizer and pesticide at this point. In the dry
season, in the absence of rain, the farmers need to irrigate the aquatic plants with water from the© ISERD

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lake every 2 or 3 days. The seedlings can then be transferred to grow in floating rafts in the lake
after 3-4 weeks of propogation on land.
Transferring water spinach seedlings to the water: Aquatic plants in water need to be in a raftfloating on the surface, the propagated seed are bound with string tied up to poles which are alreadyin place in the lake.
Pole preparation: Poles are set up in a rectanglular design of 20 to 30 meters long, depending on
the length of water surface owned by the farmer, and the rows of poles should be 3 to 4 metersapart. Floating ropes are then attached to the poles.
Water spinach Seedling braiding: Water spinach seedlings are folded as a forearm-size plant andbraided with string, with 10 to 15 cm between each plant on the string. Whereas water mimosashould be selected 3 to 5 meters long with a big trunk and many stems twisted around by big whitefloating sponges. Two selected seedling plants are put together facing opposite directions andbraided with string with 20 to 30 cm between each knots.
MaintenanceTaking care of aquatic plants: In order to make aquatic plants grow well, the farmer needs toregularly keep the floating aquatic plants bed/raft clean by removing water hyacinth and water
lettuce. A suitable amount of duckweed needs to be kept to cover the open water surface but kept
from growing too thickly around the water mimosa. Weeds such as water hyacinth need to be
removed. Snails need to be removed as they prey on aquatic plants. The strings, ropes and poles
need to be maintained and the plants need to be irrigated with lake water to prevent leaves fromwilting during the dry season and especially when new buds are emerging. Pesticide and fertilizer
should also be applied as required.
Fertilization: Fertilizer and pesticide should be applied 5-7 days after plants have been transferredto the water. By this time, most leaves have fallen off and the new buds begin to develop at thebase of the plant. To make the crop grow well and resist attack from diseases and insects, thefarmer usually mixes many kinds of chemicals and pesticides together in one container and sprays
once. However, this is not recommended. After applying chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides,
aquatic plants are left at least one week before harvesting.
Harvesting and yield
Harvesting: Water spinach can be partially harvested for the first time after 3 to 4 weeks whilewater mimosa can reach the first harvest after 2 to 3 weeks following planting. During harvesting,farmers have to tidy up their water spinach by arranging stems into a well disciplined format, as
this allows the plants to continue to grow well and avoid blocking access for boats between therows. Farmers always use a knife or sickle to cut the stems of water mimosa from both sides of the
middle knots, and leave a 20 cm interval from knots on the stems in order to let the plant grow forlater harvest.
Yield: In the dry season, the gross yield of water spinach is estimated to be 16 to 17 tons/ha. The
yield is higher than previous estimates of 12 tons/ha/year reported by Khov et al. (2005) who
conducted a survey among 133 water spinach producers in Cheung Ek Lake and 15.5 tons/ha/year
observed by Huy and Moustier (2005) in a survey among 400 water spinach producers. However,these yields are very low compared to the yield of 73 tons/ha/year observed by Muong (2004) in asurvey carried out among 205 producers in Cheung Ek Lake. Moreover, the finding (1617tonnes/ha in the dry season) is also very low compared to the water spinach yield using similar
cultivation techniues in other cities in South East Asia.
Phuong et al. (2006) conducted a survey among 63 households producing water spinach with
wastewater use in Tran Phu and Bang B villages. They showed that the average yields of water
spinach were 119 and 172 tons/ha/year respectively. Another study conducted by Ruangvit et al.
(2002) on the water spinach production in and around Bangkok showed that, the gross yield isestimated at around 50.0 - 62.5 tons/ha/year for a total growing period of 95 to 105 days. On the© ISERD

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

other hand the research also found that the gross yield of water mimosa was estimated to be 15.5 to
16.0 tons from a production area of 5000 m2 during a production period of five months in the dry
season. Unfortunately, there is no available information about the yield of water mimosa
production in Cambodia from previous years. However the yields recorded in this study were very
low compared to 37.50 - 46.87 tons per hectare throughout the whole cropping period of 75 - 90days or 112.5 - 140.6 ton/ha/year reported by Ruangvit et al. (2002) for water mimosa cultivationin and around Bangkok.
Table 3 Cropping calendar of aquatic plants (AP) in Cheung Ek Lake
Month and activities
Seed cultivation
Taking care
Fertilization
Pole design
Seed braiding
Seed transfer to the water
Fertilization
Taking care
Harvesting

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12
y
yy
y
y

y
yy yyy
y

yyy

yyy

yyy

yyy yyyyyy
yyy

yyy yyy

yyy y y y yyy

yyy yyy yyy yyy

yyy

yyy

yy

yyy

yyy

CONCLUSION
Cheung Ek is an important lake for local resident’s livelihood as most of them practice some
activities such as aquatic plant cultivation, rice cultivation, fishing and duck raising. However,rapid urbanization has caused people to move into the peri-urban area of Phnom Penh and this has
decreased the lake surface from year to year. The lake surface of 992 hectare is occupied by 429
hectares of water spinach, 32 hectares of water mimosa, 13.5 hectares of dry season rice field, 15
hectares of fishing activities and around 10 hectares of duck raising. Farmers can obtain an average
yield of 1105 kg/ha/harvest or 16 to 17 tons/ha of water spinach while water mimosa producers canobtain an average yield of 1217 kg/5000 m2/harvest or 15.5 to 16 tons/5000 m2 during the dry
season. The results show that, within a similar area of water surface, mimosa producers produce
double the yield of water spinach. During the dry season, the lake can provide around 7584.7 tonesof water spinach and 1012.5 tones of water mimosa for human consumption. However, aquaticplant production is faced with many problems included lack of labor for harvesting, decreased
production due to the increase of water pollution, insect damage and disease outbreaks during the
production period. Moreover, land use change is occurring on some parts of the lake which arebeing reclaimed for development purposes. This is causing concern to aquatic plant producers in
the Cheung Ek area.
REFERENCES
Bunting, S., Little, D. and Leschen, W. (2005) Urban aquatic production. Urban Agriculture Magazine, 1-47.
Dalsgaard, A., Klank, L.T., Vuong, T.A., Phung Dac Cam, P.D., Marcussen, H., Jorgensen, K., Holm, P.E.,
Brocca, D.,Simmons, R., Lan, T.P.L. and Mara, D. (2004) Food safety of aquatic plants and fish raisedin wastewater-fed ponds. PAPUSSA Annual Report.
Huy, E. and Moustier, P. (2005) Baseline characterization of urban and peri-urban vegetable production in
Phnom Penh. Sustainable Development of Peri-urban Agriculture in South-East Asia Project (SUSPER).
Khov, K., Sok, D. and Chouk, B. (2005) Overview of peri-urban aquatic food production system in Phnom
Penh. Urban Agriculture, 14, 13-15.
Lim, P. and Chhouk, B. (2008) Functioning of Cheung Ek Lake and floodable plain, Environment receiving
Phnom Penh waste water and offering a high productivity and purifying capacity. Royal University ofAgriculture, Cambodia.

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Marcussen, H., Joergensen, K., Dalsgaard, A. and Holm, P.E. (2004) Accumulation of toxic metals in aquatic
production systems receiving urban wastewater in Cambodia and Vietnam. Royal Veterinary andAgricultural University (KVL), Denmark.
Muong, S. (2004) Avoiding adverse health impacts from contaminated vegetables, Options or three wetlands
in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia, 1-47.
Phuong, N.T.D., Tuan, P.A., Tien, N.T.H., Bau, P., Diep, H.K. and Tan, N.T. (2006) Report on baseline andmonitoring survey in aquatic producer households in peri-urban Hanoi. Vietnam.
Ruangvit, Y., Varunthat, D., Chumpol, S., Thanasorn, R., Aree, S. and Warnida J. (2002) Growing
techniques for aquatic plants cultivation in and around Bangkok, Kasetsart University, Thailand.
Seyha, S. and Tuan Anh, V. (2004) Case study of skin problems of a farmer engaged in water morning glory
in Boeung Cheung Ek. 1-6, Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia. National Institute of Hygieneand Epidemiology, Vietnam.

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Research article
erd

Soil Fertility Management in Rainfed Lowland Rice
Eco-systems
MAK SOEUN
Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia
Agricultural Extension Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
E-mail: mak_soeun@camnet.com.kh
Received 28 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) is a staple food of the Cambodian population andaccounts for 68-70 percent of daily calorie intake. Rainfed lowland rice ecosystems areoften hampered by drought, submergence and soil problems (Acid Sulphate) that areassociated with low productivity and with a high incidence of poverty. A study was
conducted to identify the best practices in soil fertility management and conservation on
sandy soil for improving rice yield and cost effectiveness of rainfed lowland riceproduction systems in order to contribute to the improvement of food security and income
generation of rural farmers. Three experiments were conducted in rainfed lowland riceagro-ecosystems in Champei commune, Bati district of Takeo province from the middle of2006 to the middle of 2009: (i) assessment of agro-ecosystem analysis and rice agroecosystems, (ii) study on interaction and cost-effectiveness of NPK fertilizers and compost
on rice yield in sandy soil in rainfed lowland production systems and (iii) on-farm adaptive
research on interaction of NPK fertilizers and compost in sandy soil of rainfed lowland
rice ecosystems. The results clearly indicated that the factors and parameters impacting on
rice productivity and yield are poor soil fertility (sandy loam soil) and poor soil fertility
management. Two options of best practices were identified for improving soil fertility
management and rice yield. Firstly, for farmers raising a limited number of cattle (1-2
cattle) and limited access to compost fertilizers should use N25P13K15 or Urea at 44 kg,
DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 5 tones of compost per hectare. Secondly, for farmers
raising more cattle and producing large amounts of compost fertilizer recommendations
are the same with 10 tones of compost per hectare.
Keywords soil fertility, sandy soil, rainfed lowland, rice productivity, Cambodia

INTRODUCTION
Rice, Oryza sativa L., is a staple food for the Cambodian population and accounts for 68-70
percent of daily calorie intake. The rice Agro-Ecosystem in Cambodia is categorized according togeographical location, ranging from mountainous to deepwater areas including upland, rainfed
lowland, floating rice and dry season rice (Men Sarom, 2007). Rainfed lowland rice ecosystems areoften hampered by drought, submergence and soil problems (Acid Sulphate) that are associatedwith low productivity and with a high incidence of poverty. These ecosystems have many factors
and constraints to rice production such as poor soil quality, flood and drought, water problems, pest
and diseases and crop management practices of farmers.
Recently increasing fuel and fertilizer prices have also raised concerns for farmers, especiallyfor rice farming, to maintain the delicate balance between sufficient profitability for farmers andsufficient rice supply at affordable prices for the urban and non-farming rural poor. As fertilizer
prices increase, research and extension workers often advise farmers to reduce fertilizer use to savemoney. However, crop yield is directly related to the amount of nutrient taken up by the crop. Useof less of fertilizer means lower crop yield and less profit for farmers. Important questions are: howmuch fertilizer is needed to maximize profit and how could we improve rice production under these
conditions?
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To address these constraints, we conducted the research study: “Strategy for Soil Fertility
Management in Rainfed Lowland Rice Eco-system in Cambodia”. This research aimed to identify
the best practices in soil fertility management and conservation on sandy soil for improving rice
yield and cost effectiveness of rainfed lowland rice production systems in order to contribute toimproved food security and income generation for rural farmers. Objectives of the research were:
1. To identify the problems and constraints in rice production systems and to identify options toaddress these in rainfed lowland rice eco-system in Cambodia
2. To develop best practices for effective application of NPK fertilizers and compost on rice
yield and cost-effectiveness in sandy soil under rainfed lowland production systems in
Cambodia
3. To identify the best practices of appropriate fertilizer application, that could be adopted by
farmers for improving rice yield and soil fertility management in sandy soil under rainfed
lowland rice ecosystems and4. To develop extension packages or technical implementing procedures (TIP) for extension
workers and farmers to use in rice production of rainfed lowland rice ecosystems in Cambodia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Three research studies were conducted: (i) agro-ecosystem analysis and rice agro-ecosystems
assessment in Champei commune, Bati district of Takeo province; (ii) study of interaction of NPK
fertilizers and compost on rice yield and cost effectiveness for production in sandy soil in rainfed
lowland rice agro-ecosystems in Cambodia and (iii) adaptive research on farmer fields (on-farmtrials) on rice yield and cost effectiveness of production on sandy soil in rainfed lowland rice agroecosystems in Cambodia.
Agro-ecosystem and rice eco-systems analysis in Champei commune
Agro-ecosystems analysis (AEA) is a participatory analysis tool used by multi-disciplinary teams
in participation with farmers to identify the problems, constraints and impacts on rice production
systems and to identify options and measures to overcome these. The assessment used the agroecosystems analysis (AEA) tools and methods including secondary data collection (e.g. commune
profile), soil sampling and analysis, meteorology data (rainfall and temperatures), rapid rural
appraisal (RRA-time line/trend lines, transect walks, seasonal calendars, venn diagrams andproblem trees or causes and effect analysis). Check list questionnaires of fertilizer use, soil fertility
management, and farming systems were also used with farmer cooperators.
Interaction of NPK fertilizers and compost on rice yield and cost effective rice production
Fertilizer recommendations for the Prateah Lang Soil type in rainfed lowland rice ecosystems inChampei commune are N50P25K30, which means 50 kg N, 25 kg P and 30 kg K, with 5 to 10 tonesof compost. The improved aromatic rice variety of Phkar Rumduol was selected for theexperiments during the wet seasons of 2007 and 2008. Nine different treatment combinations of
NPK and compost rates were tested: N0P0K0 (T1), 5 t of compost (T2), 10 t of compost (T3),
N25P13K15 (T4), N25P13K15 + 5 t of compost (T5), N25P13K15 + 10 t of compost (T6), N50P25K30 (T7),
N50P25K30 + 5 t of compost (T8) and N50P25K30 + 10 t of compost (T9).
On-farm adaptive research (on-farm trials) on rice yield and cost effectiveness of production
These experiments were conducted in nine selected farmer fields on sandy loam soils (Prateah
Lang soil type) with four selected combinations of NPK and compost: N50P25K30, 10 tones ofcompost, N50P25K30 + 10 t of compost and N25P13K15 + 10 t of compost. Phkar Rumduol rice variety
was also selected for these experiments during the wet seasons of 2007 and 2008.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Agro-ecosystem and rice ecosystem analysis in Champei Commune
Agriculture and soil condition: Based on agro-ecosystem analysis (AEA), rice-based farming is amajor occupation in Champei commune and most families also raise cattle and pigs as well as
poultry (chicken and ducks). The AEA identified Prateah Lang soil type (red yellow podzol) with
642 ha as the major soil type in the rainfed lowland rice eco-systems in Champei Commune. Thiswas followed by the Bakan soil types (Grey Hydromorphs or Luvisols) covering 585 ha. Kbal Po(Alluvial soil or gleysol) was also found to be a major soil type covering 354 ha in recession rice
and irrigated dry season rice areas. The Prateah Lang soil is of low fertility and needs to be
improved for better yield and profits. NPK is the major fertilizer used with combinations of Urea,
DAP and NPK (16-16-20) at a rate of about 1-2 bags or 50 to 100 kg/ha for wet season rice. Riceyields are in the range of 1.5 to 2.5 tonnes per hectare.
Table 1 Soil properties in main rice soils in Champeir commune, Bati district, Takeo
Soil property
Organic matter (OM) %C%
N%P (ppm)K meq/100g soil
pH

Prateah Lang soil
(Red yellow podzol)
0.67
0.29
0.04
21
0.03
4.5-5.1

Bakan soil
(Grey Hydromorph)
1.12
0.68
0.043
37
0.07
5.7

Kbal Po soil
(Alluvial soil)
1.8
0.91
0.10
46
0.19
5.9

Source: Soil result analysis, September 2007, Soil Lab analysis, General Directorate of Agriculture.

Results of AEA also indicated that the sandy soil in Champei commune is generally low inorganic matter content (0.64%), low pH (4.5-5.1), low CEC and low N, P, K, S, and Mg. Somelocations have Fe, S and Mn toxicity and poor drainage. Low productivity and low yield of rice inrainfed lowland rice is primarily due to poor soil fertility. Production is often reduced by drought
and flood. Production is also limited by poor crop management practices including poor land
preparation, poor on-farm water management, poor fertilizer management, poor weed management,
use of unpure seed and poor post-harvest practices. Pests, especially an outbreak of brown plant
hoppers (BPH), appeared in the 2007 wet season.
Climatic conditions
Rainfall: During the past ten years the average rainfall in Champei commune was 1,249 mm andduring 2000 and 2001 the rainfall was higher than previous years. The Commune received 1,555
mm in 2000 and 1,597 mm in 2001. In 2007, rainfall commenced in March and annual total amountwas 1,213 mm. However in 2008, rainfall was only 1,040 mm which was lower than the ten year
average. Rainfall variability is a constraint for rice production in the rainfed lowland (Fig. 1).
Temperature: The average temperature during the past ten years has not changed much. The peakof the hot season is during April and May (30 oC). From June to December the average temperaturedeclines from 29 oC to 26 oC. Maximum temperatures are high during April-May with 35-36 oC
and declines to 31-33 oC from June to December. Minimum temperature is less variable (20 oC to
26 oC). These temperatures provide good conditions for rice plant growth, especially in the rainfed
lowland rice ecosystem (Fig. 2).
These results clearly indicated that the factors and parameters impacting on rice productivity
and yield were poor soil fertility (sandy soil) and poor soil fertility management. The study also
identified options for improving fertility management on sandy loam soils in rainfed lowland rice
ecosystems and identified best practices and cost-effective soil fertility management for improving
rice production and quality. Adoption of these practices would contribute to improved household
food security and income generation for rural poor farmers.
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A v e r a g e temperature,T e m p e r a tu r e s℃,
Average

Average Temperatures,oC. 1998-2008

600
500
400
2008
Average 98-08
200
100
0

D
ec

O
ct

N
ov

Se
pt

Ju
l
Au
g

Ju
n

Ap
r

M
ay

M
ar
c

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Ja
n

32
30
2007

28

oC.

2007
300

Fe
b

Average Average
rainfall,mm/monthrainfall, mm

Average rainfall in Takeo province (Donkao station) during
1998-2008

2008

26

Aveg.Temp.1998-2008

24
22
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Months
Month

Month

Month

Fig. 2 Monthly average temperatureduring 1998-2008 in Bati district

Fig. 1 Average rainfall during 1998-2008
in Bati district

Interaction of NPK fertilizers and compost on rice yield and cost effective rice production
The results of fertilizer experiments during the wet season 2007 and 2008 indicated that on sandy
soil, the optimum rate of fertilizer application for increasing rice yield is N25P13K15 (Urea 44 kg,
DAP 25 kg and KCl 25kg) plus 5 to 10 tonnes of compost per hectare. The fertilizer treatments
differed significantly for their effect on rice yield (P<0.01). N25P13K15 plus 10 tones of compost on
sandy soils (Prateah Lang Soil) gave a rice yield of 3.50 t/ha in the 2007 wet season and 4.17t/ha in
the 2008wet season. N25P13K15 plus 5 t of compost gave a yield of 2.81 t/ha in the 2007 wet season
and 3.42/ha in the 2008 wet season (Fig. 3).
4

WS 2007
WS 20082

G ra in y ie ld , T /h a

6
4

T1

T2

1.18

1.66 2.07 1.51 2.82 3.48

T3

T4

T5

T6

WS 2008

2.02 2.78 3.09 2.74 3.42

4.17

T7

T8

Series1

2

Linear (Series1)

1.5
1

0.5

T9

0

1.92 3.18 3.03
3.01 4.04

3

2.5

0

WS 2007y = 0.3532x - 7.8601
R2 = 0.6937

3.5

Grain yield, t/haGrain yield, t/ha

G r ai n yi el d b y d i f f er ent t r eat ment s i n w et seaso n
2 0 0 7 and 2 0 0 8

0

3.8

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Paniclelength,Panicle lenght,
CM cm

Tr e a t me nt

Treatment

Grain yield, t/ha
G ra in y ie ld , T /h ay = 0.2598x - 3.5877
R2 = 0.7925

Series1
Linear (Series1)

3000000

Cost and net benefit, Riels

5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

Fig. 4 The correlation between panicle
length and yield of experiment 2007
Cost and net benefit, Riels

Fig .3 Grain yield for NPK and Compost trials
in wet season 2007 and 2008

2500000
2000000
Cost of vary, r/ha

1500000

Net benefits, r/ha

1000000
500000
0
T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

T9

Treatm ent
Treatment
Treatment

0

5

10
15
20
25
Panicle length, cm
Panicle lenght, CM

30

35

Fig. 5 The correlation between panicle lengthand yield of experiment 2008.

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Fig. 6 Net benefit of experiment inwet season 2007

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Rice yield on-farm trials in wet season 207 and 2008

3000000
52500000

Grain yield, t/ha

2000000

Grain yield, t/ha

C os t a nd ne t be ne fit, R ie ls

Cost and net benefit, Riels

The result of experiment in wet season 2007 and 2008, the correlation between yieldcomponent and yield are also indicated that the increasing of yield components is correlation
between yield in difference treatment of NPK and compost (Figs. 4 and 5).
The gross margin of both wet season experiments in 2007 and 2008 indicated that N25P13K15 or
Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 10 t of compost gave net profits from US$ 436 to US$
640 per hectare, respectively. The treatment of N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg
plus 5 t of Compost gave net profits from 1.49-2.22 Million KHRiels per hectare in 2007 and 2008
(Figs. 6 and 7).
The purpose of these experiments was to identify economic and environmentally soundpractices that could be adopted by farmers with sandy soil in rainfed lowland rice agro-ecosystems.
From the results, we concluded that the two best options for improving soil fertility management
and rice yield were: (a) farmers with few cattle (1-2 cattle) and limited access to compost fertilizers
should use N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 5 t of compost per hectare, (b)farmers with more cattle and compost fertilizers should use N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg
and KCl 25 kg plus 10 t of compost per hectare.

Cost of vary, r/ha

1500000

Net benefits, r/ha

1000000
500000

4
3

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

T9

WS 2008

1
0

0

WS 2007

2

T1

T2

T3

T4

WS 2007

3.21

3.55

4.34

3.98

WS 2008

2.896

2.764

3.823

3.258

Treatment
Treatment

Treatment
TrTreatment
eatment

Fig. 7 Net benefit of experiment inwet season 2008

Fig. 8 Grain yield for On-farm adaptive trials
of NPK and Compost in wet season
2007 and 2008

On-farm adaptive research (on-farm trials) on rice yield and cost effectiveness of production
The results of on-farm adaptive trials with NPK fertilizers and compost during the wet seasons of2007 and 2008 showed that the optimal rate of fertilizer application for better rice yield and profit
was N25P13K15 (Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg) plus 10 t of compost per hectare (Fig. 8).
The recommended rate (N50P15K30) and 10 t of compost per hectare gave low rice yield andbenefit. In fact, half the recommendation rate (N25P13K15) plus 10 t of compost on sandy soil gave ahigher rice yield (Phkar Rumduol variety) of 4.34 t/ha and net profit per hectare at US$ 690 in2007 and 3.82 t/ha and net profit at US$538 in 2008 (Figs. 9 and 10). N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg,
DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 10 t of compost gave a net profit per hectare at US$ 692 in 2007
and US$ 540 in 2008, respectively.
3000000

2500000
2000000
Cost of vary, Riels/ha

1500000

Net benefits, Riels/ha

1000000
500000Cost
and net benefit,
Cost of vary and net
Riels/habenefits,riels/ha

benefits,riels/ha

Cost and net benefit,Co stof vary an d net
Riels/ha

300000002500000
2000000
Cost of vary, Riels/ha

1500000

Net benefits, Riels/ha

1000000
500000
0

T1

T2

T3

T4

T1

Treatment
Treatment

T2

T3

T4

Treatment
Treatment

Fig. 9 Net benefit of on-farmexperiment in wet season 2007

Fig. 10 Net benefit of on-farm experiment inwet season 2008

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CONCLUSION
The results showed that use of chemical fertilizer (NPK) alone on sandy soil did not improve soil
and crop productivity. Chemical fertilizer alone has potential negative impacts on soil structure andtexture, micro-organisms in the soil and mineral toxicity to underground water. However use oforganic fertilizer alone on sandy soil also has low effects on soil fertility and crop yield. These
effects have become clear after only several years of continuous applications of organic fertilizers(compost). Two options for best farming practice in rainfed lowland rice are: (1) farmers with few
cattle (1-2 cattle) and limited access to compost fertilizers should use N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg,
DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 5 tonnes of compost per hectare (2) farmers with available cattle
and compost fertilizers should use N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 5 t ofcompost per hectare. The results of these experiments were also used to develop best practiceextension packages or technical implementing procedures (TIPs). These are used by researchers,
extension workers and farmers for improving soil fertility management and conservation, and riceproduction in the sandy soils of rainfed lowland rice ecosystems in Cambodia. The collection oforganic manure also results in cleaner households, farms and villages and therefore improved
hygiene and sanitation.
REFERENCES
Department of Agricultural Extension (2006) Commune agro-ecosystem analysis report. Cambodia.
Department of Water Resources and Meteorology of Takeo Province (2008) Rainfall data of Bati district
1998-2008. Cambodia.
Departement D' Agromonie, Ministere de l'Agriculture. Zonification Agricole De L'etat du Cambodge, 19861989, 1-218, Cambodia.
Mackill, D. Jim, Coffman and Garrity, D.P. (1996) Rainfed lowland rice improvement. International Rice
Research Institute, 1-242, Philippines.
Gomez, A. Kwanchai (1972) Techniques for field experiments with rice, International Rice ResearchInstitute, 1-46, Philippines.
Gomez, A. Kwanchai and Gomez, A. Arturo (1984) Statistical procedures for agricultural research.
International Rice Research Institute, 1-680, Philippines.
Tichit, T. (1981) L’Agriculture au Cambodge, Agence de cooperation culturelle et technique. 1-423,
Cambodge.
Men, Sarom (2007) Rice production in Cambodia. Cambodia Research and Development Intstitute (CARDI),
1-352, Cambodia.
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (2009), Annual report 2008-2009. 1-152, Cambodia.
White, P., Oberthur, T. and Sovuthy, P. (1997) The soils used for rice production in Cambodia, A manual for
their identification and management. International Rice Research Institute, 1-71, Philippines.
Surajet, K. and De Data (1981) Principles and practices of rice production. International Rice ResearchInstitute, 1-618, Philippines.

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Research article
erd

Soil Fertility Management in Rainfed Lowland Rice
Eco-systems
MAK SOEUN
Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia
Agricultural Extension Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
E-mail: mak_soeun@camnet.com.kh
Received 28 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) is a staple food of the Cambodian population andaccounts for 68-70 percent of daily calorie intake. Rainfed lowland rice ecosystems areoften hampered by drought, submergence and soil problems (Acid Sulphate) that areassociated with low productivity and with a high incidence of poverty. A study was
conducted to identify the best practices in soil fertility management and conservation on
sandy soil for improving rice yield and cost effectiveness of rainfed lowland riceproduction systems in order to contribute to the improvement of food security and income
generation of rural farmers. Three experiments were conducted in rainfed lowland riceagro-ecosystems in Champei commune, Bati district of Takeo province from the middle of2006 to the middle of 2009: (i) assessment of agro-ecosystem analysis and rice agroecosystems, (ii) study on interaction and cost-effectiveness of NPK fertilizers and compost
on rice yield in sandy soil in rainfed lowland production systems and (iii) on-farm adaptive
research on interaction of NPK fertilizers and compost in sandy soil of rainfed lowland
rice ecosystems. The results clearly indicated that the factors and parameters impacting on
rice productivity and yield are poor soil fertility (sandy loam soil) and poor soil fertility
management. Two options of best practices were identified for improving soil fertility
management and rice yield. Firstly, for farmers raising a limited number of cattle (1-2
cattle) and limited access to compost fertilizers should use N25P13K15 or Urea at 44 kg,
DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 5 tones of compost per hectare. Secondly, for farmers
raising more cattle and producing large amounts of compost fertilizer recommendations
are the same with 10 tones of compost per hectare.
Keywords soil fertility, sandy soil, rainfed lowland, rice productivity, Cambodia

INTRODUCTION
Rice, Oryza sativa L., is a staple food for the Cambodian population and accounts for 68-70
percent of daily calorie intake. The rice Agro-Ecosystem in Cambodia is categorized according togeographical location, ranging from mountainous to deepwater areas including upland, rainfed
lowland, floating rice and dry season rice (Men Sarom, 2007). Rainfed lowland rice ecosystems areoften hampered by drought, submergence and soil problems (Acid Sulphate) that are associatedwith low productivity and with a high incidence of poverty. These ecosystems have many factors
and constraints to rice production such as poor soil quality, flood and drought, water problems, pest
and diseases and crop management practices of farmers.
Recently increasing fuel and fertilizer prices have also raised concerns for farmers, especiallyfor rice farming, to maintain the delicate balance between sufficient profitability for farmers andsufficient rice supply at affordable prices for the urban and non-farming rural poor. As fertilizer
prices increase, research and extension workers often advise farmers to reduce fertilizer use to savemoney. However, crop yield is directly related to the amount of nutrient taken up by the crop. Useof less of fertilizer means lower crop yield and less profit for farmers. Important questions are: howmuch fertilizer is needed to maximize profit and how could we improve rice production under these
conditions?
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To address these constraints, we conducted the research study: “Strategy for Soil Fertility
Management in Rainfed Lowland Rice Eco-system in Cambodia”. This research aimed to identify
the best practices in soil fertility management and conservation on sandy soil for improving rice
yield and cost effectiveness of rainfed lowland rice production systems in order to contribute toimproved food security and income generation for rural farmers. Objectives of the research were:
1. To identify the problems and constraints in rice production systems and to identify options toaddress these in rainfed lowland rice eco-system in Cambodia
2. To develop best practices for effective application of NPK fertilizers and compost on rice
yield and cost-effectiveness in sandy soil under rainfed lowland production systems in
Cambodia
3. To identify the best practices of appropriate fertilizer application, that could be adopted by
farmers for improving rice yield and soil fertility management in sandy soil under rainfed
lowland rice ecosystems and4. To develop extension packages or technical implementing procedures (TIP) for extension
workers and farmers to use in rice production of rainfed lowland rice ecosystems in Cambodia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Three research studies were conducted: (i) agro-ecosystem analysis and rice agro-ecosystems
assessment in Champei commune, Bati district of Takeo province; (ii) study of interaction of NPK
fertilizers and compost on rice yield and cost effectiveness for production in sandy soil in rainfed
lowland rice agro-ecosystems in Cambodia and (iii) adaptive research on farmer fields (on-farmtrials) on rice yield and cost effectiveness of production on sandy soil in rainfed lowland rice agroecosystems in Cambodia.
Agro-ecosystem and rice eco-systems analysis in Champei commune
Agro-ecosystems analysis (AEA) is a participatory analysis tool used by multi-disciplinary teams
in participation with farmers to identify the problems, constraints and impacts on rice production
systems and to identify options and measures to overcome these. The assessment used the agroecosystems analysis (AEA) tools and methods including secondary data collection (e.g. commune
profile), soil sampling and analysis, meteorology data (rainfall and temperatures), rapid rural
appraisal (RRA-time line/trend lines, transect walks, seasonal calendars, venn diagrams andproblem trees or causes and effect analysis). Check list questionnaires of fertilizer use, soil fertility
management, and farming systems were also used with farmer cooperators.
Interaction of NPK fertilizers and compost on rice yield and cost effective rice production
Fertilizer recommendations for the Prateah Lang Soil type in rainfed lowland rice ecosystems inChampei commune are N50P25K30, which means 50 kg N, 25 kg P and 30 kg K, with 5 to 10 tonesof compost. The improved aromatic rice variety of Phkar Rumduol was selected for theexperiments during the wet seasons of 2007 and 2008. Nine different treatment combinations of
NPK and compost rates were tested: N0P0K0 (T1), 5 t of compost (T2), 10 t of compost (T3),
N25P13K15 (T4), N25P13K15 + 5 t of compost (T5), N25P13K15 + 10 t of compost (T6), N50P25K30 (T7),
N50P25K30 + 5 t of compost (T8) and N50P25K30 + 10 t of compost (T9).
On-farm adaptive research (on-farm trials) on rice yield and cost effectiveness of production
These experiments were conducted in nine selected farmer fields on sandy loam soils (Prateah
Lang soil type) with four selected combinations of NPK and compost: N50P25K30, 10 tones ofcompost, N50P25K30 + 10 t of compost and N25P13K15 + 10 t of compost. Phkar Rumduol rice variety
was also selected for these experiments during the wet seasons of 2007 and 2008.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Agro-ecosystem and rice ecosystem analysis in Champei Commune
Agriculture and soil condition: Based on agro-ecosystem analysis (AEA), rice-based farming is amajor occupation in Champei commune and most families also raise cattle and pigs as well as
poultry (chicken and ducks). The AEA identified Prateah Lang soil type (red yellow podzol) with
642 ha as the major soil type in the rainfed lowland rice eco-systems in Champei Commune. Thiswas followed by the Bakan soil types (Grey Hydromorphs or Luvisols) covering 585 ha. Kbal Po(Alluvial soil or gleysol) was also found to be a major soil type covering 354 ha in recession rice
and irrigated dry season rice areas. The Prateah Lang soil is of low fertility and needs to be
improved for better yield and profits. NPK is the major fertilizer used with combinations of Urea,
DAP and NPK (16-16-20) at a rate of about 1-2 bags or 50 to 100 kg/ha for wet season rice. Riceyields are in the range of 1.5 to 2.5 tonnes per hectare.
Table 1 Soil properties in main rice soils in Champeir commune, Bati district, Takeo
Soil property
Organic matter (OM) %C%
N%P (ppm)K meq/100g soil
pH

Prateah Lang soil
(Red yellow podzol)
0.67
0.29
0.04
21
0.03
4.5-5.1

Bakan soil
(Grey Hydromorph)
1.12
0.68
0.043
37
0.07
5.7

Kbal Po soil
(Alluvial soil)
1.8
0.91
0.10
46
0.19
5.9

Source: Soil result analysis, September 2007, Soil Lab analysis, General Directorate of Agriculture.

Results of AEA also indicated that the sandy soil in Champei commune is generally low inorganic matter content (0.64%), low pH (4.5-5.1), low CEC and low N, P, K, S, and Mg. Somelocations have Fe, S and Mn toxicity and poor drainage. Low productivity and low yield of rice inrainfed lowland rice is primarily due to poor soil fertility. Production is often reduced by drought
and flood. Production is also limited by poor crop management practices including poor land
preparation, poor on-farm water management, poor fertilizer management, poor weed management,
use of unpure seed and poor post-harvest practices. Pests, especially an outbreak of brown plant
hoppers (BPH), appeared in the 2007 wet season.
Climatic conditions
Rainfall: During the past ten years the average rainfall in Champei commune was 1,249 mm andduring 2000 and 2001 the rainfall was higher than previous years. The Commune received 1,555
mm in 2000 and 1,597 mm in 2001. In 2007, rainfall commenced in March and annual total amountwas 1,213 mm. However in 2008, rainfall was only 1,040 mm which was lower than the ten year
average. Rainfall variability is a constraint for rice production in the rainfed lowland (Fig. 1).
Temperature: The average temperature during the past ten years has not changed much. The peakof the hot season is during April and May (30 oC). From June to December the average temperaturedeclines from 29 oC to 26 oC. Maximum temperatures are high during April-May with 35-36 oC
and declines to 31-33 oC from June to December. Minimum temperature is less variable (20 oC to
26 oC). These temperatures provide good conditions for rice plant growth, especially in the rainfed
lowland rice ecosystem (Fig. 2).
These results clearly indicated that the factors and parameters impacting on rice productivity
and yield were poor soil fertility (sandy soil) and poor soil fertility management. The study also
identified options for improving fertility management on sandy loam soils in rainfed lowland rice
ecosystems and identified best practices and cost-effective soil fertility management for improving
rice production and quality. Adoption of these practices would contribute to improved household
food security and income generation for rural poor farmers.
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A v e r a g e temperature,T e m p e r a tu r e s℃,
Average

Average Temperatures,oC. 1998-2008

600
500
400
2008
Average 98-08
200
100
0

D
ec

O
ct

N
ov

Se
pt

Ju
l
Au
g

Ju
n

Ap
r

M
ay

M
ar
c

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Ja
n

32
30
2007

28

oC.

2007
300

Fe
b

Average Average
rainfall,mm/monthrainfall, mm

Average rainfall in Takeo province (Donkao station) during
1998-2008

2008

26

Aveg.Temp.1998-2008

24
22
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Months
Month

Month

Month

Fig. 2 Monthly average temperatureduring 1998-2008 in Bati district

Fig. 1 Average rainfall during 1998-2008
in Bati district

Interaction of NPK fertilizers and compost on rice yield and cost effective rice production
The results of fertilizer experiments during the wet season 2007 and 2008 indicated that on sandy
soil, the optimum rate of fertilizer application for increasing rice yield is N25P13K15 (Urea 44 kg,
DAP 25 kg and KCl 25kg) plus 5 to 10 tonnes of compost per hectare. The fertilizer treatments
differed significantly for their effect on rice yield (P<0.01). N25P13K15 plus 10 tones of compost on
sandy soils (Prateah Lang Soil) gave a rice yield of 3.50 t/ha in the 2007 wet season and 4.17t/ha in
the 2008wet season. N25P13K15 plus 5 t of compost gave a yield of 2.81 t/ha in the 2007 wet season
and 3.42/ha in the 2008 wet season (Fig. 3).
4

WS 2007
WS 20082

G ra in y ie ld , T /h a

6
4

T1

T2

1.18

1.66 2.07 1.51 2.82 3.48

T3

T4

T5

T6

WS 2008

2.02 2.78 3.09 2.74 3.42

4.17

T7

T8

Series1

2

Linear (Series1)

1.5
1

0.5

T9

0

1.92 3.18 3.03
3.01 4.04

3

2.5

0

WS 2007y = 0.3532x - 7.8601
R2 = 0.6937

3.5

Grain yield, t/haGrain yield, t/ha

G r ai n yi el d b y d i f f er ent t r eat ment s i n w et seaso n
2 0 0 7 and 2 0 0 8

0

3.8

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Paniclelength,Panicle lenght,
CM cm

Tr e a t me nt

Treatment

Grain yield, t/ha
G ra in y ie ld , T /h ay = 0.2598x - 3.5877
R2 = 0.7925

Series1
Linear (Series1)

3000000

Cost and net benefit, Riels

5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

Fig. 4 The correlation between panicle
length and yield of experiment 2007
Cost and net benefit, Riels

Fig .3 Grain yield for NPK and Compost trials
in wet season 2007 and 2008

2500000
2000000
Cost of vary, r/ha

1500000

Net benefits, r/ha

1000000
500000
0
T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

T9

Treatm ent
Treatment
Treatment

0

5

10
15
20
25
Panicle length, cm
Panicle lenght, CM

30

35

Fig. 5 The correlation between panicle lengthand yield of experiment 2008.

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Fig. 6 Net benefit of experiment inwet season 2007

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Rice yield on-farm trials in wet season 207 and 2008

3000000
52500000

Grain yield, t/ha

2000000

Grain yield, t/ha

C os t a nd ne t be ne fit, R ie ls

Cost and net benefit, Riels

The result of experiment in wet season 2007 and 2008, the correlation between yieldcomponent and yield are also indicated that the increasing of yield components is correlation
between yield in difference treatment of NPK and compost (Figs. 4 and 5).
The gross margin of both wet season experiments in 2007 and 2008 indicated that N25P13K15 or
Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 10 t of compost gave net profits from US$ 436 to US$
640 per hectare, respectively. The treatment of N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg
plus 5 t of Compost gave net profits from 1.49-2.22 Million KHRiels per hectare in 2007 and 2008
(Figs. 6 and 7).
The purpose of these experiments was to identify economic and environmentally soundpractices that could be adopted by farmers with sandy soil in rainfed lowland rice agro-ecosystems.
From the results, we concluded that the two best options for improving soil fertility management
and rice yield were: (a) farmers with few cattle (1-2 cattle) and limited access to compost fertilizers
should use N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 5 t of compost per hectare, (b)farmers with more cattle and compost fertilizers should use N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg
and KCl 25 kg plus 10 t of compost per hectare.

Cost of vary, r/ha

1500000

Net benefits, r/ha

1000000
500000

4
3

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

T9

WS 2008

1
0

0

WS 2007

2

T1

T2

T3

T4

WS 2007

3.21

3.55

4.34

3.98

WS 2008

2.896

2.764

3.823

3.258

Treatment
Treatment

Treatment
TrTreatment
eatment

Fig. 7 Net benefit of experiment inwet season 2008

Fig. 8 Grain yield for On-farm adaptive trials
of NPK and Compost in wet season
2007 and 2008

On-farm adaptive research (on-farm trials) on rice yield and cost effectiveness of production
The results of on-farm adaptive trials with NPK fertilizers and compost during the wet seasons of2007 and 2008 showed that the optimal rate of fertilizer application for better rice yield and profit
was N25P13K15 (Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg) plus 10 t of compost per hectare (Fig. 8).
The recommended rate (N50P15K30) and 10 t of compost per hectare gave low rice yield andbenefit. In fact, half the recommendation rate (N25P13K15) plus 10 t of compost on sandy soil gave ahigher rice yield (Phkar Rumduol variety) of 4.34 t/ha and net profit per hectare at US$ 690 in2007 and 3.82 t/ha and net profit at US$538 in 2008 (Figs. 9 and 10). N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg,
DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 10 t of compost gave a net profit per hectare at US$ 692 in 2007
and US$ 540 in 2008, respectively.
3000000

2500000
2000000
Cost of vary, Riels/ha

1500000

Net benefits, Riels/ha

1000000
500000Cost
and net benefit,
Cost of vary and net
Riels/habenefits,riels/ha

benefits,riels/ha

Cost and net benefit,Co stof vary an d net
Riels/ha

300000002500000
2000000
Cost of vary, Riels/ha

1500000

Net benefits, Riels/ha

1000000
500000
0

T1

T2

T3

T4

T1

Treatment
Treatment

T2

T3

T4

Treatment
Treatment

Fig. 9 Net benefit of on-farmexperiment in wet season 2007

Fig. 10 Net benefit of on-farm experiment inwet season 2008

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CONCLUSION
The results showed that use of chemical fertilizer (NPK) alone on sandy soil did not improve soil
and crop productivity. Chemical fertilizer alone has potential negative impacts on soil structure andtexture, micro-organisms in the soil and mineral toxicity to underground water. However use oforganic fertilizer alone on sandy soil also has low effects on soil fertility and crop yield. These
effects have become clear after only several years of continuous applications of organic fertilizers(compost). Two options for best farming practice in rainfed lowland rice are: (1) farmers with few
cattle (1-2 cattle) and limited access to compost fertilizers should use N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg,
DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 5 tonnes of compost per hectare (2) farmers with available cattle
and compost fertilizers should use N25P13K15 or Urea 44 kg, DAP 25 kg and KCl 25 kg plus 5 t ofcompost per hectare. The results of these experiments were also used to develop best practiceextension packages or technical implementing procedures (TIPs). These are used by researchers,
extension workers and farmers for improving soil fertility management and conservation, and riceproduction in the sandy soils of rainfed lowland rice ecosystems in Cambodia. The collection oforganic manure also results in cleaner households, farms and villages and therefore improved
hygiene and sanitation.
REFERENCES
Department of Agricultural Extension (2006) Commune agro-ecosystem analysis report. Cambodia.
Department of Water Resources and Meteorology of Takeo Province (2008) Rainfall data of Bati district
1998-2008. Cambodia.
Departement D' Agromonie, Ministere de l'Agriculture. Zonification Agricole De L'etat du Cambodge, 19861989, 1-218, Cambodia.
Mackill, D. Jim, Coffman and Garrity, D.P. (1996) Rainfed lowland rice improvement. International Rice
Research Institute, 1-242, Philippines.
Gomez, A. Kwanchai (1972) Techniques for field experiments with rice, International Rice ResearchInstitute, 1-46, Philippines.
Gomez, A. Kwanchai and Gomez, A. Arturo (1984) Statistical procedures for agricultural research.
International Rice Research Institute, 1-680, Philippines.
Tichit, T. (1981) L’Agriculture au Cambodge, Agence de cooperation culturelle et technique. 1-423,
Cambodge.
Men, Sarom (2007) Rice production in Cambodia. Cambodia Research and Development Intstitute (CARDI),
1-352, Cambodia.
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (2009), Annual report 2008-2009. 1-152, Cambodia.
White, P., Oberthur, T. and Sovuthy, P. (1997) The soils used for rice production in Cambodia, A manual for
their identification and management. International Rice Research Institute, 1-71, Philippines.
Surajet, K. and De Data (1981) Principles and practices of rice production. International Rice ResearchInstitute, 1-618, Philippines.

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Research article
erd

Organic Rice Farming Systems in Cambodia: Potential andConstraints of Smallholder Systems in Takeo
SA KENNVIDY
Graduate School of Agricultural Science at Royal University of Agriculture,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
E-mail: kennvidy@yahoo.com
Received 29 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract The development of organic farming is limited in Cambodia because of low literacy
rates for farmers in rural areas. In this study, organic rice farming systems were demonstrated
to the farmers in Takeo province, Cambodia. As the result of the application, the farmers
improved their income through increasing yields, premium prices and reduced expenditure on
chemical fertilizers after implementing organic farming techniques. Moreover, all of the
farmers adopting organic farming system improved their conditions of health, food quality andthe ties of family and community. Nevertheless, these benefits were not completely distributed
to all individuals and communities. Very poor and isolated farmers were generally unable toaccess the benefits. In conclusion, the three main factors for empowering Cambodian farmers
to initiate the organic farming system are considered as follows: the individual’s endowment of
resources, the strength of the farmer groups and the policies and facilitation of the supportingorganizations.
Keywords organic rice, farming system, potential, constraints, smallholder systems

INTRODUCTION
Rice-based farming systems in Cambodia incorporate rain-fed lowland rice and dry season rice,
and are often integrated with livestock, aquaculture, vegetable gardens and other activities (Mak,
2001). As the adverse environmental and social consequences of high input agriculture have been
discussed, attension has been focused on sustainable systems of agricultural production. For
approaching towards the sustainability, some points should be clarified, such as what thesustainability actually is and how to achieve it. One of the technological innovations, which
resulted in strong farming institutional changes in recent year in Cambodia, is approaching toorganic rice farming. Organic farming has become a significant element in policies promoting foodsafety and environmental quality of global food production considering that it rules out the use ofmineral fertilizers and other chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides (Zanoli and Gambelli,1999). Intensive agriculture has increased crop yields but also posed severe environmental
problems (Knudsen et al., 2006). Sustainable agriculture would ideally produce good crop yields
with minimal impact on ecological factors such as soil fertility (Knudsen et al., 2006).
The motivation of farmers to convert to organic farming ranges from pure production system
considerations to conditions in the market (Christensen and Frandsen, 2001). By focusing on the
production system, there is a need to get a better understanding of the importance of the factors that
determine the conversion rate and the economics of organic farming (Sorensen et al., 2005). The
required increased knowledge on these factors includes the type of farm (production practice), thelabour situation and the economic constraints (Sorensen et al., 2005). However, Elizabeth et al.
(2007) stated another important factor associated with the deliberation of farmers to convert toorganic farming practice is the motivation.
The goal of this research was to analyse the potential and constraints of smallholder system in
Tramkok district as our case study. The results of this thesis will be served as guidelines to set up
appropriate strategies for the future development of organic farming in other areas in Cambodia.
The objectives of the study were to (1) interview organic rice farmers in Tramkok district, Takeo© ISERD

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province for evaluating their production technologyies and marketing and (2) identify major
obstacles and opportunities for organic farming.
METHODOLOGY
The results presented in this paper are based on qualitative and quantitative methods of primarydata collection and inquiry. In order to study the differences between two rice farming systems, a
total of 60 farmers were interviewed: 30 organic farmers and 30 conventional farmers.
Qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews, identification of key-informants andfield visits were used to complete the picture. The interviews aimed at finding out the rationale andthe motivation of organic rice producers in this area as well as the constraints, the opportunities andthe strategies as perceived by the farmers. The knowledge gained in the interviews was used in a
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis to formulate options for the
future.
RESULTS
Farm management in organic farming systems: Organic rice farming integrated with livestockor irrigation systems plays the most important for rice farmers especially during dry season. Due tolack of irrigation, farmers in this area grew rice only during wet season and rainfall is the main
water resource for rice production as well as human consumption. Rice organic farming system
mainly is related to the small livestock production (cattle, pigs, chickens and ducks). Incorporated
the dungs from livestocks with the other resources to produce organic manures, is the mostimportant elements for organic farmers in their organic rice production.
Organic farmers in this area usually apply straw, rice grain and the rest of food from houses tofeed the various cattle, as chicken, pig, and then make the manure with dungs from those animals.
Farmers start to collect manure, kitchen waste etc and keep it in the organic store beside theirhomes. After 4 or 5 months, through the action of micro-organisms on those wastes become
organic manures which are available to use during the raining season. Moreover, during dry
seasons, some farmers cultivate the seasonal crops which do not need much water. Also, they use
residues of the crops as green manures after harvesting by incorporated or plowed into the soil to
add organic matter and nutrients for rice crop in the next season (i.e. ground bean etc).
Evaluating amounts of labour: Normally, the amounts of labour for rice production between men
and women were not allocated equally. Referred to the information from the field survey, men areusually involved in task such as ploughing, fertilizing and transporting. Women undertake sowing,transplanting, weeding, while both are involved in harvesting and post harvesting. Concerning thelabour, most of people who live in the study site hire labours during transplanting and harvesting
period. People who live in the village or nearby the village and do not cultivate rice can sell theirlabour in for these activities. Table 1 shows the evaluation of amount of labour in organic andconventional rice faming. Organic farming needed much more labour intensively for weed control(19.2 md vs. 3.8 md) and nutrient management (8.5 md vs. 1.2 md) than in conventional farming.
The rest of labor was nearly the same. Because of this, organic farmers need to spend at least 22
md (14%) more than conventional farmer per hectare rice filed.
Table 1 Evaluating labour utilization per hectare
Items

Organic farm

Conventional farmman-day (md)
10.6
14
8.5
19.2
35
87.3

Land preparation
Transplanting
Nutrient management
Manual weeding
Harvesting
Total© ISERD

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8.8
15.8
1.2
3.8
35.5
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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Trends of organic farmers: Based on the field survey, all organic rice was cultivated by System
of Rice Intensification (SRI). In the beginning, most farmers living in the two villages of the site
did not believe and joint the association to produce or cultivate organic rice, so the number ofhouseholds and the size of lands were small and limited in scale for the organic rice cultivation.
Even some farmers decided to grow organic rice to meet the market demand; they did not cultivateorganic rice fully in their fields.
Trends of non-organic farmers: Many farmers kept some fields for traditional farming system
which depends on agricultural chemicals. According to the information collected in the interview
with local farmers, the shortage of the information on organic farming system made farmers
difficult to accept organic farming system fully and became major constraints to convert theirfarming system.
Potentials and constraints of organic rice faming system in Tramkok: The relative potentials
and constraints of smallholder system for organic farming system were analyzed on the basis of the
SWOT analysis. The data obtained from the survey were classified into 4 categories: Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Strengths
•
•
•
•

•

Incorporated the new method of organic farming system in the rice farm, farmers could gethigher rice yield than the previous farming method (traditional or conventional method).
Even farmers are poor but they could consume the premium quality of the free-chemical
products and made them healthier than before.
Instead of chemical fertilizers purchased only from the import markets, farmers could produce
their organic fertilizer (i.e. compost) by using the resource available in the farms especially the
manures from their small livestock such as cattle, pig, chicken etc.
Increased the rice production in the organic farms, farmer has possibility for greater foodsecurity and selling surplus locally with the premium prices which provide more income for
their families. Moreover, the profit net from rice production increases as the cost of input has
been reduced by less or no cost for the organic fertilizers used.
Stop chemical fertilizers and replaced it by organic fertilizers, the soil quality has been
improved and better for the environment.

Weaknesses
•
•
•

•

•

Organic farming always involves substantial additional labour input, especially weed control
and nutrient management.
Organic farming is priority for small farm size which mostly located nearly the village or
home. Lack access for transportation for huge amount of compost or cow manure and taking
care after the transplantation through weeding is also a barrier for farmers.
Conflict location between the organic and conventional farms may introduce the high risk of
insects for organic farms and the flow of chemical fertilizers from conventional farms into
organic farms during the raining. However, farmers tried to induce the organic farming system
to their neighbours but some of them did not care because they consider rice production as
their second source of income.
Since the illiteracy rate is high at farmers, the adoption of new technology is slowly developed
according to their limit knowledge. Moreover, the availability of information on organic
farming to farmers is still very limited. The main sources of information for organic farmers
include the publication (books and magazines) and the communication among farmers.
With the large scale of rice farm (>2 ha), farms could not afford to purchase the externallabour (hiring labour especially for weeding etc) and the huge amount of organic fertilizers.

Opportunities© ISERD

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•

•
•
•
•

Organic rice farming is the first priority for farmers to manage it (including the amount oforganic fertilizer, the labour used for taking care and weeding after the transplanting)especially for smallholders system since the majority of the farms in this area hold land lessthan 0.80 ha.
Organic farming can create new on farm income for farmers and generating opportunities.
Opportunities for greater social contacts and aids through international/local NGOs andMinistry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).
High market opportunities of products since the organic products have been considered aspremium quality.
With growing public concern for food quality and safety, animal welfare and nature resources;
Organic farming become more accepted by government, farmers and consumers worldwide.
This trend and market demand directly influence the rapid grow of organic farming in
Cambodia.

Threats••••

The organic farming movement is still very new to Cambodia. That is a reason why organic
markets and consumers are very limited. Also, people may concern the price of products as the
majority of Cambodia people live under poverty line up to now.
Lack of irrigation system, farmers can produce rice only in wet season and also they dependon the natural situation (drought).
There is no international certificate of organic rice. And organic farmers have to sell theirproducts to consumers by NGOs markets.
Nowadays, the organic producer groups are under the project support of each NGO, “Willorganic farmers sustain by themselves in future after the projects finish?”DISCUSSION AND SUGGESTIONS
How to improve weakness of organic farming: The major constrains of organic farmers in the
study area are; impact on labour utilization, conventional farm always located near organic farm,
high impact of the epidemics (virus and bacteria) by uncontrolled quality of manures.
Improvement of the labour requirement: The labour requirement has been increased mainly
during the growing stage of rice production through weed control (19.2 md vs. 3.8 md) and nutrient
management (8.5 md vs. 1.2 md).
Improvement of the labour input on weed control: Farmers could choose the indirect method toprevent the development of weed and the improving of nutrient management such as; (1) Crop
rotation is one of the weed management practices in the cultivation. Each rice culture is associatedwith a characteristics weed problem, influenced cultural practices used (i.e. three-year rotation ofrice / soybeans / grain crop.) (2) Choosing appropriate rice varieties which are although completive
again weeds. (3) Water management will play an important role in rice cultivation. Since ancient
times, water has been used to manage weeds in rice fields. Many non-aquatic weeds do not survive
in submerged environment, Moreover, grassy weeds can be largely eliminated by continuous
flooding. (4) Biological weed control is the utilization of natural enemies for the reduction of weed
population. Natural enemies of weeds include insect, nematodes, fish and other animals. Example:
ducks eat new-borne weeds in the growth stage of rice. The ducks walk 3-4 km/day on the field,
making the water turbid in which weed seed or seedlings cannot grow up.
Improvement of the labour input on nutrient management: Two weeks after thetransplantation, farmers in this area start to provide more organic manures or livestock manure
directly (cattle dung, pig manure, chicken manure) until the flowering stage. They believed that therice productivity increases with providing fertilizers in this period. Referred to Reich (2000), thebest times to apply organic fertilizers are early spring and fall or even a few months before
planting, because that allows time for soil microbes to digest the organic matter and transformnutrients into forms plants can use (Reich, 2000). Therefore, farmers could apply all the compost© ISERD

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fertilizers in the first land preparation in order to save their labour input on the nutrient
management during the growing period of rice crop.
Controlling manure and limit of manure: Up to now, uncontrolled the quality of manure andover dosage of manure applied to rice field. It was not yet considerded as main problems forfarmers. In addition, (1) it is better that farmers use the resources which are available in theirvillages in order to prevent their health and other domestic animals from the epidemic of virus orbacteria. (2) If farmers have to bring the manures from other farms outside their villages, farmers
have to be sure those manures is from the sanitary farm. (3) Moreover, farmers have to consider
well how to apply manure in the rice field in order to reduce water pollution of surface andgroundwater by nitrate, phosphate and other heavy metals such as copper, zinc etc. in the manures.
How to cope with threats in organic farming: External factors of organic farming include
market, consumer, and role of government which plays an important part in developing andestablishing organic farming in this region.
Development of organic market: Recently, it seems that organic rice farming system have been
growing very fast especially for small holder farming in Cambodia, but in fact organic rice farming
is still very limited as compared to the total land rice in this country (0.02 percent of total land rice).
Moreover, organic farmers are also facing the similar drawback as the conventional farmers,
generally improving the business environment and investment climate at the local as well as
national level, are likewise essential. The latter would also stimulate investment in the agroindustry sector, which traditionally is the major link between farmers and markets and the driving
force for agricultural growth.
Improvement of the irrigation system in the rural area: Beside this, poor governance ofCambodia government is a major concern to late development of the agriculture sector in
Cambodia. Evidently, 85 percent of Cambodia people relies agricultural business for their income.
However, agriculture sector appeared slower progress compared to other sectors such as industry
and service following 4.4%, 17% and 11% of GDP growth in 2006, respectively (EIC, 2008). In
addition, 36 percent of total Cambodia population (including 40 percent of people live in rural area)
have been living under the poverty line as recorded in 2007 (World Bank, 2008).
In order to develop the agriculture sector in Cambodia particularly organic rice farming
system and other cropping system, the government should (1) build more canals or dams which
supply water for irrigation in the dry season and avoid the flooding in the raining season. Water isused not only for agriculture but also it use for drinking, cooking and bathing. Also, (2) attention
should be paid to construct more roads and bridges in the rural area. Mostly farm gate prices are
squeezed by the high transportation costs through the drawback in transportation services.
How to develop and sustain organic farming in the future: All the organic rice farming is under
the support project of local and international NGOs. Sustainability of this farming method is still amain concern to smallholders system because many farmers still unaware of their ability to pay oncertifying their organic products in the future despite the fact whether organic markets grow or stopin near future. Fortunately, Royal Government of Cambodia has recently become interested inorganic farming with the market expansion for promoting sustainable agriculture.
Furthermore, to develop organic farming in this area as other area in Cambodia; (1) generalawareness needs to be raised for easy access to organic seeds and technical training. (2) Awarenessof organic farming could be enhanced through appropriate research and extension programs as wellas education, training and promotion activities. (3) Public-private sector partnerships are alsourgently needed if the rapid growth of organic farming in the country is expected, along with
continuing international assistance in the form of technical and financial aid for strategic initiatives,
networking and collaboration with stakeholders in organic and fair trade movements, and to
stimulate market access. (4) International organic certificate is necessary for organic farmers toexport their product to the other countries.
CONCLUSION
This paper dealt with the discussion on organic farming, which was demonstrated to the farmers in© ISERD

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Tramkok district of Takeo province, Cambodia. As the results applied organic rice farming systems
in Tramkok district, the farmers improved their income through increasing yields, premium prices
and reduced expenditure on chemical fertilizers after implementing organic farming techniques.
Moreover, all of the farmers adopting organic farming system improved their conditions of health,food quality and the ties of family and community. Nevertheless, these benefits were notcompletely distributed to all individuals and communities. Very poor and isolated farmers weregenerally unable to access the benefits.
It was considered that there may be three main factors for empowering Cambodian farmers toinitiate organic farming system, the individual’s endowment of resources, the strength of the farmergroups and the policies and facilitation of the supporting organizations.
REFERENCES
Christensen, J. and Frandsen, S.E. (2001) Economic perspectives for the development of organic farming.
Danish Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Economics, Report 124, Denmark.
EIC (2008) Key economic indicator. Economic Institute of Cambodia, Cambodia.
Elizabeth, J.Z., Robinson, S.R.D. and Tim, B.C.C. (2007) Motivations behind farmers’ pesticide use in
Bangladesh rice farming. Agriculture and Human Values, 24, 323-332.
Knudsen, M.T., Halberg, N., Olesen, E.J., Byrne, J., Iyer, V. and Toly, N. (2006) Global trends in agriculture
and food systems.
Mak, S. (2001) Continued innovation in a Cambodian rice based farming system, Farmer testing andrecombination of new elements. 137-149, Cambodia.
Reich (2000) Compost fertilizers.
Sørensen, C.G., Madsen, N.A. and Jacobsen, B.H. (2005) Organic farming scenarios, Operational analysis
and costs of implementing innovative technologies. Biosystems Engineering, 91(2), 127-137.
Zanoli, R. and Gambelli, D. (1999) Output and public expenditure implications of the development oforganic farming in Europe, Organic farming in Europe. Economics and Policy, Germany.
World Bank (2005) Cambodia rural sector strategy note towards a strategy for rural growth and poverty
reduction, World Bank, 1-130.

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Research article
erd

Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge - A Sample of Practicein Northeast Thailand
ANAN POLTHANEE
Department of Plant Science and Agricultural Resources, Faculty of Agriculture,
Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
E-mail: panan@kku.ac.th
Received 29 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract The Northeast is the largest region of Thailand with approximately one third ofboth the total land area and population of the country. However, the region has the lowest
per capita income. This is due to the region’s agricultural systems being dominated byrainfed farming, poor soil quality and fluctuation in market demand and price for the
agricultural produce. In general, more than 50% of farm income is earned from the crop
sector rather than livestock. In a risky business, farmers have learned to understand theirenvironment which includes physical, biological and socio-economic and site-specificfactors. In response to the environment, farmers have adapted their practices and this has
been given the name “indigenous agricultural knowledge” to improve crop yield andhousehold income. This paper illustrates the overview of indigenous agricultural
knowledge in Northeast Thailand which includes land preparation, pre-germinated seeds,
thinning buds, detaching flowers, decreasing leaf area, suppressing weeds, alleviation of
insect damage, improving soil quality, post-harvest techniques and multiple cropping.
Indigenous agricultural knowledge has not been systematically recorded in written form
and therefore is not readily accessible to agricultural researchers. Indigenous agricultural
knowledge is an immensely valuable resource that provides farmer-to-farmer training or
local technology transfer.
Keywords indigenous agricultural knowledge, farmer training, Northeast Thailand

INTRODUCTION
Amongst the four regions of Thailand, Northeast Thailand has the most land devoted to agriculture(Office of Agricultural Economics, 2008). The region is considered an integral component inagricultural production with rice being grown on 65% of the arable land. Other major crops include
sugarcane, cassava, rubber and peanut. Indigenous knowledge is local knowledge unique to a given
culture or society. Indigenous knowledge is an immensely valuable resource that provides small
holders and resource-poor farmers with insights on how they have interacted with their changing
environment for survival (Chamber et al., 1989; Reijntjes et al., 1992; Bouguera et al., 2003; Cools
et al., 2003). It is not possible in such a brief paper to give a full inventory of the indigenous
agricultural knowledge in Northeast Thailand. However, a sample of practices will serve tohighlight the good sense shown by farmers.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this paper is to give some examples of indigenous knowledge and practices inNortheast Thailand to illustrate that farmers have a holistic understanding of the specificenvironment and how they adapt with limited resources for survival.

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INDIGENIUS AGRICULTURAL PRACTICESLand preparation
Increasing cropping intensity by planting on the residual moisture left in fields following the rice
harvest presents a challenge in which farmers demonstrate considerable imagination. Soil
preparation for rice involves puddling to reduce water loss and the leaching of nutrients throughpercolation. To plant a second crop like peanut, this surface, which becomes hard as it dries, mustbe broken to aerate the seed zone and allow oxygen to penetrate the water free macro pores. This is
critical to germination but must be done at exactly the right time. If the soils are too wet and top
dry it is not possible to obtain a good tilth. Land preparation is again dictated by measuring soil
moisture. Once the monsoon has passed it is important to start preparation as soon as possible. To
encourage soil drying to optimum levels, field tests were carried out by the scientist under theconditions indicating that the soil moisture is close to field capacity. Farmers cut the rice straw as
close as possible to the ground, and then put it on the bunds of the paddy fields, to allow sunlight to
dry out the soil surface. The ground is ploughed and harrowed three to four times. After eachploughing the land is harrowed several times. Therefore, time devoted for land preparation could beshortened, thus allowing adequate soil moisture for peanut without irrigation throughout thegrowing season. Good land preparation also provides water-free macro pores with advantages toconserve soil moisture in deeper soil layers by cutting capillary rise to the soil surface.
Pregerminated seed
Peanut grown after rice harvest in the post-monsoon period requires rapid seed germination andseedling growth in order to reach maturity before the plants are subjected to water stress andreduced yield.
To receive rapid seed germination, farmers soak peanut seeds in water for 1-2 days before
seeding. Some farmers soak the seeds for 24 hours and subsequently place them in a wet sack for
another day before seeding. This results in a quick and uniform peanut germination. Pre-soaking of
peanut seeds before seeding is very useful for promoting seed germination especially when seeds
are sown in slightly dry soil (Chippendale, 1934). Pre-germinating seeds before planting minimizes
the lag period between sowing and seedling establishment. Moreover, pre-soaked seeds will not beeasily exposed to pests, especially rats and ants. The early emerged seedlings also have acompetitive advantage over associated weeds.
Re-nutrition of planting material
Mature stems of cassava after harvest is used as planting material. Normally, farmers do not plantcassava soon after harvest due to unfavorable weather conditions. Mature stems are, therefore, kept
in the shade for 1-2 months prior to planting. During this period, axillary buds initiate at the upper
nodes. Most of the food reserves will be used during this period. To solve this problem, farmers dip
stem cuttings (15-25 cm long) into an aqueous solution containing 13-5-5 (N-P2O5-K2O) fertilizer,
some farmers use liquid fertilizer diluted in water before planting. Dipping stem cuttings into
nutrient solutions will restore nutritional status in stem tissues. This results in an increasing rate andpercentage of shoot emergence, early rooting and fast shoot growing. CIAT (1981) reported thatthe nutrient status of stem cuttings influences their development. Cuttings of stems taken fromplants grown on fertilized plots give an early shoot growth and higher yields when these cuttings
are planted in an infertile soil.
Eliminating buds
Cassava is one of the most important cash crops for the farmers in Northeast Thailand. Due todecreasing of land holdings, increasing tuber yield per unit of land area is an important way© ISERD

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increase farm income. To increase tuber yield, farmers eliminate bud from stem cuttings used asplanting material. Normally, stem cuttings used for planting are around 15-25 cm long. Nowadays,
farmers use stem cuttings around 50 cm long and eliminate buds before planting. The longer stem
cutting as planting material means that there are more buds and consequently increased number oftubers in the soil. However, deep plowing, animal manure and chemical fertilizer application are
required to obtain a high tuber yield. Deep plowing improves soil aeration and facilitates thegrowth of tubers in the deeper soil layer. Adequate amounts of nutrients need to be applied to thesoil in order to increasing root (tuber) weight per plant.
Detaching flowers
In crop plants, the fully expanded mature leaf is a major “source” of food (photosynthates) for theplant. The organs which store or use photosynthates are known as a “sinks”. In yambean plants,
tubers, flowers and fruit are important sinks. Therefore, flowers and developing fruits have asignificant effect of the distribution of assimilates in the plant. The supply of photosynthates isfinite and competition between sinks will eventually occur. Therefore, detaching flowers to prevent
fruit development leads to greater allocation of assimilates to tubers. When yambeans begin toflower, the farmers use a long bamboo stick striking the top of plant to detach the flowers for
improving tuber yield.
Decreasing leaf area
Cassava grown on soils containing high levels of organic matter or nitrogen, in general, produce
excessive leaves but low tuber yield. To solve this problem, farmers cut the tops off young shoots
at 2-3 months before harvesting to improve tuber yield. Cock (1985) reported that heavy
applications of fertilizers, particularly nitrogen, can stimulate top growth. Although total plantweight increases, the yield of tubers may decrease. Top cutting is a manipulation of the source-sink
relationship. If cassava has a leaf area index (leaf area/unit of land area) over the optimum value,
mutual shading will occur. Photosynthates will be allocated to lower shade leaves where therespiration rate exceeds the photosynthetic rate. As a result, there will be less allocation ofphotosynthates to tubers. Farmers also practice top cutting young shoots of rice at the vegetative
growth stage to improve grain yield similarly to cutting the tops of young cassava shoots.
Suppressing weeds
Dry direct-seeding or broadcasting rice utilizes rain from the first peak of the region’s bimodal
rainfall pattern for crop establishment. This allows the early planting of rice at a time when rainfall
is often insufficient for transplanting, thus guaranteeing a crop and also reducing the yield losses
often associated with late transplanting of the photo-sensitive rice varieties used in rainfed areas in
the Northeast. To maintain a satisfactory yield, however, an effective weed control method isrequired in dry direct-seeded or broadcasting rice. In general, farmers practice weed control by
cutting rice and weeds using a hand lawn mower at the vegetative growth stage. Rice stubble andweeds are cut around 5-10 cm above the ground surface. The rice regrows faster than the weeds
and cutting results in better competition with associated weeds.
Polthanee (2006) conducted an experiment to study the effects of cutting rice and weeds on
subsequent weed growth and grain yield of dry-direct-seeded broadcast rice. Rice and weed cutting
at 30, 45 and 60 days after seeding reduced weed dry weight as compared with that from the uncutunweeded treatment. Grain yields following cutting after 30 or 45 days were significantly higher
than from the uncut-unweeded treatments (Table 2).

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Table 1 Weed dry weight (g/m2) after regrowth at flowering growth stage as affected by
cutting dates at 30, 45 and 50 days after seeding (DAS)
Treatment
Uncut-unweeded
Cut 30 DAS
Cut 45 DAS
Cut 60 DAS
F-testC.V.(%)
1

Grass 1
66.2a
19.9b
49.9b
49.7a
**
18.1

Weed species
Grass 2
Broadleaf 3
a
89.1
3.9
47.9b
2.3
21.2c
3.1
14.7c
3.5
**
NS
27.2
24.7

Sedge 4
4.7
3.4
3.6
1.7
NS
21.4

Total
163.9a
73.5b
76.8b
69.6b
*
31.4

Ischaemum rugosum, 2Panicum repens, 3Ludwigia sp., 4Fimbristylis miliacea

Table 2 Yield and components of rice as affected by cutting dates at 30, 45 and 60 days after
seeding (DAS)
Treatments
Uncut-unweeded
Cut 30 DAS
Cut 45 DAS
Cut 60 DAS
F-testC.V.(%)

Grain yield(kg/ha)1,814b2,159a2,138a2,075ab*
19.1

Panicles(no./m2)
163.5b241.0a233.8a223.3a*16.3

Filled grain(no./panicle)
64.7b
80.9a
74.1ab
66.4b
*
11.6

1,000 grain weight
(g)
25.4
27.4
26.5
26.1
NS
7.5

* = Significant at 5% by DMRT, NS = Not significant

Improving soil quality
Rice in Northeast Thailand is normally planted on undulating land which includes upper paddy andlower paddy, on sandy loam or sandy clay loam soil of low fertility. To solve this problem, farmers
collect the fallen leaves from the forest area near the village and/or village settlement area. The
leaves are incorporated into the soil during land preparation to improve soil fertility. Sae-lec at al.
(1992) reported that tree leaves provide several important nutrients such as N, P, K, Ca and Mg but
the concentration varies between tree species. Some farmers apply rice husks and incoporate theminto the soil in order to improve rice yield when grown on saline soil.
Most sugarcane in Northeast Thailand is grown on coarse textured soil with sandy and sandy
loam textures and having low fertility. To maintain soil fertility and maintain the sugarcane yield ata satisfactory level, farmers grow peanut as crop rotation after harvesting sugarcane (over a cycleof two years). The peanut crop is incorporated into the soil after removing the pods from the plant
before planting sugarcane. Hemwong (2008) reported that peanut residues returned about 146
kgNha-1 to the soil and increased sugarcane tillering and yield.
Integrated farming is a system which combines the activities of agriculture, animal husbandry,crop production, fisheries, forestry and other sciences related to agriculture in one area of land.
Some farmers manage the nutrient cycle to maintain soil fertility using crop residues and weed
residues available on the farm to produce compost fertilizer for application to the soil.
Alleviation of insect damage
Subterranean ants are normally a major pest causing damage to peanut pods and consequently
reduce peanut yield. To solve this problem, farmers use mature coconut fruit after removal of husk
and place it in the soil in the area where peanuts are grown. Subterranean ants usually enter thecoconut fruit to feed on the coconut meat through the coconut’s eye. The ants become trapped in
the fruit and are brought out of the field and destroyed by burning. Keerati-Kasikorn and Singha(1985) reported that the strong smell of coconut meat in a coconut fruit as a bait is more attractive
to ants than peanut pods.

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Post harvest technology
Harvesting of sesame cannot be delayed until all the seed capsules reach the fully ripened stage.
This is because the capsules mature unevenly and some seeds in fully ripened capsules may be lost
through shedding. To solve this problem, farmers estimate the optimum time to harvest the cropfrom experience. When a crop is mature enough for harvesting, they observe that most of the leavesof the sesame plant have turned yellow. At this point they open the third or fourth seed capsulefrom the top. If the seeds inside the capsules are brown, they decide that it is time to harvest thecrop. The plants are cut with a sickle or pulled from the soil by hand and stacked into a small heap.
Each heap is covered with rice straw or dry coconut leaves for 7-10 days. Then, they tie the sesame
plants together to make bundles. Three bundles are tied together to form a tripod-like structure. The
plants in the tripod-structure are left and dried in the field under the sun until the capsule tips open.
The farmers then turn the bundles upside down and let the seeds fall on to plastic sheets. They
found that the technique allows them to harvest all mature seed capsules and to obtain a maximum
yield from the crop.
Multiple cropping
A form of intercropping is practiced by the farmers. Maize and cucumber are planted together inJanuary after rice harvest under irrigated conditions. The maize is planted in rows by hand.
Cucumber seed is then seeded into the soil near the maize seeds. The two crops have quite adifferent growth habit and maturation period. The maize matures first. The two crops grown
together use solar radiation, water and nutrients more efficiency during the dry season.
Other forms of relay intercropping are practiced. Peanut or mungbean are planted with maize
under rainfed conditions. The peanut or mungbean seed is planted with zero-tillage between rowsof mature maize. If the maize is harvested early then the more profitable peanut which requires
more moisture and a longer growing period will be planted. If the harvest is likely to be delayed
farmers grow the quick maturing mungbean.
Other legumes are also grown with maize, maize and rice bean planted together in the one hole.
The corn matures first and provides stalks for the rice bean to climb. The bean provides nitrogen to
the maize through symbiotic fixation, provides a ground cover which protects against erosion andleaves a residue of nitrogen for the next crop.
CONCLUSION
A case study of indigenous agricultural knowledge practiced in Northeast Thailand has shown that
farmers have an intimate understanding of their biophysical and socio-cultural environments, andhave the capability to develop new technologies by trial and error, in order to improve production
systems with limited resources.
To achieve better outcomes in agricultural development for small holder farmers, researchers
need to take full advantage of any opportunity to receive information and learn from local
knolwedge. A full exchange of information will enhance both the knowledge of scientists and theirability to design suitable ways of improving the lot of small holder farmers.
REFERENCES
Bouguera, A., Douma, A., Evina, H.E., Handouni, N. and Musubu, J. (2003) Valorisation de savirs et savoirfairs: perpectives d’ implication des actesrs, don’t la femme, dans la conservation in-situ la biodiversite
du palmier dattier dans les oasis du Djerid. Working Document Series ICRA (NI), No. 115.
Chanber, R., Pacey, A. and Thrupp, L.A. (1989) Farmer first, innovation and agricultural research.
Intermediate Technology Publications, 103-105, UK.
Chippendale, H.G. (1934) The effect of soaking in water on the seeds of some Gramineae. Annuals ofApplied Biology, 21, 225-232.
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CIAT (1981) Cassava program. Annual Report 1980, Centro International de Agricultural Tropical,
Colombia.
Cock, J.H. (1985) Cassava new potential for a neglected crop. Westview Press, UK.
Cools, N., De-Pauw, E. and Deckers, J. (2003) Towards an integration of conventional land evaluation
methods and farmers soil suitability assessment, A case study in northwestern Syria. Agriculture,
Ecosystems and Environment, 95(1), 327-342.
Hemwong, S. (2008) Effect of sugarcane residue management methods on growth and yield of groundnut
and soybean followed by the residual nitrogen effect of these legumes on growth and yield of
succeeding sugarcane. Doctoral Dissertation, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.
Keerati-kasikorn, M. and Singha, P. (1985) Controlling subterranean ants by coconut meat bait. Proceedingof the 4th Thailand National Groundnut Research Meeting, 239, Thailand.
Office of Agricultural Economic (2008) Agricultural statistics of Thailand, Crop year 2006/2007. Office ofAgricultural Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand. (in Thai).
Polthanee, A., Gonkhmdee, S. and Phoemsana, K. (2006) Effects of cutting rice and weeds on subsequent
weed growth and grain yield of dry direct-seeded rice. J.ISSAAS, 12(2), 21-26.
Reijntjes, C., Haverkort, B. and waters-Bayer, A. (1992) Farming for the Future, An introduction to lowexternal input and sustainable agriculture. the Macmillan Press LTD, UK.
Sae-lee, S., Patama, V. and Prachaiyo, B. (1992) Effect of trees on paddy bund on soil fertility and rice
growth in Northeast Thailand. Agro-forestry System, 118, 213-223.
Yuvaniyama, A. (2005) Sustainable use of problem soils in rainfd agriculture. Proceedings of the Mid-Term
Workshop on Integrated Management for Sustainable Use of Low Fertility and Salf-Affected Soil in
Rainfed Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 230-233.

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Research article
erdInfluences of Land and Water Use on the Water Quality ofCanals through Agricultural Areas
MOHAMMED KAMRUL HASAN
Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan
Email: hasan@env.agr.hokudai.ac.jp

YAMAMOTO TADAO
Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, JapanNAGASAWA TETUAKI
Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan
Received 29 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Shinotsu Canal passes through an agricultural area that contains a high pollutant
load from catchments. This pollutant load influences the Ishikari River water quality,
which consequently affects downstream aquatic biota. This study was conducted toevaluate the influences of agricultural land and water use activities on Shinotsu Canalwater quality. The Shinotsu Canal is 25 km long and contains a 10,864 hectare catchment
area, which is divided into 10 sub-catchment areas. The proportions of major land uses
such as paddy fields, uplands, and forests were categorized by the supervised classification
method using satellite data for each sub-catchment area. Water samples were collectedmanually from 11 points (P1~P11) upstream to downstream from May 2006 to April 2009.
The suspended sediment (SS) concentration was analyzed by suction filtration; nitrate
nitrogen (NO3-N) was measured by ion-chromatography; and total nitrogen (TN), total
phosphorus (TP) were measured by UV-spectrophotometry. The SS, TN, and TP
concentrations were highest during the puddling period (PP), whereas the highest NO3-N
concentration occurred during the snow melting period (SMP). There was a positive
significant relationship between accumulated paddy field area (APA) and SS (r = 0.94)
and between the accumulated upland area (AUA) and SS (r = 0.96) at <0.001significancelevel during the PP. The TP concentration was also significant during the SS. TN was
highly correlated with APA (r = 0.94, P <0.001) and AUA (r = 0.98, P <0.001) during the
SMP. The SS, TN, and TP concentrations were higher downstream (P11) than upstream(P1) at all periods except for TN during the normal irrigation period. We conclude thatland and water use for agriculture, seasonal meteorological characteristics, and fertilizer
management affect Shinotsu Canal water quality.
Keywords land and water use, water quality, agricultural area, Hokkaido

INTRODUCTION
Shinotsu Canal in the Shinotsu district is 25 km long with both inlet and outlet on the Ishikari
River, Hokkaido, Japan. The canal basin is covered by paddy fields, upland fields, and forests.
Agriculture is the main land use activity in this district. It is well known that agricultural non-point
source pollution from watersheds is a major cause of water quality degradation. Intensive
agriculture emits significant amounts of nutrients, particularly nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment(Monaghan and Smith, 2004). The water quality of streams, rivers, and lakes is highly related toland use in the catchments, which can affect the quantity and quality of runoff during and after
precipitation. Tong and Chen (2002) examined the hydrologic effects of land use in Ohio anddiscovered a significant relationship between land use and stream water quality, especially withrespect to nitrogen and phosphorus contamination. Tachibana et al. (2001) reported that non-point
pollution greatly influences the water quality of the Ishikari River. Reuse water may contain higher© ISERD

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levels of pollutants from surface runoff, i.e., sediments, pesticides, and nutrients, than natural
streams. Water reuse is one of the most important factors for water quality degradation downstreamof the Shinotsu Canal. Polluted water also affects the downstream agricultural watersheds andaquatic biota of the Shinotsu Canal. However, some natural and agro-environmental problems
associated with water use and quality, land use, and management of the Shinotsu Canal still remain
to be solved. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influences of agricultural land andwater use activities on the water quality of the Shinotsu Canal.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The investigation was conducted on the Shinotsu Canal in the Shinotsu district of the southern partof the Ishikari River basin in the west-central part of Hokkaido, northern Japan (Fig. 1). Its
agricultural catchment area (CA) is 10,864 ha, and the main crops are rice, wheat, maize, onion,
vegetables, etc.
Sampling point

N

Ishikari
HW

Pump station

CA- Catchment area
Drainagechannel

CA2
CA4

CA5
CA7

Japan

P10 0

Shinotsu

CＡ9

P8
P9

ｋｍ

P4
P5

CA6

Ishikari river

P11

CA11

CA10

P2
P3

P6
P7 Shinotsu canal

CA8

Ishikari

P1

CA3

2

Hokkaido

Fig. 1 Location map of study

Fig. 2 Investigated area of Shinotsu

The annual average precipitation is 1024 mm and most of it falls as rain from June to
September. The annual snowfall is 9500 mm and occurs from mid November to April. Maximum
snowfall occurs in January. The annual temperature ranges from a minimum of −7.4°C in January
to a maximum of 23°C in August. The study area is within the temperate zone, so there are four
seasons. However, we divided the study year into five periods: puddling (PP; May), normal
irrigation (NIP; June~August), post irrigation (PIP; September~mid November), snow covered(SCP; mid November~mid March), and snow melting (SMP; mid March~April). Water samples
were collected manually from May 2006 to April 2009 from upstream to downstream at 11 points
along the Shinotsu Canal. Sampling points are indicated by P1~P11 in Fig. 2. Samples werecollected 10 times during the PP, 11 times during the NIP, 11 times during the PIP, 9 times during
the SCP, and 8 times during the SMP. In the laboratory, a portion of each sample was filteredthrough pre-rinsed 0.2-µm filter paper, and the nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) concentration wasdetermined using ion chromatography.
Water samples were analyzed according to the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS). SS wasdetermined gravimetrically by suction filtration, and total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP)were determined by UV spectrophotometry. The investigated area was determined using ArcGIS
9.2 modeling software. The total catchment area was divided into 10 sub-catchment areas,© ISERD

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represented as CA2~CA11 (Fig. 2). The catchment area for the P2~P11 sampling points was also
represented by CA2~CA11. The catchment and sub-catchment areas were delineated on 1:25,000
scale digital topographic maps, and land use was categorized by the supervised classification
method (Satellite Pourl Observation deta Terra (SPOT) of June 4, 2006, and Advance Land
Observing Satellite (ALOS) data of July 28 and Aug 9, 2006). Simple linear regression was applied
to evaluate the relationships of the paddy and upland fields with SS, TN, and TP for each period.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
There was a significant difference in nutrient concentrations among the sampling points. The SSconcentration showed its highest average value of 81 mg/L during the PP at P10 and the lowest
value of 1 mg/L during the SCP at P1 (Fig. 3). During this period, maximum water is irrigated andthere is excess used water runoff through the drains into the canal, which carries a high SS load.
100

3
PP

NIP

PIP

SCP

SMP

TN (mg/L)

SS (mg/L)

80
60
40

2

1
20
0

0
3

0.20

PP
NO3-N (mg/L)

TP (mg/L)

0.15

0.10
0.05

NIP

PIP

SCP

SMP

2

1

0

0.00
P1

P2

P3

P4

P5

P6

P7

P8

P9

P10

P11

P1

Sampling points

P2

P3

P4

P5

P6

P7

P8

P9

P10

P11

Sampling point

Fig. 3 Periodic variations in SS and TP

Fig. 4 Periodic variations in TN and NO3-N

Russell et al. (2001) found that farm fields in agricultural watersheds are the major sedimentsources and determined the rate of soil loss from fields in response to various agricultural practices.
The lowest SS value occurred during the SCP, because the land surface is covered by snow, andthere are no land use activities. We found an increasing trend in the SS concentration in the orderof SCP < NIP < SMP < PIP < PP. The TN and TP concentrations are higher during the PP (Fig. 3,4), because chemical fertilizers are applied during transplanting, resulting in an increase indissolved nutrient concentrations in the drain water and discharge of the nutrients via surface
drainage water into the Canal. It has been reported that the nitrogen and phosphorous
concentrations in drainage water increase during the PP, transplanting, and when fertilizer isapplied (Takeda et al., 1991; Feng et al., 2004). Hiroaki et al. (2009) also suggested that TN and TP
are high during the puddling and transplanting periods in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. During the
NIP, the average TN and TP concentrations were lower than those during others periods, whichmight have been due to the retention time of water in the paddy fields during the growing season
for plants with high nutrient uptake. Tomas et al. (2003) and Braskerud (2002) reported that theretention of water in paddy fields during the growing season induces purification mechanisms, suchas denitrification, plant uptake, or sedimentation, similar to those present in natural and artificial
wetlands. The average SS, TN, and TP concentrations during the PIP, SCP, and SMP wererelatively higher than those during the NIP. Because no agricultural activities are conducted in thisarea during the PIP, SCP, and SMP, it is believed that residual soil nutrients are leached by rain andsnowmelt water, which subsequently flow into the Canal. The NO3-N concentration at P10 during© ISERD

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the SMP was 2.26 mg/L (Fig. 4). During this period, snow melt continuously percolates into thesoil, and nitrogen fertilizer decomposes to NH4+ through nitrification, which oxidizes to NO3under aerobic conditions. Nitrate is water soluble and is lost through leaching in melting water andincreased drainage discharge though the Shinotsu Canal, which had high NO3-N concentrations
during the SMP. A significantly higher NO3-N concentration is found in agricultural streams andrivers during high flow conditions (Castillo et al., 2000). A recent study indicated that the large
loading of nutrients into rivers occurs during the early stage of the snowmelt period in Hokkaido(Hayakawa et al., 2003).
PP

NIP

PIP

SCP

SMP

100

PP
PP, r = 0.94***

SS (mg/L)

80

NIP, r = 0.95***
PIP, r = 0.47

100

***

PP, r = 0.96

SCP

PIP

SMP

NIP

SCP, r = 0.89***

NS
NIP, r = 0.94*** SMP, r = 0.44

80

NSPIP, r = 0.42NS
SS (mg/L)

60

SCP, r = 0.89***
SMP, r = 0.34NS

40

60
40

20

20
0

4
PP, r = 0.81***
NS

NIP, r = 0.00

SMP, r = 094

SCP, r = 0.86***
SMP, r = 0.98***

PP, r = 0.82******

NIP, r = 0.00NS***

PIP, r = 0.97

3
TN (mg/L)

TN (mg/L)

3

0
4

SCP, r = 0.80***

2

PIP, r = 0.95***

2

1

1
0

0
0.3

0.3
PP, r = 0.94 ***NIP, r = 0.84***

SCP, r = 0.51 NS
SMP, r = -0.13

PIP, r = 0.75 **TP (mg/L)

TP (mg/L)

0.2

PP, r = 0.96***
NIP, r = 0.89***
PIP, r = 0.82***

NS

0.1

SCP, r = 0.55NS
SMP, r = -0.01NS

0.2

0.1

0

0
0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

APA (ha)

0

500

1000

1500
2000
AUA (ha)

2500

3000

3500

Fig. 5 Relationship between APA and nutrients Fig. 6 Relationship between AUA and nutrients

There was a relationship between water quality parameters (SS, TN, and TP) and theaccumulated paddy field area (APA) and accumulated upland area (AUA) during the PP, NIP, PIP,
SCP, and SMP. APA is calculated as in Eq. (1)APA i = ∑ i2 PAi = PA2 + PA3 + … + PAi,

(1)where (i = 2~11). AUA is calculated in the same manner. Linear regression results showed a highly
significant correlation between APA and SS during the PP (r = 0.94), NIP (r = 0.95), and SCP (r =0.89) (P < 0.001; Fig. 5), as well as between AUA and SS during the PP (r = 0.96), NIP (r = 0.94),
and SCP (r = 0.89) (P < 0.001; Fig. 6) due to intensive agricultural activities during the PP and
NIP. There were no such relationships during the PIP and SMP, because agricultural activities wereabsent. Hamill and McBride (2003) reported that lowland stream sediments were highly associatedwith intensive agricultural land use in Southland, a New Zealand province. TP showed a similar
trend of correlations with both APA and AUA as SS did, but not during the SCP. It has been

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reported that the concentration of phosphorus is more transport limited because phosphorus adsorbs
on sediments and is therefore lost through runoff and erosion (Heathwaite et al., 2000).
The TN concentration showed a strong and significant relationship with AUA during the SMP(r = 0.98) and PIP (r = 0.95) (P <0.001; Fig. 6). Similarly, APA and TN during the SMP (r = 0.94)
and PIP (r = 0.97) were significantly correlated (P < 0.001; Fig. 5). There was also a highly
significant correlation between TN and AUA during the PP (r = 0.81) and SCP (r = 0.80) andbetween TN and APA during the PP (r = 0.82) and SCP (r = 0.86) (P < 0.001). However, there wasno relationship during the NIP for either APA or AUA. There was a stronger relationship with TN
during the SMP than during other periods because melting water percolates into the soil and thesurplus nitrogen is discharged with melted water. Osborne and Wiley (1988) examined an east
Illinois watershed and found that median nitrate concentrations are correlated with agricultural
practices during the high-flow spring period and are correlated with urban land use during the lowflow summer and autumn. Turner et al. (2001) reported that nitrogen concentrations in streams,
rivers, and lakes are highly related to landscape characteristics and land use.

80
P1

P11

SS (mg/L)

60
40
20

TN (mg/L)

0
3

2

1

0

0.20

TP (mg/L)

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00
PP

NIP

PIP

SCP

SM P

Sampling periods

Fig. 7 Comparisons of P1 and P11 streams nutrients in each period
The inlet (P1) of the Shinotsu Canal is at the Ishikari River, which flows downward, and theoutlet is at the lower reach (P11) of the Ishikari River. Therefore, P1 is the upstream point and P11
is the downstream point. Thus, P1 represents the Ishikari River water quality and P11 represents
the Shinotsu Canal water quality. The SS and nutrient concentrations, except TN, were higher
downstream than upstream during every period (Fig. 7). The TN concentration had its lowest value
during the NIP, because during that period, paddy plants are in the growing stage and higher
amounts of nutrients are discharged than during other periods (Fig. 7). Especially during the PP, theSS and nutrient concentrations were higher downstream than upstream due to puddling activities in
the paddy field and the frequent re-use of drainage water as irrigation water at the lower-stream
agricultural area of the Shinotsu Canal. Water reuse and land use activities affect water flow fromupstream to downstream, so SS and nutrient concentrations increase downstream and degrade
water quality of the Shinotsu Canal and the lower reaches of the Ishikari River.
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CONCLUSION
This study has shown that there are periodic stream nutrient fluctuations in the Shinotsu Canal. The
SS, TN, and TP concentrations were highest during the PP and lowest during the SCP, except for
TN during the NIP. NO3-N concentration was highest during the SMP and lowest during the NIP.
APA and AUA were significantly correlated with stream SS during the PP, NIP, and SCP, whereas
no relationship existed during the PIP and SMP. The TN concentration was highly associated with
APA and AUA during the entire study period, except during the NIP. The concentration of TP had
no relationship with APA and AUA during the SCP and SMP, but a strong relationship was foundduring the PP, NIP, and PIP. It was also found that nutrient concentrations were higher at P11 thanat P1 during every period, except for TN during the NIP. Though P11 showed higher values ofconcentrations during almost every period, there must be an impact of land use and water
management on the agricultural area of the Shinotsu Canal. Therefore, it can be concluded that land
and water use for agriculture, the seasonal characteristics of meteorology, and fertilizer
management reduced the water quality of Shinotsu Canal and ultimately of the Ishikari River.
REFERENCES
Braskerud, B.C. (2002) Factors affecting nitrogen retention in small constructed wetlands treating
agricultural non-point source pollution. Ecological Engineering, 18, 351-370.
Castillo, M.M., Allan, J.D. and Brunzell, S. (2000) Nutrient concentration and discharge in a Midwestern
agricultural catchment. J. Environ. Qual., 29, 1142-1151.
Feng, Y.W., Yohinaga, I., Shiratani, E., Hitomi, T. and Hasebe, H. (2004) Characteristics and behavior of
nutrients in a paddy field area equipped with a recycling irrigation system. Agricultural Water
Management, 68, 47-60.
Hamill, K.D. and McBride, G.B. (2003) River water quality trends and increased dairying in Southland, New
Zealand. Short communication. N. Z. J. Mar. Freshwater Res., 37, 323-332.
Hayakawa, A., Nagano, T., Kuramochi, K. and Hatano, R. (2003) Characteristics of nutrients load in a stream
flowing through a livestock farm during spring snowmelt. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr., 49, 301-305.
Heathwaite, L., Sharply, A.S. and Gburek, W. (2000) A conceptual approach for integrating phosphorus andnitrogen management at watershed scales. J. Environ. Qual., 29, 158-166.
Hiroaki, S., Ikuo, T. and Yasushi, M. (2009) Influence of puddling procedures on the quality of rice paddy
drainage water. Agricultural Water management, 96, 1052-1058.
Monaghan, R.M. and Smith, L.C. (2004) Minimising surface water pollution resulting from farm-dairy
effluent application to mole-pipe drained soils. II. The contribution of preferential flow of effluent towhole-farm pollutant losses in subsurface drainage from a west Otago dairy farm. N. Z. J. Agric. Res.,47, 417-428.
Osborne, L.L. and Wiley, M.J. (1988) Empirical relationships between land use/cover and stream water
quality in an agricultural watershed. Journal of Environmental Management, 26(1), 9-28.
Russell, M.A., Walling, D.E. and Hodgkinson, R.A. (2001) Suspended sediment sources in two small
lowland agricultural catchments in the UK. Journal of Hydrology, 252, 1-24.
Tachibana, H., Yamamoto, K. and Magara, Y. (2001) Non-point pollution of Ishikari River, Hokkaido, Japan.
Water Science and Technology, 44, 1-8.
Takeda, I., Kunimatsu, T., Kobayashi, S. and Maruyama, T. (1991) Pollutants balance of a paddy field area
and its loadings in the water system, Studies on pollution loadings from a paddy field area (II).
Transactions of the Japanese Society of Irrigation, Drainage and Reclamation Engineering, 153, 63-72.
Tomas, E.J., Whigham, E.D., Hofmockel, K.H. and Pittek, M.A. (2003) Nutrient and sediment removal byrestored wetland receiving agricultural runoff. Journal of Environmental Quality, 32, 1534-1547.
Tong, S.T.Y. and Chen, W. (2002) Modeling the relationship between land use and surface water quality.
Journal of Environmental Management, 66 (4), 377-393.
Turner, M.G., Gardner, R.H. and O’Neill, R.V. (2001) Landscape ecology in theory and practice, Pattern andprocess. Springer, USA.

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Research article
erd

Assessing Clients’ Satisfaction of Microfinance Institutions
in Cambodia - A Case Study of AMK
PUM SOPHY
Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea (AMK) Co. Ltd., Cambodia
Email: sophy_pum@yahoo.com

THUN VALANTINA
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia
Received 29 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Microfinance is widely advocated as a powerful tool to reduce poverty andimprove social inclusion. It can assist the poor by reducing their vulnerability and avoiding
economic shock. While scale and outreach have been critical indicators of microfinanceperformance, there has not been much investment in measuring whether clients are
satisfied with the microfinance products and services they have been accessing. This
article presents findings of a study by Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea (AMK)
which is measuring client satisfaction with microfinance product and services. While theoverall aim is to access whether clients are satisfied or dissatisfied with microfinanceproducts and services, the study also explores the loan use (in comparison with othercompetitors). Is microfinance widely accepted by the clients? Do microfinance products
provide good coverage at affordable interest rates? Do the delivery mechanisms effectively
meet the clients need? These are among the key findings addressed in this study. The study
was designed to be qualitative by in-depth interview and gathering information fromMarch to May 2009 covering totally 648 new AMK clients in 18 provinces. The findings
provide the clients’ perception of microfinance product and services; in generally clientsare satisfied with AMK; more than 85 percent of the clients at least gave one reason forsatisfaction feedback. Approximately, 8 percent to 17 percent had at least one negative
comment on microfinance product and services. Low interest, providing loan as needed
and giving loan at doorstep are crucial aspects of microfinance AMKs’ competitive
advantage. The study also reported that the great majority of clients have used at least partof their loans for productive purpose, mostly in farm-related activities (agriculture andlivestock). Notably the study gives strong signals for improving product development andservice; more than that trying to retain as many clients as possible.
Keywords assessment, clients’ satisfaction, microfinance, AMK, Cambodia

INTRODUCTION
Client retention is important and less costly than finding new clients; therefore microfinanceinstitutions (MFIs) have to take care of their clients and understand their needs. Client satisfaction
survey is an efficient tool to assess the feedback of clients toward products and services. In thiscontext, AMK conducts client satisfaction surveys on an annual basis in order to provide theManagement team with valuable information for business decision making, in particular regarding
the improvement of the products and services range. Besides retrieving positive and negative
feedbacks from clients, the survey also provides key information on the loan uses (in comparison
with other competitors) and the percentage of AMK clients having multiple loans simultaneously.

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METHODOLOGY
The client sample selection was done in two different steps: first, the villages were randomly
selected proportionate to the size of the new client population in all of AMK operation areas andsecond, in each village 12 clients were randomly selected for the study and extra six clients as
replacement sample. The study extracts information collected from March to May 2009 in 18
provinces and 54 villages.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
As many as 504 new village bank (VB) clients and 144 new individual clients were interviewed.
Among the 648 clients, 86 clients had paid their loans back at the time of the interview (61 VB and
25 ID clients); therefore only 562 clients (443 VB and 119 ID clients) provide feedback on AMK’s
product and service.
Note that 443 active VB AMK clients have 459 active loans with AMK (6 households
reported two loans and 2 households reported three loans at the time of the interview) while 119 ID
clients have 121 active loans with AMK because 2 households reported two active loans.
How many client households are making multiple (simultaneous) loans?
In addition to their loans from AMK, households borrow from a range of other sources, bothinformal (moneylenders or relatives) and formal (Bank, MFIs or NGOs). Table1 below provides
the detailed figures of the aggregate - 30 percent of VB AMK clients and 37 percent of ID clients
who are also borrowing from other additional sources.

Table 1 Estimation of AMK client’s multiple loans
Total client
86
387
175
562
648
31%

A. Inactive
a. Client with Active Loans from AMK (only)b. Client with Active AMK loans+ other loan(s)B. Client households with Active AMK loans (a+b)
Total Client sample (A+B)
Multiple Loan (b/B)

VB client
61
312
131
443
504
30%

ID client
25
75
44
119
144
37%

Of the 443 households with current outstanding VB loans with AMK, a total of 312
households only had outstanding loans with AMK while 131 also reported additional loans fromeither formal or informal sources. Of these 131 households, 115 households (88%) had twooutstanding loans while 16 households (12%) had three outstanding loans.
Of the 119 active ID AMK clients, 44 clients have simultaneous loans from either formal orinformal sources. AMK does not provide loan to client having loan with other sources, however it
is noteworthy that the fact that a household has multiple loans does not necessarily mean that there
was a breach in policy regulations since the household may have borrowed from another source
after borrowing from AMK.
What do they use their loan for?
Based on the proposal made by the client, each loan is given for a specific use. The clientsnormally use the loan according to their needs and convenience. Each household was allowed to
identify multiple responses since many households use the loan for more than one purpose. Table 2
provides the summary of the findings for AMK VB and ID clients respectively in terms of both
total loan uses as well as the percentage of households who invest their loan for different purposes.
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There was marginal different figure in using loan between VB and ID clients for productive
purpose (77% Vs 80%) and consumption (44% Vs 40%); only 16% of VB clients used their loan
to build assets while ID clients used up to 28%.
In general 56% of total loan uses were used for productive purposes, 13% for asset building
and 31% to consumption purposes. 78% of total clients reported using at least part of their loans for
productive purposes, 19% in asset building and 43% for consumption purposes.
Table 2 Loan use of clients
Total #
Loan Use% active clients (562)VB
Total(443) ID (119)VB

ID

Productive purposes

342

95

77

80

Agriculture

120

33

27

28

84

31

19

33

4

7

Animals
Fishing/common
resources
Manufacture% Total loans use (783)
VB (607)

ID (176)

Total

78

56

54

56

27

20

19

20

26

20

14

18

15

3

7

5

2

5

property
30

5

7

4

6

5

3

4

Petty Trade

24

6

5

5

5

4

3

4

Services

51

15

12

13

12

8

9

8

Asset buildings

72

33

16

28

19

12

19

13

Consumption Purpose

193

48

44

40

43

32

27

31

Debt

17

6

4

5

4

3

3

3

Give Loan

17

9

4

8

5

3

5

3

Food

68

12

15

10

14

11

7

10

Health

54

9

12

8

11

9

5

8

Celebrations

9

4

2

3

2

1

2

2

Emergency needs

19

5

4

4

4

3

3

3

Other

9

3

2

3

2

1

2

2

Finally, approximately 16 percent of the AMK active clients (93 cases) reported having
difficulty in repaying AMK loan, mostly because of enterprise problems (no profit in businessactivity, animals have died or having problem with sales) (73%) and to a lesser extent for sickness
in the family (23%).
Are AMK clients satisfied with AMK products and services?
This issue is the crucial part of the article as the objective here is to assess whether clients are
satisfied with AMK products and services or not. Each client was allowed to name a maximum of
three reasons for satisfaction and dissatisfaction with AMK. Fig. 1 shows that clients are generally
satisfied with AMK: (a) more than 86% of the active VB clients and 94% of active ID clients
expressed at least one reason for satisfaction with AMK and (b) only 8% of the 459 active VB
clients and 17% of the 121 active ID clients had any negative feedback.
Also, the total numbers of positive and negative comments further confirm the general positive
attitude of clients towards AMK: households with positive feedback usually have more than one
positive comment while households with negative comments usually have only one comment. Nota single client cited three negative comments towards AMK. Finally, the total positive feedbacks
considerably outnumbered total negative feedbacks (748 vs. 37 for VB clients and 209 vs. 21 for
ID client households).

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Fig. 1 General Feedback of VB and ID clients
Table 3 shows that, generally, AMK’s clients reported being satisfied with AMK. The main
two sources of client satisfaction are the fact that AMK provided loan when needed or it was easy
and fast to get loan (200 comments for VB clients and 69 comments for ID clients) and that
AMK’s interest rate were moderate or lower (220 comments for VB clients and 38 comments for
ID clients). In addition, other positive comments included financing at the doorstep; satisfaction
with AMK staff; AMK products (installment [45 comments] and emergency loan [17 comments]
and End of Term [3 comments]); satisfied with AMK policies and regulations and because of AMK
helps the poor.

Table 3 Satisfactory feedback (ordered by importance)
VB

Description

ID

Total

#

%

#

%

#

%

Provided loan when needed/Fast disbursement/easy to get loan

200

45

69

58

269

48

Interest (moderate or lower)

220

50

38

32

258

46

Finance at doorstep

153

35

47

39

200

36

Like staff behavior

63

14

21

18

84

15

AMK product [Installment=45 , Emergency loan=17, EoT=3)

45

10

20

17

65

12

Good regulation/policy

33

7

4

3

37

7

Help the poor/kind

24

5

2

2

26

5

Other [loan size (10) , group(4), no pressure(3), loyalty(1)]

10

2

8

7

18

3

Total

748

209

957

Although only 11% of clients had any negative feedback, there were 64 negative comments, as
shown in Table 4. The main sources of dissatisfaction were the small loan size (10 comments for
VB clients and 4 comments for ID clients) and slow disbursement (9 comments for VB clients and5 comments for ID clients) followed by high interest (only 1 comment for VB client while 5comments for ID clients) and strict policy (4 comments for VB client, 2 comments for ID clients).
Other negative comments cited included problems with AMK staff, or difficulty in getting aloan. A few clients were not familiar with repayment schedule and calculating interest or principle
payment, moreover the survey also found that they did not like installment method, required
collateral and charged upfront fee (1 comment each). For totally new clients, it is noteworthy that
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the great majority of clients were satisfied with AMK’s interest rate with 258 positive comments
versus 6 negative comments.

Table 4 Dissatisfactory feedback (ordered by importance)
VB

Description

ID

#

%

Small loan size

10

2.3

Slow disbursement

9High interest
Strict policy
Dislike AMK staff
Difficult to get loan/ask many questions
Irregular/strict repayment schedule
Not familiar with loan calculation(interest/principle)

#

Total
%

#

%

4

3.4

14

2.4

2.0

5

4.2

14

2.4

1

0.2

5

4.2

6

1.0

4

0.9

2

1.7

6

1.0

5

1.1

0

0.0

5

0.9

3

0.7

2

1.7

5

0.9

4

0.9

0

0.0

4

0.7

3

0.7

1

0.8

4

0.7

Hard to find group/group member require/need guarantee

2

0.5

1

0.8

3

0.5

Other [dislike installment, collateral , penalty /fee]

0

0.0

3

2.5

3

0.5

Total

41

9.3

23

19.3

64

11.4

Comparison of Client’s Satisfaction on AMK’s Product/Service and Competitors
Table 5 below shows the positive and negative feedback comparing between active loans with
AMK and active loans with other providers (this last one from both client and non-client
households).
Table 5 Main positive and negative feedback on AMK and other competitors (%)
Positive Feedback
Provided loan when neededInterest
Finance at doorstep
Like lender behavior
Loan product
Good regulation/policy
Help the poor/kind
Loan size
No interest

AMK
VB ID
44
48
33
14
10
7
5
1
-

57
31
39
17
17
3
2
5
-

Other
VB ID
41
17
5
4
2
4
7
4
17

37
13
3
3
1
9
6
13

Negative Feedback

AMK
VB ID

Other
VB ID

Slow disbursement
Small loan size
High interest
Strict policy
Difficult to get loan
Dislike lender
Far from village

2.0
2.2
0.2
0.9
0.7
1.1
-

0.4
9.0
0.9
0.9
0.9

4.1
3.3
4.1
1.7
1.7
-

11.8
1.5
4.4
1.5

AMK has a competitive advantage in three main fronts:
VB new client households:• Providing loans when needed or easy to get loan (44% for AMK loans vs. 41% to othersources).
• Lower interest rate than competitors (48% of positive feedback in AMK loans vs. 17% of
positive feedback from other additional loans sources, only 0.2% negative feedback for AMK
loans vs. 9% negative feedback in loans from other loan sources). However about 17% ofclients in VB who get loans from other sources were satisfied with no interest charging.

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Providing loans at their doorstep: positive feedback 33% from AMK loan sources and 5%
from other sources and plus 1% of negative feedback for other loans because providers were
far from village.

ID new client households
Providing loans when needed or easy to get loan (57% for positive feedback to AMK loans vs.
37% to other sources, but 1.7% of ID clients for AMK loan vs. 1.5% for another loan sources
claimed that was difficult to get loans). Lower interest rate than competitors (31% of positive
feedback in AMK loans vs. 13% of positive feedback from other additional loans sources; 4%
negative feedback for AMK loans vs. 11% negative feedback in loans from other loan sources).
CONCLUSIONS
The main highlights of this article are the following: As many as 31 percent of new AMK clients in2009 have multiple loans simultaneously with other sources of credit, similar to the results found in2008 (33%) but higher than results in 2007 (28%) and 2006 (13%). The great majority of VB new
and ID AMK clients reported using at least part of their loans for productive purposes, mostly infarm-related activities (agriculture and animal-raising). A little less than half of VB clients (44%)
and ID clients (40%) allotted part or all of their loans for consumption purposes (mainly food andmedical expenses).
AMK clients are generally satisfied with AMK. About 86 percent of VB clients and 94
percent of ID clients expressed at least one reason for satisfaction with AMK. The primary sources
for satisfaction are: the fact that AMK provides loans when needed or that it is easy to get loans,the interest rates are fair and AMK provides loan at their doorstep. Only 8% of group clients and
17% of ID clients had (at least) one negative feedback about AMK, mainly related to the small loan
size or slow disbursement or the high interest rate. Small loan size was most complained among
both VB and ID client households.
Finally, the study evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of current products and services andclient demand for new product/service offerings. Low interest, providing loan when needed andfinance at doorstep appeared as AMK’s competitive advantages by VB clients. For ID client
households, providing loan when needed, providing loan at their doorstep and low interest are alsoa crucial aspect of AMK’s competitive advantage to enlarge and retain clients.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This Clients’ Satisfaction study was made possible with the support of AMK and Research Team of
AMK’s Research Department.

REFERENCES
Nelson C. (ed.) (2000) Learning from clients, Assessment tools for microfinance practitioners. SEEP/AIMS,
USA.
Woller G. (2005) Benefit of client assessment. SEEP Client Assessment Working Group, SEEP/AIMS, USA.
Torres, O. (2006, 2007, 2008) The clients’ satisfaction report. A Case study of AMK, Cambodia.

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Research article
erd

Present Status of Agriculture and Possibility for Increased
Export of Food and Agricultural Products in Cambodia
KEISHIRO ITAGAKITokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japank-ita@nodai.ac.jp
Received 29 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract This paper aims to discuss the possibility of increased export of food andagricultural products on the basis of collected data sources and interviewing for the policy
makers and to build up the good relationship through Japanese investor to promoteagricultural export in Cambodia. Government announced the exportable agricultural
products with high potentials such as rice, maize, soybean, mung bean, sesame, peats,cassava, cashew nuts, pepper, rubber, fish products and cattle/buffalos. As far as
government announcement is concerned, the direction for export expansion should be put
already traded items in terms of amount bases. Even in already traded items, they should
be developed with higher added value.
Keywords agricultural production, agricultural marketing, agricultural policy, export,
foreign direct investment, public private partnership (PPP)INTRODUCTION
Cambodia is an agriculture-based country with food self sufficiency centering on rice as staple food.
Accordingly, her emphasis should be to put the stable fulfillment of domestic supply copied with
the increased food demand on agricultural policy. In reality, however, a part of food andagricultural products is substantially dependent on the import; nevertheless it is possible to produce
them domestically.
Towards the direction on agricultural policy, an import substitution by means of the increased
and diversified local production should be implemented in accordance with the shift of demand forfood and agricultural products while the increased export of food and agricultural products withadvantageous competitiveness should be promoted, taking a careful look for international market.
Therefore, better understanding of the agriculture sector with possible accuracy will benecessary for clarifying the faced problem. Based on such understanding, an adequate strategy andpolitical approach in solving the problem should be established, taking bilateral governmental
cooperation and foreign private investment in Cambodia and Japan into consideration.
This paper aims to discuss the possibility of increased export of food and agricultural productson the basis of collected data sources and interviewing for the policy makers and to build up thegood relationship through Japanese investor in order to promote agricultural export in Cambodia.
PRESENT STATUS AND PROBLEMS
Agriculture at the macro level
According to the statistics shown in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of
Cambodia (MAFF in Cambodia, 2009, GDP share of agricultural sector for total GDP has fallen
down substantially from 44.8% in 1998 to 34.4% in 2008 (29.7% in 2007). On the one hand, grossvalue added in agriculture has increased by 52.2% during 1996 to 2008 at the nominal growth rate.
In the composition rate of gross value added shown by industry of agricultural sector in 2008,
crops was 52.7%, 25.0% in fisheries, 15.5% in livestock & poultry, 6.8% in forestry & logging. In© ISERD

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the composition rate by annual crops in 2006, rice was 54%, 8% in vegetables, 5% in maize, 5% in
cassava, 3% in soybean and by industrial crops rubber was 5%, 3% in cigarettes, 8% in other cash
crops (JAICAF, 2009). In addition, 80% of total population is living in rural area, and most of
population engaging in farming.
Trend of rice production
Agriculture is still the predominant sector in economic activity, and rice is especially andoverwhelmingly positioned at the center of crops. Table 1 shows the trend of planted area, yieldand production of rice for the period of 9 years from 2000 to 2008.
Table 1 Trend of rice production, planted areas and average yield in Cambodia, 2000-2008
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008

Production (1000Mt)
4026.14099.03822.54711.04170.35986.26264.16727.17175.5

Planted area (1000ha)
2318.52240.92137.12314.22374.22443.52541.42585.92615.7

Average yield (Mt/ha)
2.12
2.07
1.92
2.10
1.98
2.48
2.49
2.62
2.75

Source: Bunthan NGO (2009) “Appropriate compost application as sustainable farming practices in Cambodia”(Doctorate Thesis not published). Original data was cited from Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries(MAFF) (2008) “Report on agriculture in 2007 and direction of 2008-2009” (Khmer version)

As shown in Table 1, rice production increased from 4.03 million tons in 2000 to 7.18 million
tons in 2008. Planted area increased from 2.32 million hectares to 2.62 million hectares while
production per hectare increased from 2.1 tons to 2.7 tons. Accordingly, an increase of riceproduction for this period was contributed by the growth of yield more than planted area.
Nevertheless, average rice production per hectare is far from 5.0 tons in Vietnam and 3.0 tons inThailand in 2007 (FAOSTAT). Since rice planting takes place during both rainy and dry seasons,rice production in the rainy season is the mainstream with a share of 80% (Bunthan, 2009).
Average rice production per hectare is higher in the dry season with 3.93 tons than in the rainyseason with 2.49 tons in 2006 (JAICAF, 2009).
Even though rice production has substantially increased from 2000 to 2008, it was notnecessarily uptrend consistently. In particular, rice production in 2002 and 2004 decreased greatlycompared to the previous year due to the occurrence of serious flood during the rainy season(JAICAF, 2009). Generally speaking, rice production is significantly dependent on weather
condition. Since attaining rice self-sufficiency in 1996, the surplus of rice has sustainably been
exported. MAFF of Cambodia mentioned that a part of fragrant rice with high quality enabled toexport at the higher price in the international rice market.
Trend of other crops’ production
Table 2 shows the production trend of the other main crops consisting of maize, cassava, sugarcaneand soybean from 2000 to 2007. As shown in Table 2, production of each crop has been uptrend forthis period, showing heavy fluctuation year by year. Such fluctuation of each crop production wascaused by the serious problems as mentioned below.

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Table 2 Trend of main crop production (excluded rice) in Cambodia (unit: 1000Mt)
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007

Maize
157
186
149
315
257
248
377
380

Cassava
148
142
122
331
362
536
218
200

Sugarcane
164
169
209
173
130
118
142
170

Soybean
28
25
38
63
110
179
98
117

Source: FAOSTAT

Problems on agricultural production
MAFF of Cambodia revealed the constraints on agricultural production as follows (JAICAF, 2009).
· Inadequate rural infrastructures: roads, irrigation systems, rural markets, etc.
· Limited technological changes at community level as well as farmers and producers,
agricultural research and extension are still inadequate.
· Limited access to credits and micro-finances in the rural areas.
· Limited investment capacity or interest in investing in agriculture.
· Variable climatic condition and water resources.
· Limited access to agriculture inputs: fertilizers (chemical organic), pesticides, machineries,
improved seeds, etc.
· Weak agri-business and agro-enterprises.
· Export constraints due to technical barriers (Quality standard, quality control, quality
certifications).
Present status and problems in agricultural marketing
Agricultural marketing system in Cambodia is complicated and diversified. The present status ofagricultural marketing will be clarified from the result of interviewing concerned persons. In depth
interviewing survey was conducted for local trader handling mainly some kinds of vegetable inPhnom Penh. The trader is establishing the system in selling vegetable to restaurant andsupermarket and at the same time provides the farmer with agricultural inputs like seed andfinancial support. The trader instructs vegetable growing technology for the farmer and finallypurchases vegetable from the farmer on a contract basis. As a result of interviewing the trader,some serious problems were clarified as follows. (1) Hard to collect vegetable due to insufficient
farmer’s group; (2) Selling vegetable to other traders or buyers without contract basis; (3) Difficult
for the farmer to learn the growing technology because the farmer does not come to the trainingclass over in-service training; (4) Depressed local price due to inflow of Vietnamese vegetable atthe lower price. According to the information from the trader, in case of assuming the existence of
local market demand it is difficult to collect the quality-controlled vegetable through the formalroute and carry stable supply to the local wholesale market; and consequently the shortened supplyof vegetable is set off by Vietnamese vegetable.
Basic marketing channel of vegetable is described as follows: Harvesting vegetable at farm →Collecting vegetable in the production area → Transporting vegetable from the production area →Transacting at the wholesale market → Transacting at the retailed market → Consumer purchasing.
Since there are other specific channels like the contract farming system between trader and farmer
mentioned above, the marketing system is multi-dimensional and not transparent. In addition, sincevegetable is not clearly classified by kind, size, shape, maturity, freshness and appearance based on
any regulation and criteria, a process in pricing is unclear. Furthermore, it is unclear which part of© ISERD

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the vegetable is used for consumer and for food processing industry as well as how vegetable istransacted and what pricing mechanism is working.
Under such incompleteness of the marketing system, it is impossible to say that a transactionof vegetable is carried out properly between farmer and consumer or trader and food processing
industry. Based on the lack of storage facility, hardness of collecting the market information andinaccurate data due to the incompleteness of marketing system, a market price of vegetable isinclined to fluctuate significantly. A speculation is easily occurring with price fluctuation. The
incompleteness of the marketing system is applicable to other agricultural products as well. It will
be against the sound development of agriculture and food processing industry.
Some trader interviewed mentioned equal word that transportation cost was extremely high.
The higher transportation cost is attributed to high petrol price, no good road condition and vehicles.
The higher transportation cost is brought about by the higher marketing cost, which is becoming to
be one of the important hazards in transporting agricultural products smoothly.
Possibility for increased export of food and agricultural products
Cambodia is exporting various food and agricultural products. Table 3 shows the trend of exported
principal agricultural products from 2000 to 2007. Though natural rubber and cigarettes are
mainstream of exported agricultural produce, they are materials for industrial use, not for edible
food. Edible food for export is maize, soybean and rice though export trend is largely fluctuating
within a year.
Table 3 Trend of export value of main agricultural products in Cambodia (unit: 1000Mt)
Natural rubber
Cigarettes
Maize
SoybeanPalm oil
Rice

2000
6258
1838
94

2001
18447
2216
2386

2002
28258
650
1691

2003
33402
885
62
437
639

2004
36933
1143
3713
3442
797
1889

2005
8304
11017
1600
6486
1113
744

2006
18142
25241
2461
4405
1754
2440

2007
25877
22650
6177
6104
1635
1357

Note: 1. Order of commodity is based on 2007; 2. Cigarettes excluded tobacco. Rice in 2000 consists of rice milled,
rice broken, rice husked and rice paddy
Source: FAOSTAT

Apart from these export items, in 2007 other exports were as follows - salted cattle(FAOSTAT, same data in below, 850,000US$), cassava starch (619,000US$, cashew nuts (withshell and shelled) (598,000US$), garlic (516,000US$), chillies and peppers, dry (297,000US$),sesame seed (148,000US$), spices (143,000US$), dried Beans (106,000US$), pastry (94,000US$).
However, in reality it should be noted that active transaction in nearby borders with Thailand andVietnam may be conducted illegally though it is never shown on statistics.
Government announced the exportable agricultural products with high potentials such as rice,maize, soybean, mung bean, sesame, peanuts, cassava, cashew nuts, pepper, rubber, fish products
and cattle/buffalos. Even in already traded items, they should be developed with higher added value.
For instance, the export of fragrant rice should be greatly increased (10,000 ton was exported toUnited States, Hong Kong and EU at this moment). Organic vegetable and fruits have highpotentials as exportable items. In Cambodia any technology and know-how for food processing issignificantly constrained. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Cambodia is
expecting with great pleasure that foreign investors are able to work jointly with local
manufacturers. The Ministry of Commerce indicated that development of higher value addedcassava with help of foreign investors would be promising direction for export promotion in the
future.

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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
An effective strategy in developing agriculture can be described in three ways. (1) To strengthen
domestic food supply chain in response to the demand change of food and agricultural products; (2)To combine effectively among the different industries such as the sector linkage between
agriculture and tourism; (3) To enhance international competitiveness of food and agricultural
products with higher export potentials. These three different kinds of agricultural development
strategy are called “Demand pulled approach”. Among these strategies, export oriented strategy islikely to have most effectiveness on accelerating the process of agricultural development bytransferring the dynamism for agricultural development from external origin to the domestic
agriculture and food manufacturing industry. When Cambodia increases export with high value
added products to the developed countries, higher barriers like inspection, certification and quality
control for exportable product should be overcome in addition to stably providing it at therelatively lower price. If this seems to be hard, it will be impossible to increase export;. Cambodia
should have full knowledge of what, how many, at what price and with how quality can meet
export standard to the destination. Cambodia should predict change on the external conditions
along global trade liberalization. In this case, exportable products are requested to make a selection
with criteria in creating out job opportunity and incrementing income multiplied by the additional
supply increase. As for the criteria in making selection of exportable products, products should beselected along the lower cost, using local resources with rich-endowment. Producer and food
manufacturer are needed to learn and apply the sophisticated technology to increment exportableproducts at the lower price. Trader and exporter are requested to handle and transport the products
efficiently. Among each actor playing role along food supply chain, precious information andhuman resources should be networked functionally. Each actor has to make an effort for capacity
building of human resources and at the same time fulfillment and arrangement of physicalinfrastructure and marketing system as well as law and institution building should be implemented
to promote export of food and agricultural products.
This, however, will be not easy to conduct only with own effort. Japan will be able to help bymeans of actively participating in the export promoting project for food and agricultural products
concerning the selection of exportable products, fulfillment of physical infrastructure, technology
transfer, financial support, capacity and institution building along the scheme of public and private
partnership in both countries. The increased export for food and agricultural products in Cambodia
will not only contribute to agricultural development, but also to ensure food security in Japan withstable supply of the imported food and agricultural products.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was arranged and funded by JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization).

REFERENCES
Bunthan, N. (2009) Appropriate compost application as sustainable farming practices in Cambodia. Ph.D.
dissertation, Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia.
FAO (2009) FAOSTAT (http://www. faostat.fao.org).
JAICAF (2009) Country paper on food security policy in ASEAN region and individual ASEAN member
states (Country: Cambodia). The Seminar on Food Security Policy in ASEAN Region and Individual
ASEAN Member States,107-127.
Itagaki, K. (2009) Present status and some problems of agriculture and foreign direct investment for
agriculture and food processing industry in Cambodia, JETRO SENSOR, 59, No.705, 64-67. (inJapanese)
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, Cambodia (2009) Agriculture development in CAMBO (nopublication). Cambodia.
Technical Working Group on Agriculture and Water (2006) Agriculture and water strategy (2006-2010)
Summary. 6-52.
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Research article
erd

Rice Soil Fertility Classification and Constraints in the
Mekong Delta
VO QUANG MINH
Department of Land Resources, College of Agricultural and Applied Biology,
Cantho University, Vietnam
E-mail: vqminh@ctu.edu.vn

LE QUANG TRI
Department of Land Resources, College of Agricultural and Applied Biology,
Cantho University, Vietnam
Received 29 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract In the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, areas of intensive rice production have been
rapidly enlarged. Soil fertility degradation in this system can be one of the most importantfactors contributing to the yield decline. Information on soil fertility and recommendations
on improving soil constraints will provide basic data for proper soil management, landevaluation and land use planning. A Fertility Capability Classification (FCC) system
incorporates characteristics of soil morphology, soil physics, and soil chemistry. Data from300 soil profiles in rice fields and 28 field experiments on fertilizers efficiency werecollected, showing that there were 25 rice soil fertility types, in which types CC (clay in
top and subsoil) and CCs (clay in top and subsoil and saline effected) occupied in large
extent. The major soil constraints for rice cultivation can be listed as follows: low organiccarbon content (o); high P fixation and high Fe toxicity potential (i); potential salinity (s-);
low available P (p); high acidity and Al toxicity (a); the separation of actual acid sulfate
soils (c, c-) and potential acid sulfate soils (f, f-).
Keywords FCC, soil fertility, constraints, modifier

INTRODUCTION
In the Mekong Delta, rice cultivation is usually irrigated and highly productive, featuring multiple
rice crops. They also face serious problems, including the unsustainable exploitation of water andsoils, inefficient use of chemical inputs, and emerging or worsening disease and pest problems. The
intense and increased pressure on land leads to its degradation and pollution, which may result in apartial or complete loss of its productive capacity.
According to Sanchez (2001), differences in soil taxonomy are important to establish thebroad picture, but what does it mean in agronomic and ecological terms? The problem with soil
taxonomy is that it quantifies only permanent soil parameters, most of which are located in thesubsoil. To overcome this limitation, a Fertility Capability soil Classification system (FCC) was
developed more than 25 years ago to interpret soil taxonomy and soil tests in a quantitative mannerthat is relevant to growing plants (Buol et al., 1975; Sanchez et al., 1982). It is now widely used
and is included in the worldwide FAO soils database (FAO, 1995). Most of class limits areborrowed from Soil taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff, 1994) or the FAO/Unessco soil classification
system (FAO, 1974). Emphasis is placed on features that are easily detectable in the field, such as
texture, color, depth of horizons, presence or absence of mottles, etc. Soil analytical laboratory data
are only used to support the classification if available. The strength of this system is its ease of use,which allows the soil to be classified at several locations simply and quickly. To facilitate the easytransfer of information about soil properties and constraints, the system consists of a series ofindividual letters to describe the soil. These properties signify fertility limitations with different
interpretations, and represented by small letters.
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Based on the integrated system for soil fertility evaluation, it was used for soil fertility
classification and recommendation for rice soil of the Mekong Delta, where rice cultivation
dominantly applies, which can assist the land use planner or agricultural extension officers in
identify the constraints, and recommend for proper use.
METHODOLOGYThe Fertility Capability Classification (FCC) from Sanchez et al (2003), with some modifications
from Vo Quang Minh (2007) was used as reference system. Approximately about 300 top andsubsoil samples in rice fields were collected within the Mekong Delta from 1996 to 2007 (Fig. 1)
for soil chemical and physical analysis (soil texture, pH, ECe, Al3+, Fe3+, K+, Na+; Ca2+, Mg2+, CEC,
organic matter, P available) and soil profile description based on the guideline of FAO (1974),
which was recommended by the system, and data of 28 field experiments on fertilizers efficiency
for rice cultivation. Fourteen (14) modifiers that indicate the soil fertility status and effect to rice
growth in the Mekong Delta were determined: a, a- (Al toxicity, low pH), c, c- (actual acid sulfate
soils), e (high leaching potential), k (low Nutrient Capital Reserves), f, f- (potential acid sulfatesoil), g+ (constant saturation), i (high phosphorus fixation), n- (potential Sodic), s, s- (saline), o (loworganic matter status), and p (low inherent P content), which efftect to rice root. In which,modifiers p, o, c, c-, f, f- were added by Vo Quang Minh (2007), and superscripts + or - indicate agreater or lesser expression of the modifier. The soil fertility was named as soil texture of each soil
layer (C, L, S) plus modifiers.

Fig. 1 The Mekong delta in Vietnam

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Soil fertility classification for rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta
The term “FCC” is used to indicate adaptation of the Fertility Capability Classification, as
developed by Sanchez and Buol (1982), and Sanchez et al (2003), and modified by Vo Quang
Minh (2007) to the soil and rice growing conditions present in the Mekong delta, which deal withsoil morphology, physic, and chemistry characteristics. We set out below the meaning of each soil
fertility type, including 25 soil fertility types, which was converted from soil map at 1/250.000
scale, identified by its corresponding letter and the corresponding limits (Table 1).

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Table 1 Summary of soil fertility capability classification (FCC) for rice cultivation in the
Mekong Delta (Based on a system from Sanchez et al, (2003), Vo Quang Minh(2007) and the conversion of rice soil map - WRB 1998 at scale 1/250,000)
FCC
CC
CCs
LC
CCcCCi+
CCai+
CCv
LLacp
LL
LLai
CCacps-CCfLLsLLcCCc-sLLfsLLfLLc-sLLi
CCacp
LLf-sLLi+
CCf-sLLf
LLacps-Soil fertility capability interpretation
texture is clay (C) within 50 cm from the soil surface
texture is clay (C) within 50 cm from the soil surface, severe salinity insubsoil (s)texture is loamy (L) between 0 and 20 cm, and a clay (C) between 20 and 50cm
texture is clay (C) within 50 cm from the soil surface, Moderately actualacid sulfate soils (c-)
texture is clay (C) within 50 cm from the soil surface, iron toxicity if
prolonged, soil submerged (i+)
texture is clay (C) within 50 cm from the soil surface, soil is very acid (a),iron toxicity, if prolonged soil submerged (i+)
texture is clay (C) within 50cm from the soil surface, cracking clays(v)texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, soil is very acid (a),strongly actual acid sulfate soil (c), low inherent P content(p)texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface
texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, soil is very acid (a),high phosphorus fixation (i)texture is clay (C) within 50 cm from the soil surface, soil is very acid (a),strongly actual acid sulfate soil, low inherent P content (p), slightly salinity
in subsoil (s-)
texture is clay (C) within 50 cm from the soil surface, moderately potential
acid sulfate soils (f-)
texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, potential salinity (s-)
texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, Moderately actualacid sulfate soils (c-)
texture is clay (C) within 50 cm from the soil surface, Moderately actualacid sulfate soils (c-), potential salinity (s-)
texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, shallow potential
acid sulfate soils (f), slightly salinity in subsoil (s-)
texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, moderately potential
acid sulfate soils (f-)
texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, Moderately actualacid sulfate soils (c-), slightly salinity in subsoil (s-)
texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, high phosphorus
fixation (i)texture is clay (C) within 50 cm from the soil surface, soil is very acid (a),strongly actual acid sulfate soil (c), low inherent P content (p)texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, moderately potential
acid sulfate soils (f-), slightly salinity in subsoil (s-)
texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, iron toxicity if
prolonged soil submerged (i+)
texture is clay (C) within 50 cm from the soil surface, moderately potential
acid sulfate soils (f-), slightly salinity in subsoil (s-)
texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, shallow potential
acid sulfate soils (f-)
texture is loamy (L) within 50 cm from the soil surface, soil is very acid (a),strongly actual acid sulfate soil (c), low inherent P content (p), slightly
salinity in subsoil (s-)© ISERD93ha
328,382
327,099

%
18.6
18.4

160,0139.0

128,952

7.2

117,015

6.6

109,560

6.1

102,027
100,863

5.7
5.6

61,99054,0033.4
3.0

44,7392.5

35,7732.0

30,17528,4941.7
1.6

25,287

1.4

25,2101.4

21,7491.2

16,1800.9

15,9410.9

14,001

0.7

11,472

0.6

5,051

0.2

3,760

0.2

3,506

0.2

15

0.001

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

The constraints for crops cultivation
The attribute used in the system is the lower-case letters of the constraints that have been identified
for that soil indicated in the soil fertility type. Based on the field observations, soil analysis ofchemical, physical, rice field behavious, and from several field experiments results, the major soil
constraints for rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta can be identified and grouped as below.
Constraints related to soil mineralogy
High leaching potential (e): Soils with a low cation exchange capacity (CEC) have topsoils with alow organic matter content, a low clay content, clay minerals with low CEC, or all these properties.
These soils have a low inherent fertility and also a low capacity to retain nutrients added as
fertilizer. More exacting N management needed; identifies degraded paddy soils and low organic
matter; if potential H2S toxicity can occur if (NH4)2SO4 is used as N source; in coarse texture soils
often Mn deficient; application of large organic material keeps pH low even after flooding.
High phosphorus fixation (i): This constraint is caused primarily by a high content of free ferricoxides (Fe2O3) in the clay fraction, which fix phosphate ions in unavailable forms. It is a feature
also found in strongly acidic soils, and hence commonly associated with the a, or a- constraint,
aluminium toxicity. High P fixation by Fe; P deficiency likely; Fe toxicity potential; soils difficult
to puddle and will regenerate original structure rapidly.
Low Nutrient Capital Reserves (k): Low inherent fertility because of low inherent reserves of
wethearable minerals; potential K deficiency depending on base contents of irrigation water.
Low organic matter status (o): N deficient; response to N fertilization very likely; low ECEC on
sandy soils; N fertilizer should be applied in frequent, small doses.
Low inherent P content (p): Plant available P deficient; response to small additions of P
fertilization very likely.
Constraints related to soil reaction
Al toxicity, low pH (a, a-): These are soils in which the exchange complex is dominated byalumina. The problem is commonly described as one of strongly acidic soils, can be caused bystrong leaching from high rainfall, and mainly from oxidation of sulfidic material, which often
associated with c, c- modifiers. Aluminium toxicity will occur in aerobic layers.
Actual acid sulfate soils (c, c-): Al and Fe toxicity, low pH, and P deficiency, which originatedfrom oxidation of sulfidic material.
Potential acid sulfate soil (f, f-): Potential acid-sulfate soils, causing Fe and S toxicity whenanaerobic and Al toxicity when aerobic; depth at which f modifier occurs determines feasibility ofrice production; Zn deficiency common; prevent seepage from this areas.
Constant saturation (g+): Prolonged submergence causes Zn deficiency. N loss increased if soil isintermittently flooded and drained.
Saline (s, s-): Defines saline soils; drainage needed, consider conductivity of irrigation water.
Potential Sodic (n-): This soil has a slightly high content of sodium but is low in calcium andmagnesium salts causing soil dispersion, puddling, poor infiltration and poor aeration, and if
sodium is high in the plow layer, increased probability of surface crust formation. Defines sodic
soils; reclaiming with drainage and gypsum applications may be needed; Zn deficiency common.
Strategies for better utilization of soil and soil fertility conservation
The management requirements are given per interpreted soil property or group of properties. A
complete listing of all possible combinations is not given because only a limited number of
combinations of soil properties will be found in any area under consideration. At large scale,
however, interpretation of the soil properties in relation to farming systems, local expertise or rice
varieties could be a valuable extension tool.
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Table 2 Extent of modifiers and soil fertility constraints in rice soils of the Mekong Delta(Based on the conversion of rice soil map-WRB at 1/250.000 scale)
Modifiers
p
s
a
i+
cc
sv
fi
f

Soil fertility constraints
low available P
Strongly salinity of subsoils
Acid soil, iron, aluminium toxicity
High phosphorus fixation and high Fe toxic potential
Depth actual acid sufate in subsoil
shallow actual acid sufate soils
slightly salinity in subsoils
Cracking clays soils when working the soil, we meet obstacle because soil
usually flood out, rice root can be broken when soil is dry
Potential acid sulfate in subsoil
High phosphorus fixation
Shallow potential acid sulfate soils

Area (ha)327,099.4
327,099.4
323,183.1
231,628.0
198,914.3
159,619.2
156,840.9
102,027.1
72,757.0
69,944.7
28,716.8

Each soil unit can have more than 1 indicator

The management requirements are based on Smith (1989), Sanchez et al (1982, 2003), Vo
Quang Minh (2007), field observations, and several experiments in the Mekong Delta on soil
management, reclamation, fertility adaptation, rice varieties, etc. A description of soil fertility or
management constraint identified is given below.
Al toxicity, low pH (a, a-): Soluble and exchangeable acidity should be removed as much as
possible by leaching before applying amendments. Leaching with fresh water is efficient inremoving free H2S04, and efflorescences of soluble Fe and Al salts from the soil. Due to directly
effected by low pH, and high Al contents (Vo Thi Guong, 1997), on very low soil pH and very highAl, the amount of lime should be changing from 6 to 10 ton/ha (Vo Tong Xuan et al, 1982).
Actual acid sulfate soils (c, c-): Iron and aluminium or manganese toxicities and phosphorus
deficiency are common. Physical properties are very poor. Jarosite mottles occur at 10 to 50cm
depth (c) or more than 50cm (c-). This soil should not be drained. Draining results in a dramatic
decrease in pH. High liming rates (greater than 10t/ha every 3 to 4 years) or long term leaching
would then be required for crop production (Van Breeman and Pons, 1978). The most profitable
practice is shallow drainage to grow one crop of a medium-term rice (Vo-Tong Xuan et al., 1982).
High leaching potential (e): These soils suffer from a combination of low organic matter content
and a coase texture, resulting in an extremely low cation exchange capacity. Soil management
interventions to remedy these constraints are bound to be expensive and often unprofitable as they
imply a change in the clay-humus complex through considerable organic matter and/or highactivity clay inputs.
Potential acid sulfate soil (f, f-): When f soils are exposed to air and are low in calcium carbonate,
FeS2 is oxidized to ferric sulfate and free sulfuric acid, producing pH values on the order of 2 or 3.
Drained acid sulfate soils are extremely infertile. Flooded rice is often grown, since underconstantly reduced conditions, the pH is sufficiently high to eliminate aluminium toxicity.
High phosphorus fixation (i): High P-fixing soils can be identified as those with clayey topsoils
having red or yellowish colours indicative of high contents of iron oxides, usually accompanied bya strong granular structure. These soils require high levels of phosphate fertilizers or special P
management practices.
Low Nutrient Capital Reserves (k): Potassium fertilizers must be added. Usually the K fertilizer
rates are low on newly cleared land but they increase with time. Generally these soils have also
limited capacity to retain nutrients and the potassium, calcium and magnesium added can be easily
lost (Vo Thi Guong, 1997; Nguyen My Hoa, 2003).
Prolong submergence (g+): Prolonged submergence causes Zn deficiency, especially on all year
round cultivation soil remittently flooded and drained. H2S toxicity symptom can occurred if soil
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Potential Sodic (n-): Reclamation requires the replacement of Na+ on the exchange complex by
Ca2+ and leaching of Na+ out of the root zone. Soil permeability and internal drainage must also be
improved so the displaced sodium ions can be leached out of the root zone. Common mineralamendments used are: gypsum, phosphogypsum, calcite and other acid-forming salts like iron andaluminium sulfates, limesulphur and pyrites.
Low organic matter status (o): N deficient; response to N fertilization very likely; low ECEC on
sandy soils; N fertilizer should be applied in frequent, small doses. Increasing the levels of organic
matter in these soils would improve nutrient supply, increase CEC, increase water holding capacity(P. W. Moody et al, 2008).
Low inherent P content (p): P management should be considered as a long-term investment insoil fertility, and it is more effective to prevent P deficiency than to treat P deficiency symptoms. P
requires a long-term management strategy because P is not easily lost or added to the root zone bybiological and chemical processes that affect N supply.
Saline (s, s-): Na, Ca, Mg, Cl, and SO4 are the major ions involved. Presence of soluble salts
requires drainage and special management for salt-sensitive rice varieties. Total reclamation ofsaline soils is often impractical because of the lack of high quality water for irrigation and leaching.
Wetland rice production may be an economical alternative.
CONCLUSION
A Fertility Capability Classification (FCC) system, based on the work of Sanchez et al (2003), Vo
Quang Minh (2007) was used for rice soil fertility in the Mekong Delta relies mostly on the topsoil
properties that indicate the soil fertility capability and affect rice production and some properties at
subsoil which related to topsoil properties. There were 25 rice soil fertility types, in which clay soil
texture in both layers and without modifiers (CC) and the same as soil with saline (s) modifier(CCs) occupied largest extent. The major soil constraints for intensive rice cultivation in the
Mekong Delta including High P fixation and potential Fe toxicity (i+), Potential salinity (s-), Low
available P (p), acid and Al toxicity (a), respectively. However, constraints of actual acid sulfate (c,c-), potential acid sulfate (f, f-), and low organic carbon status (o), are major constraints forintensive rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta. The major strategies for better utilization of soil
could be the reclamation of acid sulfate and saline soils by leaching acid and soil toxicity, andimproving soil nutrient status such as N, P, K fertilizers and organic matter application.
REFERENCES
Breeman, N.V. and Ponts, L.J. (1978) Acid sulfate soils and rice. Soils and Rice. International Rice ResearchInstitute, 739-763, Philippines.
Buol, S.W., Sanchez, P.A., Cate, R.B. and Granger, M.A. (1975) Soil fertility capability classification, A
technical soil classification system for fertility management. Soil Management in Tropical America. N.
C. State Univ. 126-145, USA.
FAO (1974) A framework for land evaluation. Soils Bulletin, 32, Italy.
FAO (1995) Digital soil map of the world and derived soil properties. Italy.
FAO (1998) World reference base for soil resources. World Soil Resource reports, 84, Italy.
Moody, P.W., Cong, P.T., Legrand, J. and Chon, N.Q. (2008) A decision support constraints to upland soils.
Soil Use and Management, 24, 148-155.
Nguyen My Hoa (2003) Soil potassium dynamics under intensive rice cropping. A case study in the Mekong
Delta, Vietnam. Ph.D. dissertation, Wageningen University, Netherlands.
Pedro A. Sanchez (2001) Tropical soils, climate and agriculture, An ecological divide? Harvard Conferenceon Raising Agricultural Productivity in the Tropics, USA.
Ponnamperuma, F.N. (1977) Screening for tolerance to mineral stresses. IRRI Res. Pap. Ser., 6, 21,
Philippines.
Sánchez, P.A., Palm, C.A. Palm and Buol, S.W. (2003) Fertility capability soil classification, A tool to help
assess soil quality in the tropics. Geoderma, 114, 157-185.
Sánchez, P.A., Couto, W. and Buol, S.W. (1982) The fertility capability soil classification system,
Interpretation, applicability and modification. Geoderma, 27(4), 283-309.
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Smith Christopher W. (1989) The fertility capability classification system (FCC) - 3rd approximation, A
technical soil classification system relating pedon characterization data to inherent fertility
characteristics. Ph.D dissertation, North Carolina State University, USA.
Soil Survey Staff (1994) Keys to soil taxonomy. 6th edition, United States Department of Agriculture,
Natural Resources Conservation Service, USA.
Vo Thi Guong (1997) Application of fertilizers for crops in the Mekong Delta. Agricultural soil resources,
fertilizer application in Vietnam. Tre Publication house, 12-31, Vietnam. (in Vietnamese)
Vo Quang Minh (2007) Developing a system for rice soil fertility classification in the Mekong Delta. Ph.D
dissertation, Cantho University, Vietnam. (in Vietnamese)
Vo-Tong Xuan, Nguyen Kim Quang and Le Quang Tri (1982) Rice cultivation on acid sulphate soils in the
Vietnamese Mekong Delta. Proceedings of the Bangkok Symposium on Acid Sulphate Soils,
International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement, Publication No.3-I, 251-259, Thailand.

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Research article
erd

Zinc Deficiency in Agricultural Systems and Its Implication
to Human Health
BASU DEV REGMI
Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, School of Earth and Environment,
The University of Westarn Australia, Perth, Australia
Email: basu.regmi@gmail.com

ZED RENGEL
Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, School of Earth and Environment,
The University of Westarn Australia, Perth, Australia

HOSSEIN KHABAZ-SABERI
Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, School of Earth and Environment,
The University of Westarn Australia, Perth, Australia
Received 30 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract There are more than 3 billion world population are directly or indirectly affectedwith low zinc (Zn) supply to their food causing up to severe health problems, which isalso linked to Zn deficiency in most agricultural soils world-wide. Agricultural
technologies contribute to improving nutritionally rich food systems, which plays key rolein public health. We therefore review in this paper on the importance of agricultural
systems and its role in human health under Zn deficient situation. Several studies havebeen done to understand the Zn dynamics on crop and plants. There have been much more
efforts given to see agronomic, physiological and molecular aspects of Zn in plants andsoils. It is however, equally important to look at the human consumption perspective forhealthy population. Therefore, this review discusses the role of Zn on soil and crop inview of human nutrition. Agricultural strategies could help to combat such problems inmany ways such as breeding Zn efficient genotypes, application of different Zn fertilizers,
using high Zn content seed for crop production; and seed priming. The content of Zn in
grains and fruits can in some cases be increased through soil or foliar applications of Zn
fertilizers. Level of Zn in plant foods could be achieved either by increasing theconcentration of compounds which promote their uptake like ascorbic acid, or bydecreasing the concentration of compounds which inhibit their absorption of Zn like
phytic acid or phenolic compounds. Low cost and easy approaches such as seed priming
are also effective measures to load higher Zn in edible parts. Plant breeding and genetic
engineering techniques have the greatest potential to increase Zn content in grains, roots
and tubers to combat the Zn deficiency world-wide.
Keywords zinc deficiency, agricultural systems, human nutrition

BACKGROUND
Agricultural technologies can be directed towards improving nutritionally-rich food systems, whichplay an important role in public health. Food systems in many developing countries are now failingto provide adequate quantities of essential nutrients in the people’s diet (Graham and Welch, 1996;
Welch and Graham, 2005). Cropping systems promoted by the green revolution have increased thefood production but also resulted in reduced food-crop diversity and decreased availability of
micronutrients (Welch, 2002; Stein et al., 2007). Micronutrient malnutrition is causing increased
rates of chronic diseases (cancer, heart diseases, stroke, diabetes and osteoporosis) in many

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developing nations; more than 3 billion people are directly affected by the micronutrient
deficiencies (Cakmak et al., 1999; Welch, 2002; WHO, 2002; Welch and Graham, 2004).
Unbalanced use of mineral fertilizers and a decrease in the use of organic manure are the maincauses of the nutrient deficiency in the regions where the cropping intensity is high (Prasad, 1984;
Welch, 1993, 2005). Moreover, agricultural intensification requires an increased nutrient flow
towards and greater uptake of nutrients by crops. Until now, micronutrient deficiency has mostly
been addressed as a soil and, to a smaller extent, plant problem. Currently, it is being addressed as ahuman nutrition problem as well. Increasingly, soils and food systems are affected by
micronutrients disorders, leading to reduced crop production and malnutrition and diseases inhumans and plants (Welch et al., 1982; Welch and Graham, 2004). Conventionally, agriculture istaken as a food-production discipline and was considered a source of human nutrition; hence, inrecent years many efforts (Rengel and Graham, 1995a, b; Cakmak et al., 1999; Frossard et al.,
2000; Welch and Graham, 2005; Stein et al., 2007) have been made to improve the quality of foodfor the growing world population, particularly in the developing nations.
Among the micronutrients, zinc (Zn) is the most important for activity of various enzymes andproper growth and development of plants, animals and humans (Alloway, 2004; Welch andGraham, 2004; Singh et al., 2005). Naturally, plant species differ in capacity to grow at low level ofsoil Zn and to accumulate Zn in the grains. Among different cereal crops, wheat is considered lesstolerant to Zn deficiency stress (exhibits significant yield losses due to Zn deficiency) compared tomore tolerant species such as peas, carrots and rye (Hacisalihoglu and Kochian, 2003). Several
studies (Cakmak et al., 1996; Moussavi-Nik et al., 1997; Erenoglu et al., 1999; Rengel, 1999;
Hacisalihoglu et al., 2001; Gonzalez et al., 2007) have investigated different aspects of Zn uptake
mechanism. This paper aims at evaluating role of agriculture on Zn nutrition for human being andelucidates the strategies potentially help combating Zn deficiency problems in soil-plant-humancontinuum.
ZINC IN SOILS
Zinc deficiency in soils and plants is a global micronutrient deficiency problem reported in many
countries (Sillanpaa, 1982; Graham and Welch, 2000; Alloway, 2004; Singh et al., 2005). Low
availability of Zn in calcareous soils is one of the most widely distributed abiotic stresses in world
agriculture, particularly in Turkey, Australia, China and India (Cakmak et al., 1999; Kenbaev andSade, 2002; Brennan and Bolland, 2006). Zinc deficiency is particularly widespread in cereals
growing on calcareous soils (Graham, 1991; Graham et al., 1992; Cakmak et al., 1997; Genc et al.,2006). Zn deficiency is the most important micronutrient deficiency in wheat (Cakmak et al.. 1998;
Kabata-Pendias. 2001; Alvarez and Gonzalez. 2006; Bagci et al.. 2007), resulting not only in low
production but in the poor nutritional quality of food (Graham and Welch, 1996). In southern
Australia more than 18 million hectares of agricultural land are Zn-deficient (Brennan and Bolland,2006). Similarly, in India alone more than 85 % of the cereal growing area is affected by low Zn.
So, availability of Zn appears to be one of the most limiting factors for quality crop production
worldwide. Zinc deficiency is common on neutral and calcareous soils, intensively cropped soils,
paddy soils and poorly drained soils, sodic and saline soils, peat soils, soils with high available
phosphorus and silicon, sandy soils, highly weathered acid and coarse-textured soils (Cakmak et al.,
1998; Singh et al., 2005). Factors such as topsoil drying, subsoil constraints, disease interactions
and high cost of fertilizer also contribute to zinc deficiency (Sillanpaa, 1982).
ZINC IN PLANTS
Zn is involved in many cellular processes, including activation of enzymes, protein synthesis andmembrane stability, but the knowledge of Zn transport in plants is inadequate (Longnecker andRobson, 1993; Marchner, 1995; Grusak et al., 1999; Rengel, 1999; Alloway, 2004). Plants have anatural ability to extract ions from soil and to distribute them between the roots and the shoot.
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plants (Breckle, 1991). In this context, long-distance root-to-shoot transport in the transpiration
stream via the xylem as well as the transfer from the xylem to the phloem and the retranslocation
via the phloem must be considered as important processes for the redistribution of an element
within a plant (Marschner, 1995). Several studies have demonstrated that Zn is easily transported in
the phloem of wheat (Pearson and Rengel, 1995; Herren and Feller, 1996; Haslett et al., 2001) andthat its redistribution may depend on the plant age and on the Zn content of the source organs(Pearson and Rengel, 1995; Herren and Feller, 1996). Longnecker and Robson (1993) reported thatthe first pool of Zn in plant is seed and this Zn is mobilized to growing seedling. Moussavi-Nik at
al. (1997) also reported that the Zn has a stimulatory effect on crop germination and establishment
as well as the final yield, especially in Zn-deficient soils. Wheat seedlings grown from seed withhigh Zn content produced more tillers and had better growth than seedlings grown from seed with
low Zn content (Rengel and Graham, 1995a,b). Seed loading of Zn is affected by plant species andavailability of Zn to the parent plant (Longnecker and Robson, 1993). Different species loaddifferent amount of Zn into their seeds even when grown in the same environment (Takker et al.,
1988; Longnecker and Robson, 1993; Mozafer, 1993; see review by Rengel et al., 1999).
ZINC IN HUMAN NUTRITION AND HEALTH
It is estimated that about one billion people in the world do not eat sufficient food to meet theirenergy requirements and are consequently undernourished (Stein et al., 2007). Many more people
suffer from ‘hidden hunger’: 150 million are vitamin-A-deficient, almost 2 billion are iodinedeficient, between 4 and 5 billion are iron (Fe) deficient (Hotz and Brown, 2004; Stein et al., 2007)
and about 3 billion are Zn-deficient (WHO, 2002; Hotz and Brown, 2004; Stein et al., 2007). Zinc
acts as a stabiliser of the structures of membranes and cellular components; in human body, mostZn is in the bone and skeletal muscles (Frossard et al., 2000). In addition to its role in enzyme
function (Rivera et al., 1998), Zn also plays a major role in gene expression (Sandstrom, 1997). Zn
deficiency in humans reduces growth, sexual maturity and the immune defense system (Frossard etal., 2000; Cunnigham-Rundles et al., 2005). Few studies (Ninh et al., 1996; Ruz, 1997; Rivera et al.,1998) reported that increased growth in Zn-supplemented infants and preschool children havelowered the incidence of diarrhoea and respiratory infections. Meat and seafood are good sourcesof Zn, and most of the Zn in the developed countries’ diet is provided by animal products (Sanstead,1995). However, in many parts of the developing world, most Zn is provided by cereals andlegume seeds. These plant foods are high in phytic acid, which is a potent inhibitor of Zn
absorption in the human digestive system (Frossard et al., 2000). Among population children andwomen are mostly affected with Zn deficiency (White and Broadley, 2005, Stein et al., 2007).
Given the context of growing world population pressure with limited food supply capacity ofarable lands and cropping systems, the holistic sustainable improvements in the entire food systems
are required to solve the massive problems of malnutrition and increasing chronic diseases indeveloped and especially developing countries (Welch, 2005). The question is how agriculture cancontribute to sustainable solutions to these malnutrition problems. In that context, it is important tounderstand the dynamics of Zn accumulation in grains and other edible parts, which has animplication for human nutrition.
DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION
Primary source of nutrients supply to human being is from crop and livestock products hence.
Agricultural systems have great impact on human health and productivity. Among micronutrients,
Zn is most limiting element for crop and animal productivity. Zinc deficiency is prevalent mostly indeveloping nations, causing the up to severe limitations on physical and intellectual capacity of thepeople as well as adversely affect their health and well-being (Frossard et al., 2000).
Conventionally, public health has been responsible to address the micronutrient malnutrition,rather than agriculture, despite the same underlying cause: an inadequate intake of balanced diet
(Stein et al., 2007). Zinc deficiency has received little public attention, and no systematic© ISERD

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interventions are currently in place to control this micronutrient deficiency (IM 2005 as cited in
Stein et al., 2007). In recent years, efforts have been initiated in agricultural research anddevelopment to increase micronutrients density in edible parts (Cakmak, 2008).
Among different strategies to combat Zn deficiency in soils, application of Zn fertilizers to soil
such as ZnSO4 increases the yield of crops Zn-deficient soils (Yilmaz et al., 1997). It alsosignificantly contributes in increased Zn concentration in cereal grains (Graham et al., 1993,
Rengel et al., 1999). Similarly, foliar application of Zn fertilizers significantly increased the Zn
concentration in seeds (Yilmaz et al., 1997). Harris et al. (2007) found that priming seeds in Zncontaining solutions is a practical way to increase seed Zn prior to sowing and to contribute tobetter seedling growth. Similarly, priming maize seeds in 1% w/v ZnSO4 solution for 16 hsignificantly increased seed Zn concentration, and the seedlings derived from these seeds showed
greater biomass and significantly greater grain yield (Harris et al., 2007 as cited in Cakmak, 2008).
Soil types, growth stage, and genotypes also play key role in efficient use of Zn fertilizers,
therefore those factors to be taken into account while applying fertilizers.
Plant breeding techniques to introduce high Zn traits into high yielding crops anotherpromising approach to load the higher Zn content into edible parts of the crops. Efforts to increase
the micronutrients density into edible parts have been initiated to develop crop genotypes (Cakmak,2008). Similarly, genetic engineering and molecular genetics have great role in agriculturalresearch to identify key regulatory steps in the acquisition of Zn by plants. Identifying andtransferring of the corresponding genes to agriculturally important crops might allow to increase
their nutrient uptake capacity. However, it is important to take into account of diverse soil types
and environments, which have impact on plant growth and development.
Bioavailability of minerals for man is critical because mineral absorption by man from plantfoods is often low. This appears to be mainly due to the presence of phenolic compounds or phyticacid (Fairweather-Tait and Hurrell, 1996 in stein et al., 2007), which is very strong chelator for Zn
and other minerals. Therefore, it is equally important to identifying bioavailability of Zn in plant
products by understanding the presence of other inhibitors like phenolic compound and phytates inedible parts or presence of ascorbic acids (which help in absorption of Zn for human being).
However, with the increased concentration of Zn would help to increase in absorption
proportionately assuming low absorption in the low-Zn plant and high in the high-Zn plant.
CONCLUSION
Agriculture is the mainstay in supplying main sources of nutrition to human being, particularly indeveloping nations. Large number of population are affected with low Zn supply in their food areliving in developing nations, among the most Zn deficient population are children and women. Low
cost and easy approaches such as seed priming, soil and foliar application of Zn fertilizers, areeffective measures to load higher Zn in edible parts. Similarly with less immediate application but
potential approaches are breeding and genetic engineering techniques have the greatest potential toincrease Zn content and reducing phytate and phenolic compounds in edible parts to combat the Zn
deficiency world-wide.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (eIPRS) and University PostgraduateAward International Student (UPA-IS) from The University of Western Australia for Ph.D study of thefirst author is highly acknowledged. Comments from Prof. Dr. Machito Mihara are appreciated while
preparing this manuscript.

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Research article
erd

Diversity of the Actinomycetes Community Colonising Rice
Straw Residues in Cultured Soil Undergoing Various Crop
Rotation Systems in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam
TRAN VAN DUNG
Soil Science Department, College of Agriculture & Applied Biology,
Can Tho University, Vietnam
Division of Soil and Water Management, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering,
K.U. Leuven, Belgium
Email: tvandung@ctu.edu.vn

DUONG MINH VIEN, VO THI GUONG AND CAO NGOC DIEPCan Tho University, Vietnam

PATRICIA DOMINGUES, ROEL MERCKX AND DIRK SPRINGAELDivision of Soil and Water Management, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering,
K.U. Leuven, Belgium
Received 30 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Actinomycetes are involved in important environmental processes such as thedecomposition of organic matter. In this study, we examined the impact of crop rotation on
the actinomycetes community colonizing rice straw residues in soil over 3 field seasons bymeans of Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprinting analysis ofactinomycetes 16S rRNA gene fragments amplified from field-incubated rice straw
residues and analysis of actinomycetes 16S rRNA gene clone libraries from selected
samples. The studied yearly crop rotation systems were rice-rice-rice (CRS1), rice-ricebaby corn (CRS2), rice-rice-mungbean (CRS3) and baby corn-rice-mungbean (CRS4),
applied on different experimental plots of the same field location. Litter bags containing
rice stems were inserted into the soil and recollected at different time points forcomparison of the structure of the actinomycetes community colonizing the rice straw.
The actinomycetes community was significantly different in composition in the baby cornrice-mungbean rotation system (CRS4) compared to those in the 3 other systems during
the growth of the first crop and second crop. In contrast, during the cultivation of the third
crop, actinomycetes communities were significantly different in the rice-rice-rice (CRS1)
system compared to those in the 3 other systems. The analysis of the 16S rRNA genelibraries constructed from selected samples of rotation systems CRS1 and CRS4 during
growth of the first two crops confirmed the DGGE results. The diversity of actinomycetes
tended to be highest in the CRS4 system and lowest in the CRS1 system.
Keywords Actinomycetes community, diversity, crop rotation, Mekong delta

INTRODUCTION
Actinomycetes, phylogenetically defined as a number of taxa within the high-GC subdivision of thegram-positive phylum (Embley et al., 1994), represent a group of relatively abundant andmetabolically diverse bacteria in soils (Labeda and Shearer, 1990; McCarthy and Williams, 1992;
Holmalahti et al., 1994). They are involved in important processes in a wide range of habitats(Williams et al., 1984), such as the decomposition of organic materials in soil, including lignin andother recalcitrant polymers, and in the degradation of agricultural and urban wastes (Crawford,
1988; McCarthy, 1987).

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The composition of a soil microbial community can be affected by various factors such as soil
characteristics, environmental conditions, plant growth and crop management strategies (Curl andTruelove, 1986). Numerous studies have compared microbial communities among different
ecosystems such as agricultural soils versus soils from forest or grassland systems (Ovreas andTorsvik, 1998; Waldrop et al., 2000; Yao et al., 2000), among soils undergoing different long-term
cropping and management regimes (Zelles et al., 1992, 1995; Bossio et al., 1998; Drijber et al.,2000), and among soils cultivated by different plant species (Grayston et al., 1998; Siciliano et al.,
1998; Ibekwe and Kennedy, 1999; Miethling et al., 2000; Marschner et al., 2001). However, there
are few studies documenting the effects of crop rotation systems on specific soil microbialcommunities (Lupwayi et al., 1998). Especially, the effect of crop rotation on soil actinomycetes
has been poorly studied despite the important role of this group of micro-organisms in degradationof organic matter and nutrient cycling.
Rice is the most important crop in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. The total area cultivatedwith rice in that region occupies nearly 4 million hectares per year. The introduction of highyielding rice varieties and intensive rice cultivation has resulted into numerous constraints, such as
high plant disease pressure, the extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides and soil degradation. In
order to reduce chemical inputs, to improve profitability, and to increase sustainability, newcropping systems and management practices for rice production in the Mekong Delta are being
assessed. In this context, we have initiated different field experiments in which we assessed theeffect of crop rotation on rice productivity and soil health. As a part of this study, we examined
whether the type of crop rotation affected microbial communities playing a role in soil functioning.
In this paper, we assessed the effect of crop rotation system on the actinomycetes community
colonizing and degrading rice straw residues in soil which had been historically cultivated forcontinuous rice production for more than 10 years.
METHODOLOGY
Set-up of field experiment and sampling approach
The experimental field used in this study is located in Cay Lay district, Tien Giang province,
Vietnam. The field was designed as a complete randomized block of experimental plots undergoing
4 different crop rotation systems (CRS) with 3 replicate plots per system since the year 2001. Eachplot covered an experimental area of 90 m2 (6 by 15m). The 4 applied rotation systems were (1)CRS1: rice (Crop I) - rice (Crop II) - rice (Crop III), (2) CRS2: rice (Crop I) - rice (Crop II) - baby
corn (Crop III), (3) CRS3: rice (Crop I) - rice (Crop II) - mungbean (Crop III) and (4) CRS4: baby
corn (Crop I) - rice (Crop II) - mungbean (Crop III).

Fig. 1 Time schedule showing the recovery of litter bags from the Cay Lay field experiment
Arrow indicated with 1 refers to litter bags inserted before the start of the experiment. Arrows indicated with 2,
5 & 8 refer to sampling of litter bags after 14 days of cultivation of crops I, II and III, respectively. Arrows
indicated with 3 & 6 refer to sampling of litter bags after 50 days of cultivation of crops I and II, respectively.
Arrows indicated with 4, 7 & 9 refer to sampling of litter bags at harvest of crops I, II and III, respectively. The
cropping calendars of three cropping patterns were as follow: crop I (between 20/6/2006 and 1/10/2006), crop
II (between 1/11/2006 and 10/2/2007) and crop III (between 30/2/2007 and 10/6/2007).

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Litter bags (nylon material with a pore size of 200 ηm) were filled with 5 g of dried rice straw
residues and buried, prior to seeding of the first crop, into the soil at a depth of around 10 cm on 20
June 2006.Before inserting, the bags with rice straw were sterilized at 121oC for 20 minutes. The
litter bags were periodically recovered from the soil for 16S rRNA gene based DGGE analysis of
the actinomycetes community colonizing rice straw according to the time schedule shown in Fig 1.
At each time point, 3 litter bags were recovered from each plot.
DNA extraction and DGGE analysis
DNA was extracted from the rice straw as described by Boon et al. (2000). 30µl of the extract wascleaned from humic acids by adding 2mg acid-washed PVPP (Sigma-Aldrich Chemie GmbH,
Steinheim, Germany) and 30µl TE-buffer. The mix was vortexed and centrifuged at 11,000 rpm
during 5 min. The supernatant was recovered and subjected to PCR amplification of the target 16SrRNA gene. To amplify actinomycetes specific 16S rRNA gene fragments, a nested PCR approach
was used in which in the first PCR the actinomycete specific forward primer F243 (Heuer et al.,1997) was used together with the bacterial reverse primer R1378 (Heuer et al., 1997). The productof this PCR was used as template in a second PCR with primers F984GC (Nubel et al., 1996) andR1378. PCR reactions were performed in a Mastercycler apparatus (Eppendorf; Hamburg,
Germany), according to van Dillewijn et al. (2002). DGGE of amplified actinomycetes 16S rRNA
gene fragments was performed on an Ingeny phor U-2 system (Leiden, The Netherlands). 30 µl
portions of the PCR product were loaded onto an 8% (w/v) polyacrylamide gel with a denaturing
gradient ranging from 35% denaturant to 65% denaturant in Tris–acetate–EDTA (TAE) buffer.
Electrophoresis was performed for 15 h at 60°C and 120 V. The gels were stained for 30 min with
1xSYBR Gold (Molecular Probes, Leiden, and The Netherlands) and photographed on a UVtransilluminator with a GeneLink camera system (SYNGENE, Cambridge, UK). Gelcompar II
version 3.5 (Applied Math’s, Sint-Martens-Latern, Belgium) was used for UPGMA cluster analysis
of DGGE fingerprints. Dendrograms were constructed by using the Pearson correlation index foreach pair of lanes within a gel and cluster analysis by the unweighted pair group method using
arithmetic averages.
Cloning and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments
PCR products were cloned into pCR®2.1-TOPO®, using the TOPO TA Cloning kit (Invitrogen,Merelbeke, Belgium) as described by the manufacturer. To check transformants for theincorporation of the actinomycetes 16S rRNA gene, a nested PCR was performed consisting of afirst PCR with M13f and M13r primers as described by Invitrogen followed by a second PCR withbacterial primers GC-984F and 1378R. DGGE fingerprints from fragments amplified from theclones were compared with the actinomycetes 16S rRNA gene DGGE fingerprints obtained fromenvironmental DNA and appropriate clones were chosen for sequence analysis. The PCR products
obtained from the clones were purified with the PCR purification kit (Promega) as described by
Promega and subjected to DNA sequencing reactions performed with the QuickStart DNA
sequencing kit (Beckman) and analysed on an automatic sequencer (CEQTM8000, Beckman
Coulter, Fullerton, CA, USA). Resulting partial 16S rRNA gene sequences (about 400 bp) wereanalyzed by BLASTN search (Altschul et al., 1997).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
DGGE analysis of actinomycetes community colonizing rice straw incubated under various
crop rotation systems
Fig. 2 shows the actinomycetes 16S rRNA gene DGGE profiles obtained from rice straw residues
incubated under the different crop rotation systems at 14 days of cultivation, at 50 days ofcultivation and at harvest of crop I, crop II and crop III while Fig. 3 shows the corresponding© ISERD

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UPGMA cluster analysis. The DGGE profiles revealed that the composition of the actinomycetes
community in colonizing rice straw residues was strongly affected by crop rotation. The clearest
difference was observed between plots undergoing system CRS4 on the one hand and the 3 othersystems on the other hand during growth of crop I and II, and between CRS1 plots on the one hand
and the other 3 systems during growth of crop III.
During growth of crop I, at 14 days of cultivation, at 50 days of cultivation and at harvest, theprofiles of the replicates of systems CRS1, CRS2 and CRS3 clustered as a separate group from theprofiles of replicates of system CRS4 in the UPGMA clustering analysis (Fig. 3A). Profiles from
replicate plots of systems CRS1, CRS2 and CRS3 were highly similar with a similar level amongthe 3 systems of 48.2, 42 and 76% for samples taken at 14 days of cultivation, at 50 days ofcultivation and at harvest, respectively. In contrast, profiles from system CRS4 were 36.5%, 31 and72.8% similar to profiles originating from the other 3 rotation systems at 14 days, at 50 days ofcultivation and at harvest, respectively.
During growth of crop II, which was rice in all systems, at 14 days of cultivation and at 50
days of cultivation, profiles for systems CRS1, CRS2 and CRS3 were still more similar to eachother than to profiles obtained for system CRS4, i.e., the profiles of CRS1, CRS2 and CRS3 wereabout 70.4 % and 71.5% similar to the profiles of CRS4 at 14 days and 50 days of cultivation,
respectively, while the values of similarity were 87 and 87.5% among the profiles of CRS1, CRS2
and CRS3 at day 14 and day 50, respectively. However, at harvest of crop II, the profiles clusteredinto two main groups (Fig. 3B). One group consisted of the profiles of CRS1 and CRS2 and theother group of profiles of CRS3 and CRS4. The similarity between the group containing CRS1 and
CRS2 and the group containing CRS3 and CRS4 was 59.5% while the similarity of profiles within
the two groups was 69% and 66.9%, respectively.
During cultivation of crop III, at day 14 of crop cultivation and at harvest, the actinomycetes
community profiles clustered into two main groups, i.e., a first group consisting of profiles fromsystems CRS2, CRS3 and CRS4 and a second group consisting of profiles derived from system
CRS1 (Fig. 3C). Profiles from CRS1 were 42.1% and 34.5% similar to profiles originating fromthe other rotation systems at day 14 and at harvest, respectively. The similarity among the CRS2,
CRS3 and CRS4 profiles was 50.9% at day 14 day and 45.0% at harvest.
Analysis of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries
16S rRNA gene clone libraries were constructed from two representative samples of the CRS1 and
CRS4 system, i.e., a sample taken at 50 days of cultivation of crop I and a sample taken at 50 daysof cultivation of crop II. For each library 15 to 20 clones were analyzed by DNA sequence analysis.
Figure 4 shows the phylogenetic distribution of the 16S rRNA gene sequences within each library.
In the sample taken at 50 days of cultivation of crop I in system CRS1, most of the 16S rRNA
sequences matched with 16S rRNA gene sequences of actinomycetes especially with the family
Nocardioidaceae (22.3%) and uncultured actinomycetes (33.3%).Unexpectedly, other clones
carried sequences which were not related to 16S rRNA gene sequences of actinomycetes but rather
to sequences associated with the phyla verrucomicrobia and fimircutes (44.4%). In contrast, in thecorresponding samples taken from the CRS4 rotation system, almost all sequences were associatedwith the actinomycetes (84.75%) while only a minority was non-actinomycetes sequences such as
sequences associated with the phylum verrucomicrobia (15.3%). Interestingly, the actinomycetes
present in the CRS4 system were apparently more diverse than those in the CRS1 system, showing
the presence of four different families of actinomycetes, i.e., Microbacteriaceae,
Promicromonosporaceae, Nocardioidaceae, and Mycobacteriaceaee. The family Microbacteriaceae
constituted the most abundant family (53.8%).
Diversity in the actinomycetes community was also found at day 50 of cultivation of crop II.
Moreover, although in both systems, rice was the cultivated crop, the samples from the two systems
apparently contained two different actinomycetes communities. The community in the CRS4
system was more diverse and included members of five actinomycetes different families, i.e.,
Streptomycetaceae,
Catenulisporaceae,
Nocardioidaceae,
Mycobacteriaceae
andPromicromonosporaceae while the CRS1 sample contained members of two families, i.e.,© ISERD

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Microbacteriaceae and Mycobacteriaceae. The family Streptomycetaceae was dominant (43.2%) in
the CRS4 system while in the CRS1 system, the Microbacteriaceae family was dominant (46.7%).
In both systems, the actinomycetes were still the most highly represented sequences (53.3% in
CRS1 and 88.3% in CRS4) but also non- actinomycetes 16S rRNA gene sequences were found(46.7% in CRS1 and 14.2% in CRS4), which were associated with the groups of proteobacteria,
verricomicrobia and firmicutes. Xuan et al (2007) found that the family Microbacteriaceae waspresent in rice straw decomposing in soil of two experimental sites in the Mekong Delta while
Hesham et al (2006) showed Streptomyces as the dominant actinomycetes genus in rice straw
decomposition although also members of the genera Nocardiopsis, Micromonospora andNocardioides were present.
Three main conclusions can be taken from our study. First, the actinomycetes community
seems to be dynamic in function of time, both during the growth of a particular crop and ofdifferent crops. This can be explained by changes in substrate (i.e., the rice straw) composition
during decomposition (Lynch and Harper, 1985; Aulakh et al., 1991).

A

B

C

Fig. 2 16S rRNA gene DGGE fingerprints of the actinomycetes community colonizing ricestraw residues in 3 replicate plots undergoing the studied crop rotation systems at 14days (left), 50 days (middle) and harvest (right) of crops I (A), II (B) and III (C)Lanes 1-3: replicate plots undergoing system CRS1; lanes 4-6: replicate plots undergoing system CRS2; lanes
7-9: replicate plots undergoing system CRS3; lanes 10-12: replicate plots undergoing system CRS4. Lane L:
reference bacterial 16S rRNA gene ladder.

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Alternatively, the different environmental conditions implemented when different crops arecultivated can be a reason. Different crop species might produce different types of root exudates
which supply nutrients to the microbial community (Miethling et al., 2000; Smalla et al., 2001;
Marschner et al., 2001).

A

B

C

Fig. 3 UPGMA clustering of actinomycetes 16S rRNA gene DGGE profiles recovered fromrice straw residues in replicate plots undergoing the different crop rotation systems
during cultivation of crops I (A), II (B) and III (C) at 14 days of incubation (left), 50
days of incubation (middle) and harvest (right), respectively
Indicated numbers correspond with lane numbers used in Fig. 3.

Second, the main factor which drives actinomycetes community composition in the different
crop rotation systems seems to be whether the soils were saturated and unsaturated with water, i.e.,
whether aerobic and anaerobic conditions were implemented. Indeed, during growth of crop I,
profiles from systems CRS1, CRS2 and CRS3 clustered in one group different from profiles ofsystems CRS4. Crop I was rice for systems CRS1, CRS2 and CRS3 cultivated under saturated soil
conditions while it was an upland crop for system CRS4 cultivated under unsaturated soil
conditions.
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100%
90%
80%
Percentage of clones

Nonactinomycetes
70%

Catenulisporaceae
Streptomycetaceae

60%

Mycobacteriaceae

50%

Promicromonosporaceae

40%

Microbacteriaceae
Uncultured Actinomycetes

30%

Nocardioidaceae
20%
10%
0%
A

B

C

D

Crops and CRSs typeFig. 4 Fractions of recovered 16S rRNA gene sequences divided among different relevantbacterial families
The codes A and B indicate 16S rRNA gene libraries recovered from samples taken at 50 days of cultivation ofcrop I in rotation system CRS1 and CRS4, respectively. Codes C and D indicate 16S rRNA gene libraries
recovered from samples taken at 50 days of cultivation of crop II in rotation systems CRS1 and CRS4,
respectively.

Previously, Reichardt et al. (2001) showed a negative correlation between the biomass of fungi,
as primary microbial decomposers of crop residues, in soil and the soil-water content. Moreover,micro-site differences of aerobic or anaerobic conditions such as those influenced by therhizosphere and residue decomposition were previously shown to affect the makeup of a soil
microbial community (Lynch and Harper, 1985; Aulakh et al., 1991). However, no data exist on theeffect of soil moisture content on Actinomycetes community structure.
As a third conclusion, differently structured actinomycetes communities were also observed
between systems CRS4 on the one hand and systems CRS1, CRS2 and CRS3 on the other hand,during growth of crop II which was rice cultivated in water saturated soil in all systems. This was
especially the case at day 14 of sampling while at day 50 and especially at harvest, majordifferences in community profiles disappeared. The differences in actinomycetes community
profiles between systems CR4 and CRS1 during growth of crop II was also shown by the 16S
rRNA gene library analysis. This might indicate that the type of rotation system affects theactinomycetes community profile despite similar cultivation conditions. It is well-accepted thatcrop rotations have an important effect on soil microbiology. Several studies indicated that crop
rotation tend to result in a higher microbial diversity and/or biomass (Zelles et al., 1992, 1995;
Drijber et al., 2000; Larkin , 2003; Collins et al., 1992; Kirchner et al., 1993; Olsson andGerhardson, 1992). However, studies on the effect of crop rotation directed to the actinomycetes
are rare. Martyniuk and Wagner (1978) found a higher number of actinomycetes in a rotation
system including maize, oats, wheat and red clover than in continuous systems of maize or wheat.
Similarly, Kirchner et al. (1993) found that the number of actinomycetes is significantly higher insoil undergoing maize-crimson clover rotation than in soil undergoing continuous maize cultivation.
On the other hand, Collins et al. (1992) reported that actinomycetes biomass was significantly
higher under monoculture wheat than under wheat-fallow rotation. On the other hand, it is possiblethat DNA of actinomycetes communities colonizing the rice straw during cultivation of crop I andwhich died off when anaerobic conditions where implemented, did remain under those conditions
and resulted into amplification.
CONCLUSIONS
Overall, our results show that the actinomycetes communities were affected by the crop rotation
systems, but that the implemented environmental conditions rather than the rotation system as such
affected the community composition. Further studies will identify more specific changes associated© ISERD

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with particular rotations and relate these changes to potential effects on disease management, crop
health, and crop productivity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank all the staff of the Soil Science and Land Management Department of Cantho University forhelp in experiment design and execution and the staff of the Division of Soil and Water Management of
K.U. Leuven for advice in molecular techniques. We thank to the farmer’s extension agency for support
at the field locations. This work was supported by a grant from the VLIR-IUC CTU program (ProjectR3) and a grant from the Vietnam Overseas Scholarship Program (Project 322).

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Research article
erd

Seasonal Direct-Use Value of Cheung Ek Peri-Urban Lake,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
SEILA SAR
Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: sar_seila2005@yahoo.com

COLAS CHERVIER
Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

PUY LIM
Ecole Nationale Supérieur Agronomique de Toulouse, Toulouse, France

CRISTY WARRENDER, GARRY W. WARRENDER AND
ROBERT G. GILBERTThe University of Queensland, Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, Australia
Received 30 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Cheung Ek Lake receives 80% of Phnom Penh’s urban wastewater. Since mostof the lakes around Phnom Penh are being reclaimed for urban development, surveys were
undertaken to analyze the direct-use economic value of Cheung Ek lake in the dry season,
which could serve for policy-makers’ future considerations. The direct-use value wasassessed by summing total income of all activities performed on the lake. Income wascalculated using a bottom-up approach based on a stratified sampling and on in-depth
interviews of 192 households using structured questionnaires for each household’s
activity. The primary activities are water spinach, water mimosa, and rice cultivation,
fishing, and duck raising. Over a six-month period, farmer receive an average profit of
4,168 USD/ha from water mimosa cultivation, 1,553 USD/ha from water spinach
cultivation, 512 USD from fishing, 506 USD/ha from dry season rice cultivation, and 157
USD/100 ducks from duck raising. After multiplication by the total area of plants (fromremote sensing), and number of household and duck numbers (by direct investigation), thedirect-use value was estimated at more than 1 million USD, of which water spinachproduction contributes 65%, fishing 20%, water mimosa production 13%, duck raising
1%, and dry season rice production 0.7%. The study suggests that almost a thousand of
direct-beneficiaries can generate part of their income from agriculture or fishery-related
activities performed on the lake. Moreover, the research targeted only one part of directuse value of the lake and thus largely underestimated the overall value of the lake.
Indirect-value components are community health (which can be greatly improved throughwater purification), and indirect-use value of the lake (e.g. tourism), both of which have
major economic implications and which must be taken into account in further research.
Keywords direct-use value, Cheung Ek Lake, water spinach, Phnom Penh

INTRODUCTION
Wastewater use in agriculture and aquaculture has a long history in China (Zhiwen, 1999),
Cambodia and Vietnam, to culture fish and aquatic plants in peri-urban wetlands (Kuong et al.,2005; Leschen et al., 2005; Lan et al., 2007). Phnom Penh, with a surface area of 375 km², issurrounded by wetland, of which 80% comprises natural lakes and low-plain agriculture. Every day,about 55,600 m3 of urban household wastewater and nearly 1 million m3 of storm water are
discharged into these wetlands (Muong, 2004). This wastewater is used in numerous plots locatedwithin and around the wetlands in peri-urban Phnom Penh, and provides important sources of© ISERD

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edible aquatic vegetables and fish farming to supply the food demand of the city and other areas ofCambodia (Khuong et al., 2005). Cheung Ek Lake, a seasonally inundated lake located about 5 km
to the south of Phnom Penh, is a large water body that receives 80% of the wastewater from Phnom
Penh’s urban population and from factories (garment and various other factories). Rainfall run-off
also discharges into the lake (Seyha and Tuan Anh, 2004). Cheung Ek Lake is an important area forgrowing aquatic plants and fish production, and harvesting is undertaken throughout the year. The
activities on the area of Cheung Ek Lake represent not just the most important source of the incomeof many households, but also the employment and income earning opportunities for manyseasonally hired labourers engaged in setting up, maintaining and harvesting the plants (Balmisseand Sylvain, 2003), as well as low-cost wastewater treatment. In 2009, 429 hectares of water
spinach, 32.1 hectares of water mimosa, and (during the dry season) 13.5 hectares of dry-season
rice were cultivated within the Cheung Ek Lake boundary (Teang, 2009).
The purpose of this research is to understand the economic value of Cheng Ek Lake byidentifying the primary human activities performed on the lake and assessing the direct use value ofthe lake from those activities that could assist policy-makers’ future considerations.
METHODOLOGY
An inundated lake, Cheung Ek Lake, was the research site of this study. The sampling was
primarily stratified by activity, as the human activity performed on the lake is very diverse. It wasthen stratified by village in order to obtain more reliable results, as farmers involved in eachactivity live in 15 different villages around the lake. 192 households from a total of 900 households
working directly on the lake were randomly selected for in-depth interview using a structured
questionnaire. The study was conducted from December 2008 to May 2009, which was a period of
dry season. Direct observation and interviews with key informants were first used to better
understand the diversified activities and the landscape of the area, followed by direct householdinterviews to obtain information on the household’s income-generating activities performed on thelake. The direct-use value of the lake was assessed by summing up the total profit of all activities
performed on the lake. The profit of each activity was calculated by the total income minus by the
total expense. This excluded the labour costs of 2–3 producers per household in each activity; theseproducers were not paid salary, being all family workers.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
On Cheung Ek Lake, five main socio-economic activities are undertaken by the farmers who havemigrated from other provinces throughout Cambodia. These five major activities are: water spinach
cultivation (350 households), water mimosa cultivation (110 households), dry season ricecultivation (19 households), fishing (402 households) and duck raising (19 households). In 2009, a
total of 900 households were working directly on the lake during the dry season.
Many of the respondents are not born in the districts, communities or villages where they
currently reside; they are mostly migrants from other provinces throughout the country. They camefrom Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Thom, Kandal, Prey Veng, Svay Reang and Takeo provinces.
As shown in Fig. 1, most of the water spinach and water mimosa cultivators and less than half offishermen and dry season rice cultivator are migrants while all the duck raisers were born in thisregion. The study indicated that the migration from the provinces for water mimosa cultivation in
Cheung Ek Lake started within the last five years, while for water spinach cultivation it started
more than 20 years previously and has been increasing with time. The results from this research
indicate similar reasons for the migration process to those found by Rigg and Salamanca (2006a). It
is suggested that the major reasons that respondents gave for moving to peri-urban aquatic plants
production region are: to find work, to follow or join their families, to move into a new economic
zone, to pursue a work-related initiative, as well as due to war or marriage. Thus, it can be assumed
that the movement of people to peri-urban regions are propelled primarily by work or livelihood© ISERD

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concerns. The migration rate has been steadily increasing over time, which leads to greater demandof land for agricultural activities, thus pushing the renting cost to increase significantly.

Fig. 1 Migration of farmers to Cheung Ek Lake
As most of the farmers working on the lake were migrants from other provinces throughout
the country, they needed to rent the land on average 300-400 USD per hectare for their activities: asshown in Table 1, almost of the water spinach and water mimosa cultivators were renters, as weremore than half of dry season rice cultivator and duck raisers. Some of the producers on the lakeown the land for cultivation. In a very few cases, farmers were asked to look after the land by thelandlord and were able to work on the land without paying rent. According to Rigg and Salamanca(2006b), the ownership of the land among surveyed households in Aquatic Food Plants Production
Systems in both Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City is high, but this is not the case for either Phnom
Penh or Hanoi. Kuong et al. (2006) stated that, in Phnom Penh, about 10% of the households fromtwo villages, Kbal Tumnub and Thnout Chrum, owned the land for water spinach cultivation. The
present research has found similar results: most of the water mimosa and water spinach cultivatorsand the duck raisers in Cheung Ek Lake need to rent the water surface area from the landlord fortheir cultivation (95%, 92% and 63% respectively). In addition, only 53% among 19 households of
dry season rice cultivators need to rent the land for dry season rice practice on the lake.
Table 1 Land ownership by activity
Activity
Water spinach cultivation
Water mimosa cultivation
Dry season rice
Duck raising

Rent (%)

Owned (%)
92.4
95.0
53.0
63.2

7.6
5.0
21.0
21.0

Other (%)
0.0
0.0
26.0
15.8

Generally, villagers can only own water surface area they inherited from their forebears. Few
migrants own the water area they use for cultivation. Most farmers find difficulty in facing the highcost of water-surface area rental and the expense of chemicals. Thus, they need to borrow money in
any way they can for their initial inputs. The cultivators usually borrow money from the middlemen
and they pay the interest in the form of selling the product back at slightly lower than the market
price, or they borrow from their neighbours at a high rate of interest (about 10%) and can sell theirproducts at the market price. There are a limited number of farmers who borrow money frommicro-credit banks or organizations, as most do not want to follow the institution’s restrictions. It isvery rare for the fishermen, rice cultivators, and duck raisers to borrow the money from theirproduction as their initial input is not as high as water spinach and water mimosa production. Mostof the farmers working on both aquatic plants cultivation and fish culture in the four main cities inSoutheast Asia mentioned the need to take a loan for their initial costs of production, except in Ho
Chi Minh City where most of the farmers could not take the credit from any sources of loan as they
did not meet the loan terms set by the government. According to Yoonpundh et al. (2006), fewer
aquatic plant cultivators took out loans for their cultivation (water spinach cultivator 27% and© ISERD

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water mimosa cultivator 10%). Nevertheless, the results from Kuong et al. (2006) found that many
water spinach producers in Kbal Tumnob and Thnout Chrum villages in the Phnom Penh periurban region took out credit (60% and 40% respectively). The results from this research, as shownin Fig. 2, are similar to the previous results of Kuong et al. (2006), as 63% of the total households
from 8 villages working on water spinach cultivation and 59% of water mimosa cultivators tookloans from various sources for the initial input of production.

Fig. 2 Credit for inputs of production
The producer can either sell the product to the middlemen or sell it directly at the markets. The
product is transported by middleman or producer to the wholesalers in the main markets in Phnom
Penh. At these markets, the wholesalers sell the product to retailers from other markets in Phnom
Penh and also to other traders from the provinces, such as Koh Kong, Sihanuk ville, and Kampong
Cham. Finally, the product is sold to consumers for their daily household diet. The results from thisstudy are similar to those of (Yoonpundh et al., 2006; Huy and Hung, 2006; Phuong et al., 2006;
Kuong et al., 2006) regarding market processing. It seems that the marketing process for aquatic
food production is quite similar throughout Southeast Asia. The transaction cost from producer toconsumer is an average 900 riels per bunch for water spinach and 1,600 riels per kilogram for water
mimosa. The prices of both water spinach and water mimosa are higher in the dry season than in
the wet season. Fishermen sell their product to the local markets in the nearest accessible market
whereas the main markets for the middlemen’s supply are not identified yet. Duck eggs are sold by
farmers to the middlemen, and then they are supplied to the local market and also transported to themain markets in Phnom Penh. The product from rice production is usually used for household
consumption, although in some cases it is sold to neighbours in the villages.
The findings show that the household income varies with activity: water spinach cultivators
obtained an average income of 1,431 USD, water mimosa cultivators 1,795 USD, fishermen 512
USD, dry season rice cultivators 359 USD, and duck raisers 537 USD per household per dry
season. Yoonpundh et al. (2006) stated in the report of the Production in Aquatic Peri-Urban
Systems in Southeast Asia (PAPUSSA) that the water spinach farmers in Bangkok received higher
income (3,943 USD/HH/year) compared to water mimosa farmers (120 USD/ HH/year). This
happened as the water mimosa was destroyed by contaminated water in the canal during the time ofsurvey. These are similar results to those of Huy and Hung (2006). The results of the survey on perurban aquatic food production in Phnom Penh showed that income levels of households involved inwater spinach production in the Cheung Ek lake area were mostly found to be within 200-500
USD/HH/year. Less than one third of these households ranked their annual income from water
spinach production in the range of 500-1000 USD and only a few earned within 1000-5000 USD(Kuong et al., 2006). The average price received by the producer per bunch of water spinach was
only 134 riels. The present research shows that water spinach cultivators in Cheung Ek Lake now
receive improved benefits than in the previous 3 years, with an average profit of 1,431 per six
months. The profit of water spinach cultivators may be increased as the average price per bunch ofwater spinach has increased to 550 riels, and most of the cultivators have increased the water© ISERD

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surface area for water spinach production. The difference of the results of current research and theresults of Kuong et al. (2006) may happen because of the sampling methods. Koung et al. (2006)
randomly selected the respondents from the two main villages involved in water spinach cultivationwhilst in the present research, the respondents were selected from all the 15 villages where thefarmers are involved in water spinach cultivation and the sampling is first stratified by activity
performed on the lake and then by village.
The direct use value of Cheung Ek Lake is the sum of the total cash net income from eachdirect human activity during the period of the dry season. Table 2 shows that households received a
total profit of 1,020,236 USD over the six months of the dry season: a substantial total. Within this,water spinach production gave the main contribution (65%), 666,237 USD with a total cultivation
area of 429 ha whilst dry season rice production is the smallest contribution among the five
(0.67%) with a total profit of 6,912 USD with a total area of 13.5 hectares.
Table 2 Direct use value of Cheung Ek Lake during the dry season
Activity
Water spinach
Water mimosa
Fishing
Dry season rice
Duck raising

Average profit (USD)
1,553 /ha
4,168 /ha
512 /HH
506 /ha157 /100 heads

Total area/household/head
429 ha32.1 ha
402 HHs
13.5 ha
6,293 heads

Total

Total profit (USD)
666,237
133,793
203,4126,912
9,882
1,020,236

CONCLUSION
Cheung Ek Lake is a vital economic resource on the urban margin of Phnom Penh, providing atleast more than a million USD per dry season to about a thousand direct beneficiaries. The
agricultural activities provide a vital fresh food source for markets and help to assure food securityin Phnom Penh as well as being distributed to other provinces throughout the country. This regional
economy also involves growers, wholesalers, distributors and local customers, and provides avaluable trade network in essential commodities such as foodstuffs and animal fodder. Among thefive types of farmers, water mimosa cultivators receive the highest household income (1,795 USD)
whereas dry season rice cultivators obtain the lowest (359 USD). Within the substantial profit fromthe direct value of the lake, water spinach production gives the main contribution (65%) whilst dry
season rice production is gives the least contribution among the five (0.67%). Given the significant
value of the lake to the local people found in this research, policy-makers should make carefulconsiderations before implementing future development plans on this lake region as it may affectseriously on many households’ livelihoods and the food security in Phnom Penh.
The direct use value here is just a part of the overall economic value of the lake and it focuses
only that from the direct beneficiaries of the human activities on the lake. The value from theindirect beneficiaries such as harvester, middlemen, wholesalers, and retailers should be exploredand considered as a part of the direct use value of the lake, as well as the indirect impact of healthand future tourism. This body of water also functions as a means of water purification, which isregarded as another component to the direct use value. Water purification and the indirect use valueof the lake which are great importance for future economic potential must be taken into account toassess the overall economic value of the lake. Although agricultural activities provide a vital
economic link to food markets, there is growing concern for the health implications of this practice.
Waste, including heavy metals, organic pollutants, dissolved nutrients, and biologically active
agents are entering the lake throughout the year, with dilution as the only mitigating factor. This
wastewater constitutes a dangerous situation for the socio-economic importance of Cheung Ek
Lake, as negative effects on human health and economic viability of agricultural practices begin toappear. The implications are two-fold: (i) for the individual - the high cost medical bills and (ii) forthe community - mitigating problems of poor health and disease epidemics, compounded by a
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workforce containing significant numbers of people too unwell to contribute to the economy. A
simple wastewater treatment plant to reduce pathogens and contaminants entering the lake could
overcome many of these problems. If coupled with policies on waste for industries, agriculture andurban communities will see a positive impact on the socio-economic health and wealth of thisregion. In addition, there is the indirect use of the lake region that could arise in the future fromtourism if the lake is relatively unpolluted.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Funding from French Solidarity Priority Project and Aqua-internship Support are highly acknowledged.
Robert G. Gilbert gratefully acknowledges the support of a grant (LP0882618) from the Australian
Research Council.

REFERENCES
Balmisse, A.L. and Sylvain, M. (2003) Traitement par language des eaux esées de la ville dePhnom Penh.
Raport intermédiare No1, Caractérisation des eaux usées de Phnom Penh et du Boeung Cheung Ek.
Phnom Penh, Project FSP d’appui à la Municipalité de Phnom Penh, 1-76.
Huy, H.P.V. and Hung, L.T. (2006) Baseline and monitoring survey report on production in aquatic periurban system in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Production in Aquatic Peri-Urban Systems in Southeast
Asia (PAPUSSA) Report, 74.
Kuong, K., Daream, S., and Borin, C. (2005) Peri-urban aquatic food production systems in Phnom Penh.
Urban Aquaculture Magazine, 14, 1-15.
Kuong, K., Daream, S., Little, D. and Leschen, W. (2006) Household baseline and monitoring survey reporton production in aquatic peri-urban system in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Production in Aquatic PeriUrban Systems in Southeast Asia (PAPUSSA) Report, 100.
Lan, N.T.P., Dalsgaards, A., Cam, P.D. and Mara, D. (2007) Microbiological quality of fish grown in
wastewater-fed and non-wastewater-fed fishponds in Hanoi, Vietnam, Influence of hygiene practices inlocal retail markets. Journal of Water and Health, 5, 209-218.
Leschen, W., Little, D. and Bunting, S. (2005) Urban aquatic production. Urban Aquaculture Magazine, 14,
1-7.
Muong, S. (2004) Avoiding adverse health impacts for contaminated vegetables, Options for three wetlands
in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Economy & Environment Program for South East Asia (EEPSEA),( www.eepsea.org).
Phuong, T.D.N., Tuan, P.A., Tien, N.T.H., Bau, P., Diep, H.K. and Tan, N.T. (2006) Report on baseline andmonitoring survey in aquatic producer households in peri-urban Hanoi, Vietnam. Production in Aquatic
Peri-Urban Systems in Southeast Asia (PAPUSSA) Report, 59.
Rigg, J. and Salamanca, M.A. (2006a) Trajectories of change and the role of aquatic food production systems
in household livelihoods. Production in Aquatic Peri-Urban Systems in Southeast Asia, International
Scientific Cooperation Projects, ICA4-CT-2002-10020, 41.
Rigg, D.J. and Salamanca M.A. (2006b) Tensions between AFPS production systems and other land uses.
Production in Aquatic Peri-Urban Systems in Southeast Asia, International Scientific Cooperation
Projects, ICA4-CT-2002-10020, 29.
Seyha, S and Tuan Anh, V. (2004) Case study of skin problems of a farmer engaged in water morning glory
in Boeung Cheung Ek, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia, National
Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Vietnam, 1-6.
Teang, P. (2010) Spatial analysis of human activities performed in Cheung Ek inundated Lake, Cambodia.
Abstract on International Conference on Environmental and Rural Development, Cambodia.
Yoonpundh, R., Saelee, W., Dulyapurk, V., Srithong, C. and Rakdontee, T. (2006) Baseline and monitoring
survey report, Bangkok, Thailand. Production in Aquatic Peri-Urban Systems in Southeast Asia
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Zhiwen, S. (1999) Rural aquaculture in China. Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Food andAgriculture Organization, Thailand.

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Research article
erd

Contribution of Kampong Preak Fish Sanctuary (Tonle Sap
Lake, Cambodia) to Livelihoods in Two Adjacent Floating
Villages
NITH CHUM
Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: panit_chum@yahoo.com

ERIC BARANWorldFish Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

COLAS CHERVIER
Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

SY VANN LENG
Inland Fishery Research and Development Institute, Fishery Administration,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

DAVID EMMETT
Conservation International, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Received 30 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract This study focused on the contribution of natural resources (fish, wildlife,
vegetation, flooded forest, etc) to the livelihoods of communities living in two floating
villages located near Kampong Preak fish sanctuary, Krakor district, Pursat Province. The
approach was based on a combination of Rapid Rural Assessment (RRA) and economic
assessment methods. Data was collected from 60 households. Stratified random sampling
was used to interview rich, medium and poor households. Quantitative information wascomplemented by interviews of key informants and of village chiefs. Analysis focused oni) quantitative data, and ii) perceptions of interviewees about the contribution of natural
resources and of the fish sanctuary to their livelihoods. This study showed that the fish
catch is an important element of income. The living standards of villagers varied,depending on fish production and aquatic plant collection. Labor, aquaculture, pig farming
and wildlife catching were the other sources of income in the two floating villages. During
six months of fishing season, rich households can catch up to 8020 kg of fish worth USD
1938 while medium households can catch 1,950 kg of fish (USD 778) and poor households
can catch 1,426 kg of fish worth in average USD 422. The fish sanctuary contributed tohousehold consumption and income generation in all households. Fish, snake, water bird,
turtle, edible wild plant and fire wood are most important for daily subsistence of poor
households. Overall people in rich households derive more benefits from natural resources
because they have more capital to invest on fishing equipment and to bribe law enforcers.
Keywords: Conservation, fisheries, rural development, environmental management

INTRODUCTION
Cambodia has the most productive inland fisheries in the world. With an estimated production
ranging between 290,000 and 430,000 tonnes per year (Van Zalinge et al., 2000), the fish yield is
one of the highest in the world and contributes between 8 and 12 % of country’s GDP (Kurien et al.,
2004-2005). More than a million Cambodian rely upon fisheries for their livelihoods and the
majority of Cambodian population lives within the central floodplain of Tonle Sap Great Lake and© ISERD

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Mekong River (ADB, 2003). At least 1.2 million people live the Tonle Sap Lake and exploit its
resources. They depend on fish, flooded forest and wildlife as primary or secondary sources ofincome, employment, food and firewood (ADB, 2003, Chanthy, 2006). According to Balzer et al.
(2002), in the Tonle Sap Great Lake, many wildlife species including birds, snakes, turtles, bee but
also plants are used by the local people. Usually, the rural people catch wildlife for household
consumption as well as for sale and income generation.
The Tonle Sap Great Lake is also a site of global ecological and conservation significance andwas classified as a UNESCO international biosphere reserve (Royal Decree, 2001).Within this area,
fish sanctuaries (i.e. zones where fishing is completely banned) were already recommended by
Chevey and Le Poulain in 1940. In fact, two fish sanctuaries in Pursat Province (namely Kampong
Preak and Reang Til) existed before 1950s (Deap, 1992). Two more fish sanctuaries (Kampong
Pluk in Siem Reap province and Phat Sandai or Pi Stoun in Kampong Thom province) were
established during the 1960s (Sovan,1992). Then four more fish sanctuaries were established lateron (Chroy Sdey and Dey Roneat in Pursat province, Ba Lot fish in Kampong Thom province, andPark Konteal in Battambang province; Chheng, 2008); thus to date there are eight sanctuaries
located around the permanent lake; they are characterized by different levels of law enforcement
and of biological efficiency (Chheng, 2008).
The purposes of the current research is to i) identify the different social groups using natural
resources in Kampong Preak fish sanctuary, ii) determine how these social groups use natural
resources as a livelihood strategy, and iii) assess the contribution of natural resources to income
generation in each social group.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research was conducted between December 2008 and May 2009. A Rapid Rural Appraisal(RRA) approach was used. RRA is a “Systematic, semi structured activity conduced on site, withthe aim of acquiring new information and hypotheses about rural life and rural resources”(Coolison, 1981). This method is a way to identify rural priorities in a short time frame, focusing
on aspects related to planned intervention or change.
The two villages selected for study were Anlong Raing and Kampong Preak villages, locatedoutside the Kampong Preak fish sanctuary. The two floating villages were chosen because the local
livelihoods are based on the natural resources, especially flooded forest, fish and wildlife in the
Kampong Preak fish sanctuary. There has not been any organization to protect and conserve it in
the past, and at the present there CI to provide funds to protect and conserve endangered animal
and fish species as well as flooded forest within the fish sanctuary.
The differences between social groups, their wealth and the corresponding households in eachvillage were determined during a preliminary stratification phase by a wealth ranking exercise anddiscussion with the village leaders. 60 households of different social group from a total of 148
households collecting directly resources around the fish sanctuary were randomly selected for indepth interview using a structured questionnaire. The profit of each natural resource from fish
sanctuary was calculated by the total income minus by the total expense which was not included
the labor cost. The expenditure of employment was covered by the owner.
RESULTS
Contribution of natural resources to the livelihood of different social groups
An analysis of the household interviews gathered in the two floating villages near Kampong Preakfish sanctuary indicates how much natural resources around fish sanctuary are used by different
social groups. Table 1 shows that fishing, snake catching, fire wood collection and water bird
catching all play an important role in the livelihoods of all social groups. There is a substantial
difference between social groups only about turtle catching. Rich and medium household catchturtles by using horizontal cylinder traps and enclosure nets, whereas poor households can not use© ISERD

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them because these gears are expensive and a boat is needed to use them far from their home.
There are some differences between social groups involved in the use of edible wild plants becauserich and medium household use them also for pig farming, whereas poor households don’t raise
pigs.
Table 1 Contribution of natural resources to livelihood of different social groups
Rich households

Sources

Medium households

Poor households

Frequency(%)

Frequency(%)

Frequency(%)

Fishing
Snake catching

11
10

100
91

26
26

100
100

23
23

100
100

Fire wood collection
Edible wild plants collection

10
10

91
91

25
26

95
100

22
23

95
100

Water bird catching
Turtle catching

6
4

55
36

14
6

58
23

11
1

55
4

Kinds of fish caught by the different social groups
An analysis focussing on fish catch, fish groups and social groups is detailed in Table 2. Amongthe three fish groups, white fishes consist of long distance migrants (Tonle Sap - Mekong
mainstream), black fishes of local residents (floodplain fishes), and grey fishes consist of shortdistance migrants (Tonle Sap - local tributaries).
Table 2 Fish caught by different social groups in the villages studied during 6 months

Fish guide
White fish
Gray fish
Black fish
Total

Average total
catchRich households

Medium households

Poor households

fish catch
(kg)

(%)

fish catch
(kg)

(%)

fish catch
(kg)

(%)

fish catch
(kg)

4,758
1,806
1,456
8,020

59
23
18
100

960
552
438
1,950

49
28
23
100

716
358
352
1,426

50
25
25
100

6,434
2,716
2,246
11,396This table shows that there are substantial differences between social groups in terms of fish
catch. In the six months of fishing season between December and May, rich households can catch
more than 8,000 kg of fish (including 59% of white fish, 23% of gray fish and 18% of black fish)
because they use bigger and illegal fishing gears such as enclosure nets (more than 500 m of nets)
and giant lift nets (18m x 18m x 9m); whereas medium household can catch 1950 kg of fish (49%of white fish, 28% of gray fish and 23% of black fish) and poor households can catch only 1,426 kg
of fish (50% of white fish, 25% of gray fish and 25% of black fish species) because they don’t use
large fishing gears and fishing equipment like rich households.
Fishing gear used by different social groups
According to Deap et al. (2003), more than 102 fishing gears have been identified in Cambodia.
However, the main fishing gears used by social group in the villages studied are not that many;
they consist mainly of gillnets, brush parks or fyke nets (Table 3).
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Table 3 Frequency and percentage of different social groups using a given fishing gear
Rich households

Medium households

Poor households

Frequency(%)

Frequency(%)

Frequency(%)

Gill nets (25-35 mm)

10

91

25

95

23

100

Brush parks

8

73

25

96

14

61

Fishing gears

Gill nets (65-120 mm)

9

82

18

69

15

65

Hook

6

55

14

54

10

44

Fyke nets made

3

27

11

42

3

13

Enclosure nets

6

55

2

8

-

-

Giant lift nets

5

45

-

-

-

-

Horizontal cylinder traps

3

27

4

14

1

4

Hook long line

1

9

2

8

4

17

Cast nets

-

-

-

-

2

9

Gill nets (25-35 mm or 65-120 mm mesh size) are the most common gear and are used by allsocial groups because of their low cost compared to other fishing gears. Less fishermen use longline with hooks because this gear catch less fish and requires much time for seeking bait. Brushparks are used by all social groups because they are efficient and cheap (although illegal); they areused between March and May. People from rich households also use enclosure nets (more than 500
m of nets) and giant lift nets (18m x 18m x 9m) because these fishing gears are very efficientalthough they are very expensive and require paying bribes since they are illegal. With enclosure
seine nets fishermen harvest around a patch of water hyacinths previously gathered and underwhich fish sought refuge. Those gears catch a mixture of small fish species and are used between
October and February. There are no differences between social groups in the use of hooks andhorizontal cylinder traps. Fyke nets, although illegal, are used when water rises, especially in May July, and target fish migrating from the river into the flooded forest. Horizontal cylinder traps is agear targeting only snakehead fish between July and April. This gear can catch from 3 to 15 kg offish per day, depending on the season; in dry season they catch more than in wet season and thenfishermen check and collect fish every two days. Cast nets are only used by 9% of respondents, allof them from poor households; because this gear is cheap but catches less fish than other gears (andsmall fishes of low value only).
Economic activities of the different social groups
An analysis of household interviews in the villages studied indicates how much social groups
earned from the use of natural resources during the 6 months of the study (Table 4). In fact natural
resources contribute more or less to income generation depending on the social group. The expenseof some kind of resources was zero as it was already included in fishing expense.
Fishing is the main source of income; this activity contributes more than 60% of income inrich and medium households and 82% in poor households. Over six months of fishing season, richhouseholds can earn around USD 2000 in average from fishing, while medium households makearound USD 800 and poor households USD 400. Aquaculture and pig farming are the secondsources of income for rich and medium household. Aquaculture contributes 22% of income in richhouseholds (USD 630), 19% in medium households (USD 244), and pig farming (on floating
platforms) contributes 7% of income to rich and medium households. Snake catching contributes
7% of income to medium and poor households. Turtles catching, fire wood collection and bird
catching made the smallest, often negligible, economic contribution. Thus respondents from richand medium household get income from fishing activities, aquaculture and pig farming, but did nothave any other sources of income; conversely, medium and poor households rely largely on income
from young workers who migrate to urban areas.
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Table 4 Contribution of each activity to livelihoods of different social groups
SourcesRich household

Medium household

Poor household

Average (USD)

Average (USD)

Average (USD)

IncomeExpenseIncomeExpenseIncomeExpenseFishing

1,938

813

779

255

422

113

Aquaculture

630

283

244

150

0

0

Snake catch

23

4

84

13

39

5

Employment

8

0

68

0

45

0

Pig farming

195

166

92

81

0

0

Fire wood

0

0

11

1.5

7

0.5

0

0.5

Turtle catch

9

Bird catch
Total

3
2,806

Profit (USD/6 months)

0.25
1,266.25
1,540

0
1,278

0

2

0.5

0
470.5

0
515

0
118.5

807.5

396.5

Source: Field survey 2009, 1 USD was equivalent to 4,150 Riel during 6 months.

Overall these results show that rich households benefit much more, economically speaking,from natural resources than other social groups, and that people do not emigrate towards urban
areas if they can get enough income from local harvesting activities.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONSThis study shows that natural resources from Kampong Prak sanctuary play a critical role in the
lives of people living around that protected area. Fishing activities are the major source ofdifferences between social groups (both household consumption and income generation).
Aquaculture and pig farming are secondary sources of income for rich and medium households.
Firewood collection and catching snakes, water birds and turtles are sources of subsistence for poor
households. The people living in the villages studied preferred to collect edible wild plants during
the flooded season and to catch water birds in the dry season. They preferred to catch turtles, fromthe end of rainy season until the dry season. These results confirm those of Chanthy (2006) and
Rahut et al. (2007) who also showed that fishing is an important source of income in floating
villages. Thouk and Sina (1997) also found that very poor households, although they spent moretime fishing than rich households, had a lower catch per unit effort. In better-off households, thehigher importance of fishing is explained by the fact that men fish more, use bigger fishing gears
and travel further to exploit better fishing grounds. Labor and fish cage culture are another sourceof income for rural livelihoods. Flooded forests play a role in supporting aquatic life and rural
livelihoods as a source of fuel wood, handicraft materials, wild vegetable, wildlife and traditional
medicines (ADB, 2002). Snakes represent an important income source and food sources for someof poorest people in Cambodia (Roudy 2002, Brooks et al. 2007). Snake catching is more popularthan other wildlife catching, because villagers can process the snakes locally and sell processedsnakes at a high price (12,000 Riel per kilogram).
From our study it can be concluded that natural resources from the fish sanctuary contributevery substantially to the livelihood and income of people living in floating villages aroundKampong Prak. The use of natural resources is different between social groups, and that the living
standards are proportional to the level of fish catch. Fishing is thus the main source of income forlivelihoods in floating villages, but it requires a higher investment than the collection of othernatural resources. For that reason, rich households collect more natural resources, in particularmore fish, than medium and poor household. Wildlife and plants also make a substantial© ISERD

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contribution to the livelihood and diet of villagers, in particular since they are easy and cheaper tocollect.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study results from collaboration between the Royal University of Agriculture, the WorldFish
Center and Conservation International that funded this work.

REFERENCES
Asian Development Bank (2002) Report and recommendation of the president to the board of directors on a
proposed loan and technical assistance grant to the kingdom of Cambodia for the Tonle Sap
environmental management project. RRP:CAM 33418-01.
Asian Developmen Bank (2003) Improving the regulatory and management framework for inland fisheries.
Tonle Sap Environmental Management Prioject, Component 1, 2-3.
Balzer, T., Balzer, P. and Pon, S. (2002) Traditional use and availability of aquatic biodiversity in rice-based
ecosystems, Kampong Thom Province, Kingdom of Cambodia. FAO Inland Water Resources andAquaculture Service, 1-39.
Chanthy, R. (2006) Contribution of flooded forest to the livelihoods of rural families in Cambodia, A casestudy of two community Fishery in Ake Phnom District, Battambang province. MSc thesis, Asian
Institute of Technology, Thailand.
Cheng, P. (2008) Fish sanctuary in Tonle Sap Great Lake (Cambodia) and their role in sustainability of fish
production. MSc thesis, University Sains Malaysia, Malaysia.
Chevey, P. and Le Poulain F. (1940) La pêche dans les eaux douces du Cambodge. Travaux de l’Institut,Océanographiquede l'Indochine. 5e mémoire 195, + 48pl. +7 cartes.
Collision, M. (1981) A low cost approach to understanding small farmers. Agricultural Administration, 8(6),433-450.
Deap, L. (1992) The Pursat province’s reserve fishing domains, Chroy Sdey and Kampong Preak. MSc thesis,
Chamkadoung University of Fisheries, Cambodia.
Hap, N., Seng, L. and Chuenpagdee, R. (2006) Socioeconomics and livelihood values of Tonle Sap Lake
fisheries. World Fish Center and Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute, 1-24, Cambodia.
Kurien, J, So, N. and Mao, S.O. (2006) Cambodia's aquarian reforms, The emerging challenges for policy
and research. Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute, 1-32, Cambodia.
Rahut, D., Hap, N. and Ratner, B. (2007) Enabling alternative livelihoods for aquatic resource dependentcommunities of the Tonle Sap. Research report, WorldFish Center, 1-9, Cambodia.
Royal Government of Cambodia (2001) Royal decree on the establishment and management of Tonle Sap
biosphere reserve. 1-6, Cambodia.
Roudy, G. (2004) Natural resource use and livelihood trends in the Tonle Sap floodplain, Cambodia, A
socio-economic analysis of direct use values in Peam Ta Our floating village. MSc thesis, University of
London, UK.
Van Zalinge, N., Nao, T., Tana, T.S. and Deap L. (2000) Where there is water there is fish? Cambodia
fisheries issues in a Mekong River Basin perspective. Common Property in the Mekong, Issues of
Sustainability and Subsistence, ICLARM Stud. Rev., 1-27.

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Research article
erd

Assessing Poverty Outreach of Microfinance Institutions in
Cambodia - A Case Study of AMK
THUN VATHANA
Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea (AMK) Co. Ltd., Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: thunvathana@yahoo.com

PUM SOPHY
Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea (AMK) Co. Ltd., Phnom Penh, Cambodia

SAY SAMATH
National Bank of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Received 30 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract The microfinance industry works to balance social and financial benefit, which isviewed as an effective way of helping the poor. The industry, however, faces the challenge
to measure the social bottom line, especially the depth of poverty outreach which refers toserving the poorest clients. This paper aims to investigate poverty outreach and analyze thedepth of outreach for AMK. It assesses the depth of outreach through two main measures:
the Wellbeing Score and Daily Food Expenditure per capita. The analysis is based on bothsecondary data and primary data from a survey in 2009 with 810 samples [648 clients (504group clients and 144 individual clients) and 162 non-clients] randomly selected in 18
provinces in Cambodia. The results of AMK’s depth of poverty outreach for group clients
based on the Wellbeing Score indicate that AMK reaches more poor and medium level
households than in the control group of non-clients, but less better-off clients. For
individual clients AMK reaches a larger share of medium households, less poor households
and a slightly smaller share of the better-off households than what is found in the general
population. The results based on the number of clients spending on food below Food
Poverty Line (FPL) confirm that AMK clients are poor with 56% of group clients and 58%
of individual clients below FPL. Therefore, we conclude that AMK achieves the social
bottom line in term of poverty outreach.
Keywords: Assessment, poverty outreach, microfinance, AMK, Cambodia

INTRODUCTION
Microfinance is a crucial tool to help the poor access financial services. For poor households,
having sources of reliable, convenient and reasonably-priced financial tools would improve theirsituation (Collins et al., 2009). Therefore, the Royal Government of Cambodia and its development
partners are increasingly paying attention to the connections between poverty and microfinance.
In Cambodia, microfinance institutions (MFIs) started in the early 1990s with support from theinternational community. In recent past years the industry has made significant progress and has
witnessed high growth from 2006 to 2008. During this period the number of clients has more thandoubled and the loan portfolio almost tripled. Meanwhile the number of licensed MFIs has
increased remarkably.
The obsession with growth of the industry has led to a situation where there is a concern that
MFIs are turning to commercial principles of operation and neglecting the poor. In conjunction
with the financial and economic crisis there is increasing concern about mission drift of MFIs sliding away from the original idea of helping the poor. Therefore it is crucial to measure thepoverty outreach and the depth of the outreach. Poverty outreach refers to how many poor people
microfinance is reaching, and depth of outreach (or depth of poverty outreach) refers to the poverty© ISERD

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level of clients served. The purpose of this article is to determine the level of poverty outreach andthen analyze AMK client data to assess the performance of AMK in terms of the depth of outreach.
Fig. 1 provides information about the trend in the microfinance industry from 2003 to 2009. It
reveals that the microfinance situation in Cambodia was determined by rapid growth. This resulted
in a tremendous increase of loan portfolio from $ 59 million in 2003 to $ 492 million in 2009. Overthe same period, the number of loans borrowed increased from 351,055 to 1,102,246. (refer to a
Figure in the text before presenting it)
1,020

no. of clients
portfolio in million $

1,000

400

351

200
-

59
2003

419

98

494

600
500

777

800
600

1,102
492

400

438

560

300
271

149

149

2005

2006

200

loan portfolio

no. of loans ('000)

1,200

100
0

2004

2007

2008

2009

Fig. 1 Evolution of loan portfolio and no. of clients
METHODOLOGYThis research assesses AMK’s depth of outreach through two main measures: Wellbeing Score andDaily Food Expenditure per capita. The Wellbeing Score, a relative measure, is the main tool as it
is a multidimensional measure of poverty and provides a good picture of the wellbeing situation forclient households. Client households are then classified into wellbeing groups according to their
particular Wellbeing Scores and information is presented for these groups. To provide an absolutemeasure of poverty, AMK also compares the Daily Food Expenditure per capita with the Food
Poverty Line (FPL) in rural areas. The AMK Wellbeing Score is based on Principal Component
Analysis and was defined in 2006 (reference?). The 22 indicators that comprise the Wellbeing
Score cover three poverty dimensions: expenditures, assets (physical, human and social), andvulnerability and food security. The specific indicators selected are the following:
PHYSICAL ASSETS- Total land area owned by household (HH)
- Floor, wall and roof materials for thehouse/dwelling- HH owns a television, a motorcycle and assets ofmodest, mid or high value

EXPENDITURES- Expenses in clothing and footwear pc- Total HH expense in food
- HH outflows include: inputs for income activities, buying
HH materials and durable assets- Main HH expenditures include food

HUMAN ASSETS- Number of adults (income earners)- Health: strategies to pay for healthcare- Education: literacy of head of household

SOCIAL CAPITAL- Number of good friends /neighbors in community

VULNERABILITY & FOOD SECURITY- Food Security- Household diet in the last year
- Self-reported level of difficulty in affording large expenses - Ordinal- Incidence of reducing nutritious quality of foods- Main income activities: casual labor or temporary migration (domestic or international)- Savings and reinvestment behavior- Coping strategies: less food consumption, less non-food expenses, selling personal property© ISERD

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The AMK-PCA model was based on the IFRI/CGAP Poverty Assessment Tool but wasadapted to the rural Cambodian context and applied to food security as the main poverty
benchmark. The AMK-PCA model achieved relatively good results. Note that the Kaiser-MeyerOlkin (KMO) index was 0.818 when applied to non-clients and 0.848 to the total 450 HH. In
general, index scores > 0.60 are acceptable, > 0.70 are good, > 0.80 are commendable, and > 0.90
are exceptional.
The analysis for this article is based on data collected from both AMK new clients and nonclients from 54 villages in 18 provinces over the period from March to May 2009. Eight hundred
and ten samples (648 clients and 162 non-clients) were interviewed. Among the 648 clients, 504
were group or Village Bank (VB) clients and 144 Individual (ID) clients. In order to assess how
AMK is reaching the poor, clients referred to in this study were those who joined AMK within ayear prior to the field survey.
The client sample selection was conducted in two steps: first, 54 villages with at least 18 newclients were randomly selected; and second, 12 clients per village were randomly selected plus 6
clients as potential replacements. One reason of choosing 12 clients is efficiency which is based on
past experience of AMK research team. For relative poverty study, 3 non-clients per village wereselected for interviews. This means that the ratio between client and non-client samples is 4:1. The
non-client samples had to be non-client households who were next to the selected client households.
Therefore, the total number of interviewed clients and non clients was 810.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Currently, there are one million clients with 492 million US$ loan outstanding covered by 20
licensed MFIs, one commercial bank (ACLEDA small loan) and one licensed NGO, accordingly to
Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA). Table 1 shows that the top three institutions which
include AMK account for 60% of the market share in term of client outreach.
Table 2 shows that more than half of AMK loans were used for productive purposes either forfarm or non-farm activities. Meanwhile AMK clients also used loans for different purposes: 10%
for food, 8% for health, 14% for buying assets (vehicles, land and gold), and 9% for otherconsumption.
Table 1 Market share by MFIs

Table 2 Loan uses by AMK clients

MFIs
No. of clients
Share (%)
AMRET
224,70820
ACLEDA
223,68720
AMK217,81820
VFC
98,7779
TPC
91,1708
PRASAC
87,945
8
Others158,141
14
Source:Authors,
calculated
from
CMA
Values were
calculatedon thebased
basisonof data
the data
from
CMA

Loan uses by AMK clients
Farm
Productive
purposesNon-farm
AssetsSavings
Land and gold
Food
Consumption
HealthOthers
Source:2009
Source:AMK
AMKfieldfield research, 2009

Share (%)
40
19
11
3
10
8
9

According to Gulli (1998), there is a positive correlation between reaching many poor people
and financial sustainability. Therefore AMK, as a social MFI, has worked hard to include the poor
from both rural and urban locations. So far, its performance in reaching large number of poor has
been higher than the national average of the industry. Also AMK has achieved financial
sustainability since 2004.
Assessment by Wellbeing Score
The average Wellbeing Score for VB clients was -0.020 and for non-clients was 0.080 (Fig. 2).
This indicates that clients were poorer than non-clients (the t-test for equality of means is not© ISERD

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significant while the independent t-test is: N=630, F=0.04, p-value=0.315). Regarding ID client
status, Fig. 2 shows that the average wellbeing score for AMK ID clients was 0.076 and theaverage wellbeing score for non-clients was -0.019, indicating that ID clients are wealthier thannon-clients (the t-test for equality of means is not significant while the independent t-test is: N=180,
F=3.15, p-value=0.609). It is important to realize that VB non-client scores and ID non-clientscores are different groups because they are from different locations.

0.1

0.1

0.08

0.08

0

0

-0.02

-0.02
-0.1

Non-clients

ID clients

VB clientsNon-clients-0.1

Fig. 2 Average household wellbeing score2.18382
1.54997
1.26964
1.10524.94888.81948.62845.51020.37470.26974.13943.05736-.04768-.14915-.26521-.40480-.53361-.68712-.83131-1.01454-1.22496-1.38553-1.69039-2.59744

Non-clients
VB clients

Wellbeing score

Wellbeing score

Fig. 3 shows the cumulative frequency for non-clients and VB clients; there is a small
difference in poverty levels between the two groups only in the upper 40% and lower 40% ofhouseholds on the cumulative frequency. Fig. 3 also shows the cumulative frequency for nonclients and clients, showing a margin of difference in poverty levels between the two groups
situated in the lower 50% part of the cumulative frequency.

0

20

40

60

80

2.062631.52463
1.27994
1.00018.84745.68935.62002.51323.39116.31039.17204.04037-.10395-.21063-.36026-.46233-.70948-.82535-1.07894-1.21978-1.41869-1.65048-2.33114

Non-clients
ID Clients

0100

Cumulative percent

20

40

60

80

100

Cumulative percent

Fig. 3 Accumulative Frequencies for Non-Clients and Clients

Assessment by tercile analysis
The Wellbeing Score is a relative poverty score and measures whether a household is worse off or
better off compared to other households in the general population. Each household sampled has
been assigned a Wellbeing Score: the lower the score, the poorer the household relative to all otherhouseholds with higher scores. The following steps were followed to develop the tercile results.
First the 126 non-client households from VB villages were sorted in ascending order according
to their Wellbeing Scores. Second these 126 samples were divided into terciles based on Wellbeing
Scores: the bottom third of the non-client households are grouped into the “poor” group, followedby the “middle” and the “better-off” group. Since there are 126 non-clients, each group contains 42.
The cutoff scores for each tercile define the limits of each poverty group and they were -0.3428 and
0.5309. Third, the 504 client households were then categorized into the same three groups based on
their scores using the cutoff scores defined above for the AMK-PCA case (i.e. -0.3428 and 0.5309).
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If the pattern of poverty among client households matches exactly that of non-client
households, the client households will divide equally among the three wellbeing groupings in thesame way as non-client households, with 33 percent falling into each group. Any deviation fromthis equal proportion would signal a difference between the client and non-client populations. The
results shown in Fig. 4 are that VB clients are slightly over-represented within the poorer tercile,remain the same in the medium and are under-represented in the higher tercile. Therefore AMK isreaching a larger share of the poor households, an equal share of medium classified households anda slightly smaller share of the better-off households than in the general population.
non-clients

38

33

33

clients

33

non-clientsclients

47
33

30

33

33

33

MediumBetter-off

31

22

Poor

MediumPoor

Better-off

VB: wellbeing group (% of households)

ID: wellbeing group (% of household)Fig. 4 Tercile analysis by wellbeing group

For the ID case, the same steps were followed. First the 36 non-client households were sorted
in ascending order according to their Wellbeing Scores. Second this 36 household sample wasdivided into terciles based on Wellbeing Scores: the bottom third of the non-client households aregrouped into the “poorer” group, followed by the “middle”-ranked group, and finally, the “betteroff” group. Since there are 36 non-clients, each group contained 12 households. The cutoff scoresfor each tercile define the limits of each poverty group and they were -0.755 and 0.568. Third, the144 client households were then categorized into the same three groups based on their scores using
the cutoff scores defined above for the AMK-PCA case (i.e. -0.755 and 0.568).
The results indicate that ID clients are under-represented within the poorer tercile, highly overrepresented in the medium and are slightly underrepresented in the higher tercile (Fig. 4). Therefore,
AMK is reaching a larger share of the medium households, less poor households and a slightly
smaller share of the better-off households than found in the general population.
Assessment by absolute poverty benchmark
The Wellbeing Score calibrates relative poverty but does not provide information on the absolutelevel of poverty, i.e. it measures the extent to which a household is worse off or better off
compared to other households, but does not assess the actual level of deprivation of the poorer
category of households or the level of affluence of the better-off households. To provide anestimate of absolute levels of poverty, AMK compared the Daily Food Expenditure per capita withFPL in rural areas. AMK Daily Food Expenditure figures include not only the cash expenses infood items but also quantify consumption from the household’s own production (including rice andother crops, vegetables or animals) and from other food items gathered, collected or fished.
The overall Cambodian Poverty Line for rural areas was set at Riel (R) 1,753 per person per
day and the FPL for rural areas at R 1,389 per person per day in 2004. The Cambodian FPL allows
a person to consume a food basket that provides at least 2,100 calories of energy per day. Therefore,
a person who consumes less than this FPL is not receiving the minimum amount of calories
necessary to maintain their health. Since there are no rural inflation figures in Cambodia, in order
to update the 2004 FPL to the prices at the time of the fieldwork, AMK uses a proxy: the rural FPL
is updated with the Phnom Penh Consumer Price Index (CPI) for food and beverages. Details of theproxy update are shown in Table 3.
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Table 3 Proxy update of poverty line (1 US dollar = 4,118 Riel)
Total Poverty Line 2004

AMK Proxy FPL 2009

Food Poverty Line (FPL)
2004

Riel / day

US$ / dayPhnom Penh

2,351

1,782

2,855

0.69

Other Urban

1,952

1,568

2,512

0.61

Rural

1,753

1,389

2,225

0.54

Several years ago almost all AMK clients were below the conventional definitions of thepoverty line (Chetan, 2007). This study indicates that the number of clients below the poverty line
has decreased but average food expenditure remains lower among ID clients than VB clients. Fig. 5
shows the Daily Food Expense per capita for both VB and ID AMK clients and compares it withthe updated rural FPL (AMK proxy for May 2009). This confirms that most clients are consuming
less than the minimum calorie intake per day and thus can be classified as poor, which partiallyconfirms AMK’s commitment to provide services to the poor.

100

30

N ati onal (R ural) Foo d

Nat iona l (Rural ) F ood

P ov ert y Li ne (p roxy updat e

P ov erty Line (prox y u pdat e
25

M ay 2009) = R 2 ,22580

M ay 20 09) = R2, 225

20

60
15

40
10

M ean = 2, 183. 1378

M ean = 2,24 7.33 66

S t d. Dev . = 836 .296 24

S td. Dev . = 1,0 97.6 7852

205

N = 504

N = 14 4000

2 ,0004, 0006,00 0Dai ly F oo d Exp en se P C: V B Cl ien ts

1,0 008,00 02 ,0003, 000
4 ,000Dai l y F oo d E xpen se PC : I D Cl ie nts

5, 0006, 000Fig. 5 Daily food expenditure per capita

As a national benchmark the overall Cambodian poverty headcount is estimated at 30.1%, butwith wide variations: it was 35% in rural areas, 22% in other urban areas and only 1% in Phnom
Penh as of 2007. As for national food poverty, 22% of the population in the rural, 11% in the urban
and 1% in Phnom Penh are considered to consume less than FPL. Note that the percentage of nonclient households who consumed less than this benchmark was lower (49%) but the significant test
cannot confirm that the differences are statistically significant (Chi Square (N = 180) = 0.051, p =0.821). Also note that the reasons for these large discrepancies in the poverty figures have not been
completely assessed and that this issue is yet to be resolved.
However, new AMK clients below FPL were 71% in 2006, 75% in 2007 and 63% in 2008
(AMK, 2008). In 2009, food poverty analysis has shown that 56% of VB client households
consumed less than FPL of R 2,225 (Table 4). Clients falling into the Poor tercile group had thehighest percentage of household below FPL at 68%, followed by the medium and the better-off at
54% and 44%, respectively.
The study also indicates that 58% of ID client households consumed less than FPL of R 2,225.
Meanwhile, the percentage of non-client households who consumed less than this benchmark wasslightly lower at 56%. Poor group has the highest percentage of household below FPL at 78%,
followed by the medium at 60% and the better-off at 39%.

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Table 4 Clients below the Cambodian FPL
Description
No. of HH below the FPL% of HH below the FPL
No. of HH below the FPL
ID Clients% of HH below the FPL

VB Clients

Clients

Nonclients

Overall

Poor

62
49
20
56

283
56
83
58

128
68
25
78

Medium Better-off
90
54
41
60

65
44
17
39

CONCLUSION
The results of the two measures of depth of poverty outreach (the AMK Wellbeing Score and therates of absolute poverty compared with Cambodian FPL for rural areas) allow the conclusion thatbased on the Wellbeing Score AMK is reaching less better-off clients than what is found in thecontrol group of non-clients, but more medium and poor level households. The results of AMK’s
depth of poverty outreach for VB clients in 2009 based on the number of clients who fell below theCambodian Food Poverty Line, confirm that indeed AMK clients are poor with 56% of clients
below the line.
The results of AMK’s depth of poverty outreach for ID clients in 2009 based on the Wellbeingscore indicate that these clients are on average relatively better-off than VB clients. However, thisis somewhat skewed upward due to a high proportion of very well off ID clients. With a Wellbeing
Score assessment only among the ID samples, AMK is reaching more medium clients than what isfound in the control group of non-clients but less in better-off and poor-level households. The
results of AMK’s depth of poverty outreach for ID clients in 2009 is based on the number of clientsspending less on food than the Cambodian Food Poverty Line, and this confirms that indeed AMK
clients are poor with 58% of clients falling below the Cambodian Food Poverty Line.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank AMK and its management for funding this research and all AMK research team members
who have contributed time and effort to make this research effort a reality. Special recognition is given
to Oliver Rogall, Doet Samnang and Vong Pheakyny for their expertise and knowledge that they
gradually shared. Our warmest appreciation also goes to other colleagues in AMK for their support
during the field surveys.

REFERENCESAMK (2008) Annual Report 2008. Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea, Cambodia.
Chetan, T. (2007) Are financial and social objectives mutually exclusive? The experience of AMK Cambodia.
International Journal of Microfinance and Business Development, 18(1), 65-78.
Collins, D., Morduch, J., Rutherford, S. and Ruthven, O. (2009) Portfolios of the poor, How the world’s poor
live on $2 a day. Princeton University Press, USA.
Gulli, H. (1998) Microfinance and poverty, Questioning conventional wisdom. Microenterprise Unit,
Sustainable Development Department, Inter-American Development Bank, USA.

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Research article
erdCattle Feeding and Management Practices of Small-holder
Farmers in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia
MIRANDA PEN
Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: penmiranda2005@yahoo.com

DARRYL SAVAGE
University of New England, Armidale NSW, Australia

WERNER STÜR
CIAT, Vientiane, Lao PDR

SOPHAL LORN
Department of Agriculture, Kampong Cham, Cambodia

MOM SENG
Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Received 31 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Almost all cattle in Cambodia are produced by small-holder farmers. The cattle
are raised in an extensive way for draught power and wealth accumulation purposes. Feedavailability is a major challenge for farmers associated with poor management which
limits cattle productivity. This study reports a survey which was conducted to describe thecattle feeding and management practices of small-scale farmers in Cambodia. Sixty
farmers raising cattle in Kang Meas and Tbong Khmum districts in Kampong Cham
Province were randomly selected for an interview in 2008. On average the interviewed
farmers raised 4-5 cattle per household. Most of them had cows aged older than 3 years
which were mainly kept for breeding. More than 80% of cattle in Kang Meas werecrossbred, but about 40% of cattle in Tbong Khmum were local breed. Very few farmers
practiced weaning and none timed the date for their cows to calve. However, most of themselected a bull in their village for mating to cows. No artificial insemination was practiced
in the village. The majority of farmers vaccinated their cattle to prevent the Hemorrhagic
Septicemia (HS) while very few de-wormed their cattle. Cattle feed was mainly based on
grazing in dry and rainy seasons. During the flooding season farmers in both districts
relied on cut-and-carry native grasses and crop residues. Lastly, 60-70% of farmers soldcattle while only 10-20% bought cattle during the last year. In conclusion, cattle
management by small-holder farmers was assessed as very low in terms of management
and feeding. Farmers still raise their cattle in the traditional way with low health careintervention. Better housing of cattle with proper health care and improved feeding
systems are recommended to farmers as ways to improve cattle production.
Keywords: Cattle feeding, management, small-holder farmers, production, Cambodia

INTRODUCTION
In Cambodia, livestock accounts for 20.9% of agricultural GDP and contributes 7.6% to overall
GDP (FAO, 2005). Most livestock, including cattle, poultry and pigs are produced by small-holder
farmers. According to Ballard and Thun (2007) small-scale farms produce nearly 85% of total
livestock and meat in the country. Moreover, small-scale producers own 75% of the pig population,
85% of poultry and nearly all cattle and buffalo. As most Cambodian people are engaged in crop
production, cattle are mainly used for draught power in the household.
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Cattle are raised in an extensive way in small-holder production systems in Cambodia andthere are several breeds of cattle. Native yellow cattle are the most common breed while othermajor breeds are Haryana and Brahman (Harding et al., 2007). There is not proper genetic
improvement program as the natural breeding is widely practiced by farmers. Then the feeding
systems for cattle are characterized by the use of a wide diversity of feed resource. These are basedlargely on the use of crop residues, forages and other resources. Rice straw and other crop residues
including grasses, weeds and shrubs are the dominant feedstuffs.
Harding et al (2007) reported that there are two basic systems of cattle production in
Cambodia, but each has the same constraint. In lowland areas, the land is dominated by rice which
creates significant constraints for feeding cattle. There is more land available in upland areas;
however, most of this land is unavailable for cattle production because the government hasconceded it to private companies. There is a relationship between the labor constraint faced bysmall-holders and the availability of grazing land. The severity of feed shortage varies between
regions, but poor nutrition is a common problem. Poor nutrition also contributes to a higher
incidence of cattle diseases and parasites. The major diseases that affect cattle and buffalo in
Cambodia are HS, Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and blackleg (MAFF, 2006). Other major
health problems experienced are parasites, with liver fluke being the major internal parasite (Sounet al., 2006) and ticks and flies the major external parasites. Animal health is recognized to be thesource of production losses such as low weight gain, draught performance, fertility and lactation(Copeman and Copland, 2008).
Kampong Cham province accounts for 13% of cattle population of the country and has great
potential for cattle development with small-holder farmers. In 2003, the use of forage fodder banks
was introduced by CIAT through the Livelihood and Livestock Systems Project in this province.
To improve cattle production of small-holder farmers in Cambodia, the project “Improved Feeding
Systems for More Efficient Beef Cattle Production in Cambodia”, which is funded by theAustralian Center for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR), is being carried out from 2008
to 2011. The research reported in this paper is a baseline study of the above project with the aim ofdescribing the cattle feeding and management practices of small-holder farmers in Kampong Cham
Province.
METHODOLOGY
Two districts in Kampong Cham, Kang Meas and Tbong Khmum, were selected for this study as
they are the target area of the project. Geographically, these districts are different with Kang Measbeing a lowland area along the Mekong River receiving flooding every year while Tbong Khmum
is a high land area. Thmey Kor village located in Roka Koy commune in Kang Meas district waschosen as research site 1 and Chroy Ko village located in Chiro Pi commune in Tbong Khmum
district as research site 2. The stratified random sampling method was used for the sample selection
for an interview. First, a list of all households of each survey site was assembled with the help of
the chief of village, showing which households raised cattle and which households have planted
forages. Sixty farmers raising cattle (30 from each research site) were randomly selected for theinterview using a semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to understandcattle herd size and structure, husbandry practices, feed management and cattle buying and selling
practices. All data from the survey, both qualitative and quantitative data, were stored in Windows
Excel and analyzed using SPSS version 13.0.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
General characteristics of cattle production in studied areas
Large scale cattle production was not typical in the studied areas. Farmers kept a small number ofcattle as they did not have enough capital to invest more in cattle production. About 60% of
farmers in both districts raised their own cattle, but 40% also raised cattle for other rich farmers by© ISERD

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sharing the returns. Cattle production contributed about the same proportion to household income(about 20%) in both studied sites, even though the income from crop production was different.
Most farmers in the study areas kept their cattle under the house during the night, with orwithout mosquito nets. The cattle were not kept under the house during the day; they may be tiedunder a tree or kept in the surrounding field, although this provides no shade to cattle. Cattle aregrazed in the field when there are no crops. Farmers also spent a lot of time cutting and carrying
native grasses or crop residues to feed their cattle. They rated the lack of feed and disease as themost challenging factors in cattle production. The cows had low productivity because the intercalving was too long while growing cattle had low growth rate.
Cattle herd size structure
The percentage of the households raising different types of cattle and average number of cattle perhousehold are shown in Table 1. Farmers in both studied sites raised on average 4-5 cattle perhousehold. Most households (more than 80%) had cows older than 3 years, but the average numberof cows was higher (P=0.042) in Tbong Khmum (2.33) than in Kang Meas (1.57). However, bulls
were more important for farmers in Kang Meas (43%) than in Tbong Khmum (3%). The number ofbulls per household was significantly higher (P=0.000) in Kang Meas (0.97) than in Tbong Khmum(0.07). Furthermore, around a half of farmers in both sites raised young bulls and heifers in theirfarm, with more heifers than bulls. Only one third of farmers in both sites had male or female
calves in their household.
Table 1 Percentage of farmers raising different type of cattle and average number per
householdTbong Khmum
Percent
Mean
3
0.07
50
0.8
37
0.47
87
2.33
57
1.27
33
0.38
5.3

Kang Meas
Percent
Mean
43
0.97
37
0.43
13
0.17
80
1.57
43
0.7
20
0.23
4.3

Types of cattle
Bulls >3 years
Young Bulls 0.5-3 years
Male Calves 0-0.5 years
Cows >3 years
Heifer 0.5-3 years
Female Calves 0-0.5 years
Total

P-value
0.000
0.125
0.062
0.042
0.178
0.297
0.230

Breeds of cattle and production purpose
Fig. 1 shows that most farmers in Kang Meas (82%) had crossbred cattle in their farm whilevery few raised local or Haryana cattle. However, local cattle were the most common for farmers in
Tbong Khmum (45%) followed by crossbred and Haryana. No farmers in the studied area had
Brahman cattle.
100

100

82

80

80

60

45

40
20

7

11

0

90.9

86.3

67.9

60

38
17

0

32.1

40
20

0

0

0

9.1

46.3

44.6

13.7

8.9

0

0
Dra ught B re e dingKa ng M e a s
Ka ng M e a s

M a le c a ttle

Tbo ng Khm um

Fig. 2 Percentage of farmers keeping different
cattle breeds© ISERD134

S a leDra ught B re e dingS a leTbo ng Khm um
F e m a le c a ttle

Fig. 1 Percentage of purpose of cattle
production by sex of cattle

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

The purpose of cattle production by sex of cattle is illustrated in Fig. 2. The result shows thatthe majority of female cattle in both studied sites were raised for breeding purpose (up to 90%)
while very few were sold. Breeding cows refers to the cow that produce calves for keeping in thefarm or selling when farmers needed money. On the other hand, male cattle were primarily used asdraft power by farmers. More cattle in Kang Meas (68%) were draught animals than in Tbong
Khmum (44.6%). Apart from draught purposes, male cattle were also kept for sale (32.1% in Kang
Meas and 46.3% in Tbong Khmum). Finally, only 8.9% of male cattle in Tbong Khmum werebreeding cattle.
Cattle husbandry practices
The cattle husbandry practices of farmers are summarized in Table 2. There were only 17% of
farmers in Kang Meas who separated (weaned) a calf from its mother. Farmers allowed the calf tosuckle the cow until it stopped spontaneously (up to 12 months). Very few farmers timed the date
for their cow to calve as only 10% considered this important. Castrating male cattle was morecommon. More than half the farmers in Kang Meas castrated bulls while one third did so in Tbong
Khmum. Most farmers (more than 80%) chose and paid for a bull for mating their cows. Artificial
insemination was not used as this technology had not been introduced in the study areas. The bulls
chosen for mating were mostly sourced within the village as it was easy for farmers to manage cow
mating. Around 80% of farmers led their cows to a bull in the village when they observed the peakof the heat period. Besides breeding, more than 80% in both sites vaccinated the cattle and only
20% did not. The disease which was the most preventive was HS. The rate of farmers vaccinating
for FMD in Kang Meas was twice that in Tbong Khmum, 46% and 21% respectively. Black leg
was a minor preventive disease for which only 4% in both sites undertook vaccination. No farmers
had thought about Anthrax vaccination. Lastly, the rate of farmers de-worming their cattle was low- only 23.3% of the farmers in Kang Meas and 63% in Tbong Khmum.
Table 2 Cattle husbandry practice of farmers in the survey sites
Information
Weaning calves
Castrating male cattle
Timing of calving
Paying a bull for mating cows
Source of bulls for mating cows
Own bullWithin village
Within district
Outside district
Using artificial insemination
Vaccinating their cattle
Kinds of vaccination
HS
FMD
Black leg
Anthrax
De-worming their cattle

Kang Meas (%)
17
53
7
87

Tbong Khmum (%)
0
37
3
93

0
84
8
8
0
80

0
79
0
21
0
80

87.5
46
4
0
23

100
21
4
0
63

Feeding management
The cattle feeds were mainly natural grasses and rice straw. The grasses were provided by grazing
and cut-and-carrying and the rice straw was used during scarcity of natural grasses. Farmers also
used some other crop residues such as maize stems and sweet potato stems as additional feeds fortheir cattle. As shown in Fig. 3 the main source of cattle feed consumption in dry season was
grazing on the field (45% in Kang Meas and 62% in Tbong Khmum).
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11

14

80%

80

47

44

56

62
31

16

Wet
SeasonFloodingseason0%

10Kang Meas
GrazingCut and carry

Floodingseason42

Percent

52

40%
20%

34

18

Wet
Season

60%

42

42

18

20
43

Dry
season100%

DryseasonPercent of consumption

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

73

66

60
40

20

10

20
0
Kang Meas

T bong Khmum

Selling cattle

T bong Khmum
Buying cattle

Crop residue

Fig. 3 Feed consumption by different season Fig. 4 Percentage of farmers buying and selling
cattle during the last one year
There was more dependence on ‘cut and carry’ of native grasses in Kang Meas (42%compared to 18% in Tbong Khmum). In the early wet season, cattle feed was grazing (47%) and‘cut and carry’ (42%) in Kang Meas. By contrast in Tbong Khmum ‘cut and carry’ was more
important (52%) because more land was available for collecting native grasses. Farmers in bothsites depended on ‘cut and carry’ and crop residues for cattle feed in the flooding season. Morethan 80% of feed was sourced from these two kinds of feeds. The farmers in Kang Meas utilized
rice straw, maize stem and sweet potato stem for their cattle while the farmers in Tbong Khmum
also used other crop residues such as bean stem, peanut stem and rice bran. Lastly, there was more
native grass cut for cattle in Chroy Ko (56%).
Cattle buying and selling
The percentage of cattle sold and bought by the farmers in the studied areas during the last 12
months is shown in Fig. 4. Sixty to seventy percent of farmers sold their cattle while only 10-20%of them bought 1 or 2 cattle during the last year. Cattle selling and buying occurred mostcommonly between farmers with female cattle. Female cattle were bought for cow-calf production.
However, sometimes small traders or market sellers came to the village to buy cattle. These tradersmostly bought male cattle for slaughter and sale in the local market or for transport to otherprovinces and neighboring countries. The money from selling cattle was not used to buy morecattle, but farmers used the funds for different purpose.
DISCUSSION
In small-holder cattle production systems, cows were most important for farmers because they wereused for breeding to produce calves. However, bulls were used for draught purposes, especially inthe areas along the Mekong River (Kang Meas). In the last 10 years, it was reported that cattle weremainly kept as draught animals rather than for meat production as they were concentrated in therice growing areas (Maclean, 1998). Cattle were also raised for selling indicating that farmers were
responding to market demands. Cattle along the Mekong River were almost all crossbred, however,more local breed cattle were found in the upland area (Tbong Khmum). Harding et al (2007) foundthat cattle were concentrated along the Mekong because more forage was available.
Cattle husbandry intervention of farmers was low in terms of health and disease control.
Windsor (2008) reported that farmers had little knowledge of husbandry and did not have funds toimprove husbandry. The breeding program was absent in small-holder cattle production systems.
Breeding was done by selecting a bull within the village to mate cows. Inbreeding could be a
problem if no records were kept of breeding and management. Vaccinations in the studied sites
were only available for some diseases such as HS and FMD. Some farmers did not have access tovaccines and some were not concerned. Since cattle were generally grazed in the fields for farmers© ISERD

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were not able to provide best cattle management practices. Management of cattle in pens is a betterway to control the condition and health of cattle and to provide necessary treatments. Vaccination
to prevent some common diseases must be provided to cattle to minimize the economic losses.
Cattle feeds were mainly natural grasses and rice straw. The grasses were provided by grazing
and cut-and-carrying, which required high labor input. Windsor (2008) reported that more than 4hours were required for those activities. Because of feed scarcity, especially during the flooding
and dry seasons, farmers fed rice straw to their cattle which had very low nutritive quality. There
are some options for farmers to improve the feeding system of their cattle. First, supplementing
traditional feed resources with planted forages is a simple solution (Stür and Horne, 2001). Forages
are grasses and legumes that can be used for feeding animals and for better management of theenvironment (Stür and Horne, 1999). Planting forage can help farmers to solve problems such as
general feed shortages, dry season feed shortages, and freeing up labor for feeding animals. Second,
to increase the quality of crop residues such as rice straw, farmers can provide small amounts ofprotein and mineral supplementation such as sugar, salt, urea, oil cakes, fish meals and rice byproduct. Another option to improve the quality of available feed resources, such as maize stems,
sweet potato stems and sugar cane stems, is to make them into silage for cattle feed. Even thoughthese options require extra inputs, farmers can choose the best option for them based on to theirresources.
Small-holder farmers do not think about the time of calving and weaning. According to Petit etal. (1992), cows should be managed to calve before the grass growing season and calves weaned at
the end of the season. During this season, cows eat more than the requirement for maintenance andlactation and use the extra nutrient to recover their body weight and fat reserves. Then the cycle ofoestrus and ovulation is stimulated.
Lack of feed is a serious problem for cattle productivity which limits the ability to expand
cattle numbers (Harding et al., 2007). Farmers had less opportunity to participate in cattle markets.
Selling and buying of small-holder cattle mostly occurred between farmers. Others such as local
traders, market sellers and slaughterhouses sometimes come to the village to purchase cattle.
Ramsay and Maclean (1998) found that cattle were less frequently brought to town to sell directly
to slaughterhouses or to consumers.
There are two options for small-holder farmers to improve the cattle production in order toincrease their income. The first option is to fatten cattle for 2-4 months before sale to increase themeat yield and enable farmers to receive a higher sale price. Fattening refers to keeping cattle inpens and feeding them good quality forages and water. It is easy for farmers to check the conditionand health of animals in the pens and provide treatments including de-worming and vaccinations(Stür and Varney, 2007). The second option is to improve cow-calf production which is the mostimportant production cycle in small-holder system. More efficient cow-calf production means thatcows can produce as many calves as possible by reducing the inter-calving period. Underfeeding
during lactation may reduce the milk yield of the cow and the growth rate of its calf (Hodgson et al.,1980), especially when the cows are already thin at calving. So good quality feeds must be
provided to cows during lactation. Weaning of calves at age of 40-70 days will help cows to returnto oestrus and conceive during the breeding season (Laster et al., 1973). However, the weaning
time is depended upon the condition of calf and the good quality and adequate feed should be
provided to the weaned calf.
CONCLUSION
The cattle production of small-holder farmers was assessed as very low in terms of management
and feeding. Farmers raised their cattle in the traditional way with low health care intervention.
Moreover, there was no breeding program to manage the genetic improvement in small-holder
cattle production systems. Cattle feeds were mainly based on natural grasses and rice straw.
Providing locally available feeds was a major challenge for farmers which required high labor input,
especially during the dry and flooding seasons. Lack of feed was a critical factor limiting the abilityof farmers to expand cattle numbers. As a result, farmers had less opportunity to participate in© ISERD

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cattle markets. Better housing of cattle with proper health care and improved feeding system isrecommended to improve cattle production. Planting forages including grasses and legumes is a
simple solution for farmers to respond to the lack of feed. Keeping cattle in pens for fattening
before sale and improving cow-calf production can help improve management of cattle in order toincrease income and expand the number of cattle to respond more to market demand
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial support of ACIAR for this research is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are gratefulto Dr Sar Chetra, Dr Tim Purcell, Dr Troung Tan Kanh and Dr Archut Kubota for their contribution to
our research.

REFERENCES
Ballard, B.M. and Thun, V. (2007) Livestock production and veterinary services in Cambodia. Annual
development review 2006-2007, Cambodia Development Resource Institute, Cambodia.
Copeman and Copland, R.S. (2008) Importance and potential impact of liver fluke in cattle and buffalo.
Overcoming Liver Fluke as a Constraint to Ruminant Production in South-East Asia. ACIAR
Monograph, 133, 1-155.
FAO (2005) Livestock sector brief - Cambodia. Food and Agricultural Organization, Italy.
Harding, M. Quirke, D. and Werner, R. (2007) Cattle and buffalo in Cambodia and Laos, The economic andpolicy environment for small-holders. Project final report, ACIAR, Australia.
Hodgson, J., Peart, J.N., Russel, A.J.F., Whitelaw, A. and Macdonald, A.J. (1980) The influence of nutritionin early lactation on the performance of spring-calving suckler cows and their calves. Animal. Prod., 30,
315-325.
Laster, D.B., Glimp, H.A. and Gregory, K.E. (1973) Effects of early weaning on postpartum reproduction ofcows. J. Anim. Sci., 36, 734-740.
Maclean, M. (1998) Livestock in Cambodian rice farming system. Cambodia-IRRI-Australia project,
Cambodia.
MAFF (2006) Agricultural statistics 2005-2006. Department of planning and statistics, Ministry ofagriculture, forestry and fishery, Cambodia.
Petit, M., Jarridge, R., Russel, A.J.F. and Wright, I.A. (1992) Feeding and Nutrition of the suckler cow. Beef
Cattle Production, World Animal Science, C5, Elsevier, 199-205.
Ramsay, M. and M. Maclean (1998) Ratanakiri, where Cambodia meets Laos, Livestock raising in
Cambodia’s upland province. Upland Farming Systems in the Lao PDR - Problems and Opportunities
for Livestock, ACIAR Proceedings, 87.
Soun, S., Hol, D., Siek, S., Mclean, M. and Copeman, B. (2006) Seasonal differences in the incidence of
infection with faciola gigantica in Cambodian cattle. Tro. Anim. Health Pro., 38(1), 23-28.
Stür, W.W. and Horne, P.M. (1999) Forage technology development with small-holder farmers, How to best
varieties to offer farmers in Southeast Asia. ACIAR Monograph, 62.
Stür, W.W. and Horne, P.M. (2001) Developing forage technology with small-holder farmers, How to grow,manage and use. ACIAR Monograph, 88.
Stür, W.W. and Varney, G. (2007) Best practice guide, Cattle and buffalo fattening. CIAT, Loas.
Windsor, P. (2008) Identifying research priorities for development of the beef industry in Cambodia and Lao
PDR with special references to animal health interventions. Final report, ACIAR.

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Research article
erdIncentives of Local Farmers toward Organic Fertilizer
Application in Nan Province of Thailand
LALITA SIRIWATTANANON

Association of Environmental and Rural Development, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Email: aerdthailand@hotmail.com

MACHITO MIHARATokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
Received 31 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract In recent year, many of agricultural and environmental problems occur due tohigh amounts of agricultural chemical or pesticide applied. The most important step for
reducing soil degradation or water pollution is to mitigate nutrient losses from agriculture
fields where used to work as non-point sources. For decreasing the amounts of agriculturalchemicals, organic fertilizer has been proposed as it may contribute to reduce the expenseof agricultural chemicals and to be safe for human health and natural environment.
However, it is important to make farmers understand the background of the application oforganic fertilizers, such as its benefit or technology, through the demonstration or the
training. The studies were conducted to evaluate granular compost application comparing
with chemical fertilizer or conventional compost application from viewpoints of reducing
soil and nutrient losses under natural rainfall, and of plant growth for 2 cycles ofcultivation in agricultural field. The experimental results showed that in the natural rainfall
having 14 to 38 mm/hr, the losses of soil, total nitrogen and organic matter from the plot
applied granular compost were significantly lower than that from the plot applied chemicalfertilizer or conventional compost. Additionally, the results of the 1st cultivation showedthat plant length and live weight of the ridge broadcasted granular compost after planting
were higher as same as the ridge applied chemical fertilizer. However for the 2nd crop,
plant length and live weight of the ridges applied granular compost before or after planting
were the highest among all ridges. It means granular compost application is the effective
way for decreasing the amounts of soil and nutrient losses from agricultural fields, and formaking plants grow efficiently.
Keywords organic fertilizer, granular compost, soil loss, nutrient loss, plant growth

INTRODUCTION
Since 50 years ago, there has been a major change in agricultural sector from small scale farming tolarger monoculture for commercials or agro-businesses. Farm productivities have increased
dramatically with lager amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides applied (Novotny, 1999).
Agriculture fields are recognized as a non-point source of nutrient components, which causes
pollution in the water system (Sharpley et al., 1994). Especially, eutrophication occurs when the
nutrients in sediments, animal wastes, plant nutrients, crop residues or chemical fertilizer are
discharged into the water system by surface runoff or percolation (White and Howe, 2004). Boers(1996) reported that agriculture caused 60% of total nitrogen losses and 40-50% of total
phosphorus to the further down water system which were mainly caused by the large amounts offertilizers used.
Especially, soil erosion is one of the dominate processes discharging nutrients associated withsoil particles or organic matters (Correll et al., 1999). Mihara (2001) reported that around 40% of
annual nitrogen loads from the vegetable fields were lost by one day typhoon event. Surface runoff
with severe soil erosion was the main factor to enhance nitrogen loss from agricultural fields.

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

So, a strategy to reduce agricultural nutrient losses especially nitrogen and phosphate needs tobe implemented where water systems have been identified as at risk or polluted. The mostimportant step in the control of soil degradation or water pollution is mitigating nutrient losses
from agriculture fields or non-point sources (Johnes, 1996; Cherry et al., 2008).
The objective of this research is to evaluate granular compost application comparing withchemical fertilizer or conventional compost from a viewpoint of reducing soil and nutrient losses in
the field under natural rainfall and plant growth for 2 cycles of cultivation.
RESEARCH METHODS
Soil and nutrient losses under natural rainfall
In the experiment of soil and nutrient losses under natural rainfall, 4 plots (Fig. 1) of 0.8 m wide x
2.5 m long were set up in the agricultural fields of Nan, Thailand. As shown in Table 1, fertilizers
of chemical, conventional compost and granular compost were broadcasted in each plot at the samerate of 10.0 g N/m2. Then, surface runoff occurred by natural rainfall was sampled and theconcentration of soil, total nitrogen and organic matters was analyzed. In addition, surface
discharge was measured at a certain interval.
Table 1 Soil and fertilizers applied for field experiment at Nan
Total nitrogen(g/kg)
0.05

Organic matter(g/kg)
61.3

Light clay

Chemical fertilizer

80

-

-

Conventional compost

10.7

320.9

-

Granular compost

8.83

302.1

-

Field experimental soil

Soil typeFig. 1 Field experimental plots

Plant growth for 2 cycles of cultivation
Plant growth for 2 cycles of cultivation was conducted in the agricultural fields of Nan, Thailand
for observing the efficiency of plant growth by fertilizers applied. Six ridges (Fig. 2) of 1.0 m wide
x 2.0 m long were prepared in the fields and fertilizers of chemical, conventional compost or
granular compost was broadcasted in each ridge at the same rate of 10 g N/m2.
For the 1st cultivation, morning glory (Ipomoea aquatica) was planted by seeding at the sameamount of seeds in each ridge on 5 July, 2007. After 25 days growing, morning glory was
harvested and measured the live length and weight on 30 July, 2007. Then after 4 days of harvested
morning glory, the 2nd cultivation of kwang tung (Brassica juncea var.) was cultivated at the same
soil of six ridges from 3 to 31 August 2007 for 28 days without any fertilizers added. Then plant
length and live weight were measured. Plant growth for 2 cycles of cultivation was conductedunder natural condition with giving same amounts of irrigation at 5-7 mm/day to every ridge.
- Ridge 1: no added any fertilizer- Ridge 2: applied chemical fertilizer after planting- Ridge 3: applied compost before planting- Ridge 4: applied compost after planting- Ridge 5: applied granular compost before planting- Ridge 6: applied granular compost after planting

Fig. 2 Six ridges for plant growth experimentIJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Changes in soil and nutrient losses under natural rainfall

Soil loss (g/m2)

60
50

a

a

Total nitrogen loss (g/m2)

In order to evaluate granular compost application comparing with chemical fertilizer orconventional compost from a viewpoint of reducing soil and nutrient losses under natural rainfall,the experiment was conducted in Nan, Thailand on 24 July 2007.
The water samples of surface runoff from every plot were collected during the time of 5:00 –7:00 a.m. This rainfall was started from 4:00 a.m. and finished around 8:00 a.m., and had rainfall
intensities in the range from 14 to 38 mm/hr.
The losses of soil, total nitrogen and organic matters with surface runoff were measured andcompared among the plots without fertilizer (control), with chemical fertilizer, conventional
compost and granular compost.
As shown in Fig. 3, soil loss from the plot applied granular compost was significantly lower
than that from other plots of control, chemical fertilizer and conventional compost at 95%
confidence level based on one-way ANOVA analysis. Additionally, there was no significant
different in soil losses among the plots of control, chemical fertilizer and conventional compost. Itmeans that conventional compost was not effective for decreasing soil loss under this naturalrainfall.
a
b

40
30
20
10
0
ControlChemicalfertilizer

Conventional
compostGranularcompost

a

0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10

c

0.05

b

c

Conventional
compostGranularcompost0.00
ControlChemicalfertilizer*The data followed by different letters differs significantly at 95% confidence interval based on one-way ANOVA.

Fig. 3 Soil and total nitrogen losses with surface runoff under the natural rainfall

In case of total nitrogen losses, the results showed that total nitrogen loss from the plot appliedchemical fertilizer was significantly higher than that from other plots at 95% confidence level.
Additionally, total nitrogen losses from the plot applied granular compost and the plot of control
were significantly lower than the plot applied conventional compost at 95% confidence level. So, it
showed that total nitrogen in granular compost was not washed off easily by rainfall or surface
runoff under the rainfall intensities from 14 to 38 mm/hr.
The results of organic matter losses (Fig. 4) with surface runoff showed the same tendency assoil loss. The loss of organic matters from the plot applied granular compost was significantly
lower than that from the plot applied chemical fertilizer or conventional compost at 95%
confidence level.
Organic matter loss (g/m2)

2)

/m
g(
ss
lo
re
tt
a
m
ci
n
a
gr
O

2.5

a

2.0
1.5

b

b

1.0

c

0.5
0.0
ControlChemicalfertilizer

Conventional
compostGranularcompost*The data followed by different letters differs significantly at 95% confidence interval based on one-way ANOVA.

Fig. 4 Organic matters losses with surface runoff under the natural rainfall

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Changes in plant growth for 2 cycles of cultivation
The experiment of plant growth for 2 cycles of cultivation was conducted in the agricultural fields
of Nan, Thailand for observing the efficiency of fertilizers applied for plant growth. Duration ofcultivating the 1st cultivation of morning glory (Ipomoea aquatica) was from 5 to 30 July 2007.
Then the 2nd cultivation of kwang tung (Brassica juncea var.) was cultivated at the same soil
without any fertilizers added at six ridges from 3 to 31 August 2007.
Fig. 5 shows the 1st cultivation of morning glory (Ipomoea aquatica) and Fig. 6 the 2nd
cultivation of kwang tung (Brassica juncea var.). The efficiency of fertilizers for plant growth wasevaluated by the measurement of plant length and weight.

1

2

3

4

5

6

- Ridge 1: no fertilizer added- Ridge 2: broadcasted chemical fertilizer after planting- Ridge 3: mixed compost with soil before planting- Ridge 4: broadcasted compost after planting- Ridge 5: mixed granular compost with soil before planting- Ridge 6: broadcasted granular compost after planting

Fig. 5 First crop cultivation in Nan- Ridge 1: no fertilizer added- Ridge 2: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 3: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 4: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 5: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 6: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation

Fig. 6 Second crop cultivation in Nan

The results of plant length for 2 cycles of cultivation were shown in Fig. 7. The 1st cultivation
showed that plant length of the ridges broadcasted conventional compost and granular compost
after planting was higher than 47 cm, it was similar to the plant length of the ridge appliedchemical fertilizer. Plant length of the 1st cultivation from the ridges mixed conventional compost
or granular compost with soil before planting tended to be short; it may be affected from releasingrate of nutrients from fertilizers.
There were 2 ways of fertilizations in plant growth experiment, one was applying fertilizers
and mixing with soil before planting and the other broadcasting fertilizers after planting. It wasconsidered the nutrient releasing from fertilizers broadcasted after planting was higher than that
mixed with soil before planting. So, plant growth in the ridges broadcasted fertilizers may be
advanced more than that in the ridges mixed fertilizers with soil.
However for the 2nd cultivation, plant length of the ridges applied conventional compost
before and after planting or applied granular compost before and after planting was significantly
higher than that of the ridge applied chemical fertilizer at 95% confidence level.
Additionally, the 1st cultivation showed that plant weight (Fig. 8) of the ridges broadcasted
granular compost after planting was 16 g heavier, and there was no significant different with plantweight of the ridge broadcasted chemical fertilizer at 95% confidence level. However, in the 2nd
cultivation, plant weight of the ridge applied chemical fertilizer was the lowest among all ridges.
Conversely, plant weight of the ridges applied granular compost before and after planting was
significantly higher than that of all other ridges at 95% confidence level.
Discussion from soil and nutrient losses and plant growth
Granular compost application was compared with chemical fertilizer or conventional compost
application from a viewpoint of reducing soil and nutrient losses under natural rainfall in the

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

selected agricultural field of Nan province, Thailand. The rainfall intensities of field experimentwere from 14 to 38 mm/hr at 30 minutes interval. But during the natural rainfall, there were highintensities beyond 50 mm/hr for several minutes. So, other areas having different rainfall intensities,
the results of soil and nutrient losses may be difference.
Additionally, plant growths for 2 cycles of cultivation were conducted in the field of Nanprovince, Thailand. The types of vegetables applied in this research were popular and suitable for
evaluating the fertilization effects within a few months. The results showed that conventional
compost or granular compost broadcasted after planting was effective not only for the 1stcultivation but also for the 2nd cultivation. It was considered that the way of fertilization affects tothe processes of decomposing and releasing nutrients. Generally, there may be 2 types ofdecomposing processes. One is the physical process advanced by slaking, shearing force of flowing
water or impact of raindrop, and the other is the biological process by microorganism which ismainly inorganic process including nitrification.
1st cultivation (Ipomoea aquatica)

2nd cultivation (Brassica juncea var.)

50
40

b

a
b

40

a

a

Plant length (cm)Plant length (cm)

60

c

30
20
10
0

35
30

b

25

b

a

a

3

4

a

a

20
15
10
5
0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

2

Ridge

5

6

Ridge

*The data followed by different letters differs significantly at 95% confidence interval based on one-way ANOVA.

- Ridge 1: no fertilizer added- Ridge 2: broadcasted chemical fertilizer after planting- Ridge 3: mixed compost with soil before planting- Ridge 4: broadcasted compost after planting- Ridge 5: mixed granular compost with soil before planting- Ridge 6: broadcasted granular compost after planting- Ridge 1: no fertilizer added- Ridge 2: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 3: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 4: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 5: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 6: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation

Fig. 7 Plant length for 2 cycles of cultivation
1st cultivation (Ipomoea aquatica)

2nd cultivation (Brassica juncea var.)

15

a
c

60

a
b

b

Weight (g)Weight (g)

20

c

10
5

50
40
30

a

a

5

6

b
c

c
d

20
10

0

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

2

3

4

Ridge

Ridge

*The data followed by different letters differs significantly at 95% confidence interval based on one-way ANOVA.

- Ridge 1: no fertilizer added- Ridge 2: broadcasted chemical fertilizer after planting- Ridge 3: mixed compost with soil before planting- Ridge 4: broadcasted compost after planting- Ridge 5: mixed granular compost with soil before planting- Ridge 6: broadcasted granular compost after planting- Ridge 1: no fertilizer added- Ridge 2: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 3: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 4: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 5: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation- Ridge 6: no fertilizer added after the 1st crop cultivation

Fig. 8 Plant weight for 2 cycles of cultivation

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

CONCLUSION
This research dealt with the evaluation of granular compost application comparing with chemicalfertilizer or conventional compost application from viewpoints of reducing soil and nutrient losses
under natural rainfall and of plant growth for 2 cycles of cultivation.
The results showed that in the natural rainfall having 14 to 38 mm/hr, the losses of soil, total
nitrogen and organic matter from the plot applied granular compost were lower comparing withthat from the plot applied chemical fertilizer or conventional compost. Additionally, the 1stcultivation from 5 to 30 July 2007 showed that plant length and live weight of the ridge
broadcasted granular compost after planting were same as that of chemical fertilizer. However forthe 2nd cultivation from 3 to 31 August 2007, plant length and live weight of the ridges applied
granular compost before or after planting were the highest among all ridges. It means chemicalfertilizer application was effective for plant growth in a short time, less than around 30 days, but it
did not sustain more than the period.
According to the experimental results, it was concluded that chemical fertilizer or granular
compost broadcasted after planting were the most effective for getting higher yields in the crop
cultivation within 30 days. In case the duration of crop cultivation would be more than 30 days;
granular compost applied either before or after planting was the most effective.
REFERENCES
Boers, P.C.M. (1996) Nutrient emissions from agriculture in the Netherlands, Causes and remedies. Journalof Water Science and Technology, 33-4, 183-189.
Cherry, M.A., Shepherd, M., Withers, P.J.A. and Mooney, S.J. (2008) Assessing the effectiveness of actions
to mitigate nutrient loss from agriculture, A review of methods. Science of The Total Environment, 4061-2, 1-23.
Correll, D.L., Jordan, T.E. and Weller, D.E. (1999) Transport of nitrogen and phosphorus from Rhode River
watersheds during storm events. Journal of Water Resources Research, 35-8, 2513-2521.
Johnes, P.J. (1996) Evaluation and management of the impact of land use change on the nitrogen andphosphorus load delivered to surface water, The export coefficient modeling approach. Journal of
Hydrology, 183-3-4, 323-349.
Mihara, M. (2001) Nitrogen and phosphorus losses due to soil erosion during a typhoon, Japan. Journal of
Agricultural Engineering Research, 78-2, 209-216.
Novotny, V. (1999) Diffuse pollution from agriculture, A worldwide outlook. Journal of Water Science andTechnology, 39-3, 1-13.
Sharpley, A.N., Chapra, S.C., Wedepohl, R., Sims, T.J., Daniel, T.C. and Reddy, K.R. (1994) Managing
agriculture phosphorus for protection of surface waters, Issues and options. Journal of Environmental
Quality, 23, 437-451.
White, I. and Howe, J. (2004) The mismanagement of surface water. Journal of Applied Geography, 24-4,
261-280.

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Research article
erdMarket Channel and Trade of Fermented Small-Sized Fish
Paste in Cambodia
SOPHEA UN
Graduate School, Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Email: sophea2004@yahoo.com

ROBERT S. POMEROY
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics/CT Sea Grant,
University of Connecticut-Avery Point, Connecticut, USA

NAM SO
Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute,Fisheries Administration, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

KONGKEA CHHAY
Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development,
Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Received 31 December 2009

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Fermented small-sized fish paste is considered to be one of the main food sources
for Cambodians, especially for the poor. However, most small-sized fish are used as direct
feed for aquaculture or dried for animal feed. This study was conducted in order to identify
market channel and trade of fermented small-sized fish paste. Phnom Penh city, Kendal,
Kampong Chhnang, Battambang, and Siem Reap Provinces were selected as the study
areas. The study revealed that there were three main sources of product which should beconsidered when analyzing total volume of annual production. The total production of thefermented fish paste in 2007-2008 was around 6,659 tons, of which 50.18% wasdomestically consumed and 49.82% exported to Thailand and Vietnam. Marketing andtrading differed according to trading sites, stakeholder characteristics, and fish species
containing in the fermented fish paste.
Keywords: Market channel, trade, small-sized fish, fermented small-sized fish paste,
Cambodia

INTRODUCTION
Fish has played an important role in ensuring food security in Cambodia. Fermented fish paste (orPrahoc in Khmer), a processed fish product, is a concentrated form of fermented fish which istypically made from small freshwater fish in which the fermentation has digested the fish to thepoint where the form of the fish is no longer clearly visible (Hortle, 2007). Fermented fish paste isdesirable and is kept in houses all year round. It contributes to food availability, especially in the
period when fresh fish is in short supply. There are two kinds of fermented fish paste - bonelessand bony fish paste - which are bought and used by different classes of people. Some boneless fish
paste is processed from small-sized fish species, but it is sold at a higher price compared to that ofbony fish paste. Normally bony fish paste, also processed from small-sized fish, is consumed by thepoor who have limited income.
Nearly all small-sized fish - around 92% - are used as direct feed for cage and pondaquaculture (So et al., 2005). These competing uses are a challenge to human consumption,
especially to the poor. Based on the rapid decrease of small-sized fish numbers in the river, theRoyal Government of Cambodia placed a ban on snakehead fish farming. As a result more fish is© ISERD

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

available and an opportunity exists for the poor, and for small-sized fish paste stakeholders, toaccess more fish for their living and businesses. In addition around 50% of small-sized fish isprocessed into small-sized dried fish and salted fish or converted into small-sized fish paste or fishsauce (Asian Development Bank (ADB), 2006).
Information about fermented small-sized fish paste market and trade in Cambodia has notpreviously been investigated and understood. This study was conducted to identify the market
channel and trade of fermented small-sized fish paste in Cambodia.
METHODOLOGY
Phnom Penh City and Kandal Province, in the Mekong-Bassac River zone, and Kampong Chhnang,
Battambang and Siem Reap Provinces, in the Great Lake and Tonle Sap River zone, were selected
as study areas. Samples for interviews were categorized into six groups, processors, middlemen,exporters, wholesalers, retailers, and end consumers, based on their characteristics in the trade andmarkets. The total sample size in the study was 150. Two kinds of data, primary and secondary,were required for the study. Primary data comprised information from interviews. Structuralinterviews using six different design questionnaires were conducted with survey respondents who
were purposively selected. Key informants, such as officers at Fisheries Administration
Cantonment and local authorities in each city/province, were also semi-structurally interviewed,
and observations conducted. Secondary data were taken from technical papers, books, journals, andother publications. The collected primary data were installed and analyzed in SPSS version 12.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
There are three main actors in the fermented fish paste market channel:
Processors: Among the five study areas Kampong Chhnang has the largest amount offermented small-sized fish paste processing. Fermented small-sized fish paste production rose from1124 tons in 2000-2001 to 1,448 tons in 2007-2008, but declines occurred in the years 2002-2003
and 2005-2007 because of shortages and an increasing price of small-sized fish.
Exporting Companies: There were three exporting companies - Trey Meas and Marchhar
Steoung Sangkae, located in Battambang Province and Marchhar Meas Angkor, based in Siem
Reap Province. The total amount of salted small-sized fish bought, processed, and traded by thesethree exporting companies in 2001-2002 was 800 tons and rose to 4,139 tons in 2007-2008.
Wholesalers and Retailers: It was estimated that the total amount of fermented small-sized fish
paste which went through wholesalers and retailers, and did not go through processors or exporters,
was 1,071 tons in 2007-2008.
Thus, the total amount of the fermented fish paste produced in 2007-2008 was about 6,659
tons. Of this 3,341 tons (50.18%) was domestically consumed, 3,268 tons (49.07%) was exported toThailand, and 50 tons (0.75%) was exported to Vietnam.
In 2000, the total amount of fermented fish paste produced by family-scale processors was
between 17,500 and 25,000 tons. Commercial-scale processors produced 12,681 tons (Touch,2001), of which 7,187 tons (56.68%) were domestically consumed and 5,494 tons (43.32%) were
exported (Department of Fisheries, 2001). However, (Nao et al., 2001) state that the actual amountof fish paste exported was much higher.
About 58.82% of salted small-sized fish which was bought by middlemen came fromfishermen; 92.75% bought by exporters came from middlemen; 73.50% bought by wholesalers wasfrom middlemen; 43.13% bought by retailers was from processors. When sold, 63.83% was soldfrom processors to middlemen; 65.14% from middlemen to exporters; 88.74% from exporters to
middlemen; 33.97% from wholesalers to provincial wholesalers/retailers. The fermented fish paste
was mostly not classified when traded in markets.
This study also showed that the average price of fresh fish was 1,497 Riel/kg in 2007-2008(processors) and of (final) fermented small-sized fish paste was 3,141 Riel/kg in 2000-2001, 3,594
Riel/kg in 2001-2002, 3,783 Riel/kg in 2002-2003, 4,014 Riel/kg in 2003-2004, 4,541 Riel/kg in© ISERD

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

2004-2005, 5,026 Riel/kg in 2005-2006, 5,707 Riel/kg in 2006-2007, and 6,789 Riel/kg in 20072008, compared to the study of Touch in 2001 which showed that the price of bony fish paste perkilogram in 2000 was about 1,500 Riel and 5,000 Riel for boneless fish paste. Note that theexchange rate used is 4,000 Riel to 1 US Dollar.
Market channels of fermented small-sized fish paste differed in the five study areas. In Phnom
Penh, the total amount of fermented small-sized fish paste which was marketed and distributed toother provinces was about 421 tons (6.34% of total amount of fermented small-sized fish paste(6,659 tons) being annually traded in Cambodia). In Fig. 1, processors in Phnom Penh played an
important role to supply (final or finished) fermented small-sized fish paste to stakeholders inmarkets; they sold the product to provincial middlemen and markets, and to Phnom Penh
middlemen and markets. Moreover, processors in Kandal Province also sold their (final) fermented
small-sized fish paste to some markets and to middlemen in Phnom Penh. And middlemen in
Phnom Penh also bought fermented small-sized fish paste in semi-final form (or called salted
small-sized fish) from processors in Kampong Chhnang Province and from exporting companies in
Battambang Province. After being processed and stocked in cement reservoirs or earthenware pots
this fermented fish paste was sold to either Phnom Penh and provincial markets or consumers.

Processors inPhnom Penh
Middlemen in
Provinces
Phnom Penh
Markets
Provincial
Markets

Exporting Companies
in Battambang
Province

Middlemen in
Phnom Penh

Processors in
Kandal Province

Processors in Kampong
Chhnang Province

Consumers

Fig. 1 Market channel of fermented small-sized fish paste in Phnom Penh City
In Kandal Province, the total amount of fermented small-sized fish paste which was either
marketed within the province or distributed to other provinces was 445 tons (6.70% of the total
amount being traded in Cambodia every year). As shown in Fig. 2, processors supplied fermented
small-sized fish paste to middlemen in the province and to other provinces, to Phnom Penh andprovincial markets, to middlemen in Phnom Penh, and to consumers. Middlemen both inside andoutside the province sold the product to Phnom Penh market which it was then distributed from
Phnom Penh markets to some markets in other provinces. Furthermore, middlemen in Kandal andother provinces, and those in Phnom Penh sold their products to markets in Kandal Province and toother provinces as well.

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

Processors in Kandal Province

Middlemen in Provinces

Phnom Penh Markets

Provincial Markets

Middlemen in Phnom Penh

Consumers

Fig. 2 Market channel of fermented small-sized fish paste in Kandal Province
The total amount of fermented small-sized fish paste which was being either marketed inBattambang or distributed to other provinces and to Thailand was 3,730 tons (56% of the total
amount being traded annually in Cambodia). In Fig. 3, second processors in Battambang bought
salted small-sized fish from first middlemen living near the Tonle Sap river. After being processed(through adding more salt or making into final products), the fermented fish paste was sold towholesalers/retailers in markets, to middlemen both inside and outside the province and to Phnom
Penh middlemen. Moreover, first processors in Battambang sold salted small-sized fish directly tosome markets in Battambang and in other provinces. First middlemen in Battambang also supplied
the salted fish to sellers in markets of Battambang and other provinces and exporting companies in
Battambang. These companies bought salted small-sized fish from first middlemen in Kampong
Chhnang. After being salted and stocked, it was sold out to second processors in Battambang, toprovincial markets, to provincial middlemen, to Phnom Penh middlemen, and to Thai markets.

1st Middlemen in
Battambang Province

2nd Processors in
Battambang

1st Processors in
Battambang

Provincial Markets

Middlemen in Provinces

Exporting Companies in
Battambang Province

Middlemen in Phnom Penh
1st Middlemen in
Kampong Chhnang
Province

Thai Markets

Fig. 3 Market channel of fermented small-sized fish paste in Battambang Province© ISERD

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The total amount of fermented small-sized fish paste which was being marketed in Kampong
Chhnang and distributed to other provinces was 960 tons (14.43% of the total amount being tradedin Cambodia). In Kampong Chhnang the product which was sold by processors was salted smallsized fish, called fermented small-sized fish paste by local people in the province. As shown in Fig.
4, the salted fish was sold from processors to Phnom Penh markets, to provincial markets, tosecond middlemen in the provinces, to middemen in Phnom Penh, and to other middlemen fromother provinces. Some of the salted fish was taken to Vietnam by Vietnamese processors when theprocessing season was finished. Moreover, some of the salted fish was also exported to Thai
markets by the processors. Additionally, first middlemen from other provinces also sold salted
small-sized fish to second middlemen in the province and to some wholesalers and retailers either
in the province or in other provinces. After being stocked (or sometimes not), the fermented fish
paste was distributed to provincial markets, to middlemen in other provinces as well as in Phnom
Penh city.
Processors in Kampong
Chhnang Province
Phnom Penh Markets

Provincial Markets
2nd Middlemen in
Kampong Chhnang

1st Middlemen in other
Provinces

Middlemen in other
Provinces
Middlemen in Phnom
Penh

Vietnam and Thailand

Fig. 4 Market channel of fermented small-sized fish paste in Kampong Chhnang Province
The total amount of fermented small-sized fish paste which was being marketed in Siem Reap,
distributed to other Provinces and to Thailand was 1,100 tons (16.53% of the total amount being
traded in Cambodia). Unlike the other four Provinces in Siem Reap both bony and boneless smallsized fish paste were marketed. Fig. 5 shows that processors sold fermented fish paste as finishedproducts to markets and middlemen in the province, and to markets in Phnom Penh. Middlemen in
the province also sold the fermented fish paste to markets in the province. In addition first
middlemen in Pursat and Battambang Provinces brought salted fish from fishermen and sold toexporting companies in Siem Reap. After being salted and stocked (or sometimes not), the salted
fish was exported to Thai markets. Furthermore, an exporting company in Siem Reap and first
middlemen and first processors in Battambang sold salted fish and final fermented fish paste(mostly from exporting company) to wholesalers and retailers in some markets in Siem Reap
Province. This would later be processed into finished products before sale to consumers.

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Generally the market channels for fermented fish paste are affected by seasons, which
determine the availability of fish for fermented small-sized fish paste processing. Seasonal factors
influence the presence of the product in markets from month to month and business outcomes.
Overall, fermented small-sized fish paste is locally marketed and traded in both finished andunfinished form depending on the business purposes of stakeholders. The product was ultimately
sold to domestic consumers as finished products or exported to neighboring countries as unfinishedproduct which could later be processed into finished products to meet export market needs.
The market channel of fermented small-sized fish paste in the five study areas differed interms of condition (finished or unfinished) and type (bony or boneless) of fermented small-sizedfish paste being marketed, and means of transport (car, cart or boat).

Processors in Siem
Reap Province

1st Processors in
Battambang

Provincial Markets

1st Middlemen in
Battambang

Middlemen in
Provinces

Exporting Company inSiem Reap

Phnom Penh
Markets

Thai Markets

1st Middlemen in
PursatFig. 5 Market channel of fermented small-sized fish paste in Siem Reap Province
CONCLUSION
Fermented small-sized fish paste was traded differently according to trading sites, stakeholder
characteristics, and fish species. Moreover the fermented fish paste market and trade wascomplicated because not only was finished fermented small-sized fish paste marketed and tradedbut also salted small-sized fish. Although there seemed to be complications in the market channel
and trade, the fermented fish paste was sufficiently processed for domestic needs and nearly half ofthe total production was exported to neighboring countries. Most of the product which wasexported to neighboring countries was in semi-final form which could reduce some of the added
value. Hence, more value adding could be obtained if the product could be processed locally into
finished products to meet the demands of consumers in other countries.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank the Fisheries Administration of Cambodia, US Agency for International Development,
Oregon State University, and Aquaculture and Fisheries Collaborative Research Support Program(AquaFish CRSP) for their support for the study.

REFERENCES
Asian Development Bank (2006) Cambodia, Tonle Sap resource management and conservation(http://www.adb.org).
Department of Fisheries (2001) Trade, marketing and processing of fisheries product review. Department of
Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia.

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Hortle, K.G. (2007) Consumption and the yield of fish and other aquatic animals from the lower Mekongbasin. Mekong River Commission Technical Paper, 16, 1-87.
Nao, T., So, N. and Thorn, S.S. (2001) Cambodia's fish processing and marketing and distribution of fish andfishery products, Focusing on market opportunities and export potentials. Department of Fisheries,
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia (http://www.ifredi.org).
So, N., Eng, T., Souen, N. and Hortle, K. (2005) Use of freshwater low-value fish for aquaculture
development in the Cambodia's Mekong basin. Regional Workshop on Low-value and Trash Fish in the
Asia-Pacific Region (http://www.apfic.org).
Touch, S.T. (2001) The inland and marine fisheries trade of Cambodia. Economic, Social and Cultural
Observation Unit, Cambodia.

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Research article
erdComparison of Microbial Diversity of Paddy Soils in
Sustainable Organic Farming
CHUNCHARA THUITHAISONG
School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology,
Phatum Thani, Thailand
Email: Chunchara.Thuithaisong@ait.ac.th

PREEDA PARKPIAN AND OLEG V. SHIPIN
School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology,
Phatum Thani, Thailand

RAJENDRA P. SHRESTHA
School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology,
Phatum Thani, Thailand

KUNNIKA NAKLANG
Surin Rice Research Center, Bureau of Rice Research and Development,
Rice Department, Bangkok, Thailand
Received 1 January 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Agricultural management significantly influences soil microbiological properties,
such as microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen and respiration rate.
Besides soil parameters, microbial diversity is useful for monitoring changes in soil
quality to evaluate sustainable agriculture. This study aims to develop and use microbial
diversity in rice soil as an indicator of soil quality for sustainable organic rice farming. An
experiment was carried out using the existing rice fields (Kao Dawk Mali 105 variety) in
Surin Rice Research Center, Thailand. Four plots of rice received different management
practices for over 11 years, including (1) conventional farming (CF) with a normal rate ofchemical fertilizer applied, (2,3) two plots of organics: one with green manure (GM) andthe other with rice straw (RS) and (4) a control plot (CT) without external sources of plant
nutrients. Soil microbial communities were determined by cultural and molecular methods
such as total plate counts, community level physiological profiling (CLPP) with
BIOLOGTM Ecoplate, and PCR-amplified (16S rDNA) and analysed by denaturing
gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Two-way ANOVA of results revealed that total
plate counts were significantly (P<0.05) affected by the four different management
practices. However, the GM plot (2.3x106 CFU g-1 of dry soil) and CF plot (1.8x106 CFU
g-1 of dry soil) were not significantly different (P>0.05). Likewise soil management
practices influenced the microbial diversity, both in functional and genetic diversity in therice plots studied. Further a narrow range of Shannon-Weaver diversity index (Hf') was
obtained with values between 2.77 for CT and 3.01 for GM. Statistical analysis (ANOVA)
performed using substrate richness (S) from potential substrate utilization patterns as the
input data, showed that the GM treatment increased the microbial diversity.
Keywords: Microbial diversity, organic farming, paddy soil, CLPP, PCR-DGGEINTRODUCTION
Rice production is commonly associated with conventional farming practices including the use ofchemical fertilizers and pesticides. Therefore, conventional farming practices, if not managed
properly, can have adverse environmental consequences (Schionning et al., 2004). To ensure
human survival it is necessary to maximize rice production while minimizing negative effects on© ISERD

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the environment (e.g. soil quality and microbial diversity). Alternative farming systems such asorganic farming are required. Organic farming avoids or minimizes the use of synthetic fertilizers,
pesticides and antibiotics. It has a positive effect on the build up of soil organic matter (SOM),
mainly because of high organic matter inputs to the soil (green manure or rice straw), which isbeneficial for soil microbial biomass and activity. Soil micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi,
protozoa, and nematode, play an important role in maintaining soil quality in agricultural
management systems. Sustaining soil fertility is governed largely by the decomposition activity ofthe microorganisms. Agricultural management practices have been reported to influence soil
microbial community structures (Sun et al., 2004). Microbial communities in soil mediate key
processes that control ecosystem carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling as well as other beneficial
plant nutrients. The essence of sustainable agriculture is the maintenance of viable, diverse
populations and functioning microbial communities in the soil. Microbial diversity relates toenvironmental impact and soil functioning, both of which seem inadequate for use as indicators(Anderson, 2003). Therefore, analyses of soil microbial diversity and community structures are
essential when monitoring environmental influences on soil quality. Bacteria occurring in the soil
are excellent indicators of soil health because they are involved in many soil processes and they
respond quickly to changes in the soil ecosystem (Winding, 2004). Bacterial diversity is critical toecosystem functioning because of the diversity of processes for which bacteria are responsible,
including decomposition and nutrient cycling (Kennedy, 1999).
Recently a number of different methods and approaches have been used to investigate themicrobial community. Previously investigation of microbial populations was determined by total
plate count, which underestimates the actual soil microbial population. This is because less than
0.1% of agricultural soil micro-organisms are culturable. The BIOLOGTM EcoPlate assay issensitive to changes in the short term from management practices. To investigate microbial
diversity in the soil more data are required for PCR-amplified (16S rDNA) and analysed by
DGGE to study genetic diversity of bacterial in the paddy soil. To accomplish this, a careful
and thorough investigation of factors affecting bacterial diversity is required. A full appreciation of
the genetic diversity of soil bacteria has not yet been accomplished compared to functional
diversity. The aim of this paper is to investigate microbial diversity to serve as a biologicalindicator which can be further developed for use in an organic rice field.
METHODOLOGY
Study area, experimental design and soil sampling procedures
The study area was used to grow rice under organic and conventional farming at the Surin Rice
Research Center, located in Korat Plateau, Muang District, Surin Province, Thailand (latitude 14o
55'N and longitude 103o 25'E). The studied soil belongs to the Roi Et series, which is widelydistributed and used for rice production in northeastern Thailand. This soil has properties of aninfertile acid loam and sandy loam to a depth of 10 cm, which is the active rhizosphere for rice
plants and good microbiological activity. The experimental design consisted of four plots, eachwith an area of 0.16 ha. All four plots included (1) CF, using a chemical fertilizer (16-16-8, NP2O5-K2O), (2, 3) two organic treatments; one received Sesbania rostrata as GM, and the othertreatment/plot with RS, and (4) control plot (CT), which has no external source of plant nutrients.
Rice (Oriza sativa, KDML 105 variety) was grown on all plots under rainfed lowland conditions.
Representative top soil samples were taken from the plots which have been cultivated with rice for
eleven years. After sampling, all samples were kept at 4oC for total plate count and BIOLOGTM
EcoPlate analysis, and -20oC for PCR-DGGE analysis. Each individual treatment was sampledthree times in 2007; before growing rice in May, when maximum tillering occurred, andimmediately after rice harvest. A topsoil layer (0-10 cm) was collected using a soil core device
with diameter of 2.5 cm. Based on random sampling, six points were chosen from each plot and© ISERD

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when the sampling was completed, topsoil from the six points was thoroughly mixed into one
sample.
Total plate count analysis
The effect of agricultural management practice on the total number of culturable bacteria wasdetermined by the plate count technique (pour plate) of colony-forming units (CFU). Five grams offresh soil were prepared in 45 ml sterile ¼ Ringer solution (Merk, Germany), and homogenized ina centrifuge tube (50 ml) using vortex for 3 min. at maximum speed. Then the samples were
centrifuged for 5 min at 129 x g (or 1,074 rpm) (Calbrix et al., 2007) and the supernatant liquids
were serially diluted (10-fold steps) with sterile ¼ Ringer solution and 0.1 ml aliquots of eachdilution were pipetted into a sterile Petri plate in triplicate, then melted tryptic soy agar (TSA) was
poured in and mixed with the sample. All plates were incubated at 37oC for 48 hr.
Community levels physiological profile (CLPP) analysis
CLPP was undertaken using the BiologTM Ecoplate and each plate containing 96 microtiter wells
was divided into three replicated sets. Thirty-two wells in each of the sets contained different
substrates and a blank control well contained water. Soil extracts were prepared with 5 g of freshsoil in 45 ml sterile ¼ Ringer solution (Merk, Germany), and homogenized in a centrifuge tube (50ml) using vortex for 3 min. at maximum speed. Then the samples were centrifuged for 5 min. at
129 x g (or 1,074 rpm) (Calbrix et al., 2007) and the supernatant liquid was diluted (10-3 dilution)with sterile ¼ Ringer solution and inoculated onto BIOLOGTM EcoPlate system (Biolog Inc., CA,
USA). The aliquots of 130 μl from a 10-3 dilution were inoculated into the microplates. The plates
were incubated at 37oC in dark. Color development in each well was examined optical density(OD) at 405 nm every 12 h for 7 d (Zak et al., 1994) using a microplate reader (DNM-9602G,
Beijing Prolong New Technology Co., Ltd).
Polymerase chain reaction-denature gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) analysis
For the analysis, variations of diversity of microbial genes in paddy soil were studied using directly
extracting total DNA, and amplifying 16S rDNA by PCR-DGGE. Community DNA was directly
isolated from the paddy soil samples without duplicate using the FastDNA® SPIN Kit for Soil andthe FastPrep® Instrument as described by the manufactures (MP Biomedicals, Solon, Ohio, USA).
Extracted DNA was then purified by Sephadex G-50 Mini Column® according to the manufacture(Geneaid, Taiwan) to remove humic acid and fulvic acid contamination. Total bacterial
communities were analysed with specific primer sets; 357f-GC and 518r (Kurisu et al., 2002;
Muzer et al., 1993). Extracted DNA was amplified by PCR amplification using these specificprimer sets (357f-GC and 518r) for 35 cycles in a 24 µl reaction volume. PCRs were performed
using a thermal cycler (BioRad Laboratories, lnc). PCR mixtures were amplified as follow:
preincubated at 94°C for 9 min, 35 cycles of denaturing (30 sec at 94°C), annealing (30 sec at53°C), and extension (30 sec at 72°C) and a final elongation was at 72°C for 10 min (Kurisu et al.,2002). Analysis of PCR products by DGGE was performed according to Muzer et al. (1993) withmodifications using a DCodeTM Universal Mutation Detection System (Bio-Rad Laboratories,
USA). A 20 µl volume of amplified products was loaded onto 8% (wt/vol) polyacrylamide gel in
1x TAE buffer reservoir (7 L). The 8% (wt/vol) polyacrylamide gel (bisacrylaminde gel stock
solution, 37.55:1 (Bio-Rad Laboratories, lnc) were prepare with denaturing gradients of urea andformamide ranging from 20 to 70%. The electrophoresis was run at 60°C, first for 300 min at aconstant voltage of 130 V. After electrophoresis, the gel was incubated for 20 min in 15 mL ofMilli-Q water containing two drops of ethidium bromide and photographed with a Polaroid camera.
The gels were analyed using Quantity One software (Bio-Rad Laboratories lnc, USA).

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Data analysis and statistical analysis
Plate count data were normalized by log transformation and significant differences between groupmeans were determined by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and calculation of the minimum
significant difference by the Least-Significant Different (LSD) test at P = 0.05. The net optical
diversity (OD) at 405 nm for each substrate well for BIOLOGTM EcoPlate was calculated bysubtracting the control well OD from the substrate well OD. If this subtraction gave a negative
number, 0 was used in the subsequent analyses. Microbial activity in each microplate wasexpressed as average well-color development (AWCD). The AWCD was determined by thefollowing equation; AWCD = ∑ ODi/31, where ODi is the optical density value from each of the 31
wells by water blank substraction (Garland and Mills, 1991). The absorbance values at 72 h wereused to calculate diversity indices. Shannon-Weaver index (Hf') was calculated as follows; Hf' = -∑pi (ln pi), where pi is the ratio of the activity on each substrate (ODi) to the sum of activities on all
substrates (∑ ODi). Substrate richness (Sf) is the number of different substrates that were used by
the bacterial community, i.e. equivalent to species richness in the soil, and was calculated bycounting all positive OD reading (Zak et al., 1994). The AWCD, Sf, and Hf' were analyzed by
ANOVA and comparisons of means by the LSD test at P = 0.05. The genetic diversity indices were
calculated from DGGE profiles. Scanned gels analyzed the intensity of individual bands (peakheight of bands) in all lanes with Quantity One software package. Genetic diversity was evaluatedby calculating Shannon-Weaver index (Hg') as follows; Hg' = -∑ (ni/N)ln(ni/N), where ni is theintensity of band i as judged by its peak height, i is the number of bands in DGGE gel profile and N
is the sum of all peak heights in a given DGGE profile.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Total plate countLower numbers of culturable heterotrophic bacteria (CFU) were isolated from the CT because thisplot had low SOM (5.85±3.32 g kg-1) and also low in biological activity such as basal respiration(3.80±1.95 mg CO2-C kg-1 d-1), potentially mineralizable nitrogen (8.71±3.55 mg NH4-N kg-1,
microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen (0.331±0.355 g kg-1 and 0.186±0.158 g kg-1) (Thuithaisong
et al., 2010). Two-way ANOVA of the results revealed that total plate counts were significantly(P<0.05) affected by the four different management practices. However, a GM plot (2.29x106 CFU
g-1 of dry soil) and CF plot (1.80x106 CFU g-1 of dry soil) were not significantly different (P>0.05)(Table 1). This implied that without plant nutrients provide to the soil, growth of culturable bacteria
was restricted. Both GM and CF at the rate applied are equally effective in supporting a better
growth and perhaps survival of the cultivable bacteria, because they both contain an array oforganic compounds such as carbohydrates, fatty acids and peptide that are substrates for growth ofculturable bacteria.
Community level physiological profiles
The overall color development in the BIOLOGTM Ecoplates was calculated as the mean of all 31
wells. The temporal changes obtained from AWCD were different between soil samples, with theCT plot being the lowest, suggesting a lower level of microbial community in this plot. The numberof carbon sources that gave positive reactions for each soil treatments again highlighted the lower
values for CT compared to the other plots (Table 1). The GM plot had a high AWCD value and ahigh number of carbon sources. All indices of bacterial diversity (functional diversity) in GM plotincreased the microbial diversity, especially the Shannon-Weaver index (Hf') and substrate richness(Sf) as indicated by their highest values at 3.01 and 14.78 respectively.

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Polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis
Bacterial community structure determined by DGGE banding patterns are showed in Fig.1.
Numerous distinct DGGE bands, resulting from differences between the 16S rDNA gene sequencesof different bacterial species, were obvious. Each band represents at least one unique ribotype, as
reflected by the relative band intensity on a DGGE gel. The higher the intensity, the more dominantis the bacterial ribotype corresponding to that band. The DGGE patterns from the paddy soils ofdifferent agricultural management practices (CT, RS, GM and CF) had distinctly different featuresof bacterial community, suggesting that different soil environmental conditions influence bacterial
community structure. Based on the DGGE image, the expression level of 16S rDNA genesequences was strongly expressed in samples collected in May but they were weak in October andDecember. SOM, which is beneficial for soil microbial growth, was highest in the samples
collected in May (those soils were under aerobic condition). Therefore the intensity of DGGE
bands in May was expressed strongly due to the aerobic bacteria. In contrast bacterial populations
from rice soils of the four plots decreased in all the samples collected in October. Because such
samples were obtained under anaerobic condition the intensity of DGGE bands has lowest. The
degradation of SOM by aerobic bacteria was strongly inhibited because oxygen levels werereduced by flooding. However, the intensity of DGGE bands in soil samples collected in December
was higher than in October because the soils were again under aerobic conditions. The ShannonWeaver Index (Hg') was quite similar between RS and GM plots and their Hg' was higher than from
CF and CT soil treatments.
May

MarkerHaeIII
Base pairs

Oct

Dec

CT RS GM CF CT RS GM CF CT RS

GM CF

310_
271-234-118-194--

72--

Fig. 1 DGGE images of PCR-amplified products from different agricultural practices (CT,RS, GM and CF) during different sampling time (May, October, and December)Table 1 Effect of different farming management practices on soil microbial communities

CT

Total plate count(CFU g-1 of dry
soil)
8.42±5.49x104 a*

0.19±0.10RS

3.23±4.04x105 b

GM

6c

Plot

2.29±1.61x10

No. of C
sourcesutilized
6.0±3.87 a

2.77±0.15

0.28±0.16 b

9.7±5.95 b

c

c

AWCD

0.46±0.30a13.9±7.93

Functional diversity(Hf')

Genetically diversity

(Sf)

(Hg')

(Sg)

a

1.62±0.32a

6.0±2.00 a

2.83±0.15 a

9.0±1.73 b

2.08±0.23 a

9.0±3.00 a

b

c

a

8.3±3.05 a

3.01±0.82a5.3±2.96

14.8±4.12

1.96±0.43CF
1.80±1.33x106 c
0.30±0.17 d
8.8±4.57 b
2.86±0.12 a
10.0±3.04 b
1.89±0.38 a
8.3±2.52 a* Values are expressed as means and standard deviations followed the different regular letters (a, b, c) in row are
significantly different (P<0.05) by Least Significant Different (LSD). AWCD=average well color development, Hf'=Shannon-Weaver diversity index of functional diversity, Hg' =Shannon-Weaver diversity index of genetic diversity Sf=substrate richness, and Sg=species richness.
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This indicates that the influence of management practice on soil microbial communities did
occur. Based on the finding organic farming (RS, GM) seemed to have an edge over theconventional management (CF). However, the statistical analysis (ANOVA) performed for the
Shannon-Weaver index (Hg') and species richness (Sg) from DGGE profiles data showed nosignificant differences between the four plots (CT, RS, GM and CF) (Table 1).
CONCLUSION
Based upon the results obtained from this study soil management practices have influenced
microbial diversity, both in functional and genetic diversity, in the rice plots studied. Further anarrow range of Shannon-Weaver diversity index (Hf') was obtained with the values between 2.77
for CT to 3.01 for GM. In the statistical analysis performed using substrate richness (Sf) frompotential substrate utilization patterns data, the GM treatment increased microbial diversity. Even
within the constraints of organic farming practices, it is possible for farmers to adopt and continue
this application to improve soil bio-physiochemical properties, provided that the rate and source oforganic materials used is site specific.
ACKNOWLEGEMENT
The research was funded by the Biodiversity Research and Training Program, established by the
National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology under the National Science andTechnology Development Agency and Thailand Research Fund.
REFERENCES
Anderson, T.H. (2003) Microbial eco physiological indicators to assess soil quality. Agric., Ecosy. & Env.,98, 285-293.
Calbrix, R., Barray, S., Chabrerie, O., Fourrie, L. and Laval, K. (2007) Impact of organic amendments on the
dynamics of soil microbial biomass and bacterial communities in cultivated land. Appl. Soil Ecol.,35(3), 511-522.
Garland, J.L. and Mills, A.L. (1991) Classification and characterization of heterotrophic microbialcommunities on the basis of patterns of community-level sole-carbon-source utilization. Appl. & Env.
Microbio., 57(8), 2351-2359.
Kennedy, A.C. (1999) Bacterial diversity in agroecosystems. Agric, Ecosy. & Env., 74, 65-76.
Kurisu, F., Satoh, H., Mino, T. and Matsuo, T. (2002) Microbial community analysis of thermophilic contactoxidation process by using ribosoma RNA approaches and the quinone profile method. Water Res., 36,
429-438.
Mumy, K.L. and Findlay, R.H. (2004) Convenient determination of DNA extraction efficiency using an
external DNA recovery standard and quantitative-competitive PCR. J. Microbiol. Meth., 57, 259-268.
Muzer, G., Waal, E.C. and Uitterlinden, A.G. (1993) Profiling of complex microbial populations bydenaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of polymerase chain reaction-amplified genes codingfor 16S rRNA. Appl. & Env. Microbiol., 59, 695-700.
Schionning, P., Elmholt, S. and Christensen, B.T. (2004) Soil quality management-concepts and terms.
Managing Soil Quality, Challenges in Modern Agriculture, CAB Interntional, 1-15, UK.
Sun, H.Y., Deng, S.P. and Raun, W.R. (2004) Bacterial community structure and diversity in a century-old
manure-treated agroecosystem. Appl. & Env. Microbio., 70(10), 5868-5874.
Thuithaisong, C., Parkpain, P., Shipin, O.V., Shrestha, R.P., Naklang, K., DeLaune, R.D., et al. (2009) Soil
quality indicators for predicting sustainable organic rice production. Communications in Soil Scienceand Plant Analysis. (in press)
Winding, A. (2004) Indicators of soil bacterial diversity. OECD Expert Meeting, Italy.
Zak, J.C., Willing, M.R., Moorhead, D.L. and Wildman, H.G. (1994) Functional diversity of microbialcommunities, A quantitative approach. Soil Biol. Biochem., 26, 1101-1108.

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Research article
erd

Effect of Land Use Change on Land Quality and Water
Resources in Phatthalung Watershed, Thailand
ANISARA PENSUK
Faculty of Technology and Community Development,
Thaksin University, Phatthalung, Thailand
Email: anisara@tsu.ac.th

RAJENDRA P. SHRESTHA
School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology,
Pathumthani, Thailand

ROBERTO S. CLEMENTE
School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology,
Pathumthani, Thailand
Received 1 January 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract A watershed scale study was conducted to assess the effect of land use change
on land and water quality using selected indicators in the Phatthalung watershed, Thailand.
The changes in water quality in the study area were assessed by computing a Water
Quality Index (WQI) using some important water quality parameters, including pH,
suspended solids and plant nutrients. Water quantity was also assessed through estimating
soil moisture storage. Land quality was assessed by developing a Land Quality Index(LQI) based on indices of soil resource, land degradation status and water resource. The
quality of land from two different areas, i.e. where land use has changed, and where nochange has occurred, was assessed using the selected indicators. The computed WQI
decreased during the study period. The highest WQI was 97.5 in 1997 and 2003 and thelowest was 80.0 in 2005 and 2006. Suspended solids (SS) was the major factor influencing
WQI. Water quantity, in terms of soil moisture storage, showed positive results as thenumber of months of water surplus increased from one month per year in 1976 to 4
months in 2006. This was due to the decline in paddy field area. For LQI the indices ofsoil resource and land degradation status were higher, and water resource lower, in areas
where land use did not change compared to those where land use did change.
Keywords: Land use change, land quality, water quality, Phatthalung Watershed

INTRODUCTION
Recently the pressure on land and water resources has increased due to the expansion of populationand economic development. The major pressure on land is attempts to increase agricultural
production from land, as intensification of agricultural activities increases food production for an
increasing population. However this causes impacts on the agricultural inputs, such as soil andwater resources.
Land use change has positive and negative effects on land and water, the key resources for
agricultural production. Land use and land use change generally reflect changes in agriculturalactivities, and give rise to issues in land and water quality (Dalal and Mayer, 1986; Bushchbacher
et al., 1988; Fu et al., 1990). Excessive and careless use of fertilizers and pesticides can havenegative effects on land and water resources through impacts on groundwater and runoff andassociated ecological damage (George et al., 2002). Eventually such changes can be dangerous forhuman health. Moreover runoff of excess nutrients, especially phosphorus, leads to eutrophication
with taste and odour impacts on public water supplies and excess algae growth leading to© ISERD

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deoxygenation of water and fish kills (FAO, 1996). Using heavy machines also plays an importantrole in the deterioration of land and water resources due to soil compaction, decreased soil porosity,
increased soil erosion and loss of top soil nutrients and organic matter. Therefore recognition of thecurrent situation with regard to land use and its consequences can be useful for planning future land
uses to protect land and water resources.
Phatthalung watershed, a major agricultural area of southern Thailand has experienced land
use change, particularly the replacement of paddy areas by rubber plantations. These changes ofland use are driven by of internal and external factors, economic return being one of the major
drivers. Therefore, an assessment of quality of land and water is needed to understand the current
situation, and to provide an early warning and guide for future land resource management anddevelopment. The establishment of land and water quality indicators can measure changes in theland resource due to external disturbances; especially land use for agricultural activities.
METHODOLOGY
Water quality assessment
The water quality of Phatthalung watershed over the period 1994 to 2006 was determined on thebasis of the WQI proposed by Rodriguez de Bascaron (Pesce and Wunderlin, 2000; Sanchez et al.,2007; Wu et al., 2008) as follows:
WQI sub = k∑ i C i Pi
∑ i Pi(1)where, WQIsub is the water quality index of surface water of Phatthalung watershed, k is asubjective constant with a maximum value of 1 for good quality water and 0.25 for highly polluted
water (in this study the k value was not considered and hence assigned as 1), Ci is the value
assigned to each parameter after normalization (Table 1), and Pi is the relative weight assigned toeach parameter. This weight was assigned as 1 in all cases in this study to account only forvariation due to measured parameters. The WQI used in this study included four parameters as
follows:
WQI =C pH + C SS + C P + C N(2)

4

where, CpH, Css, CP and CN are the values of pH, suspended solids (SS), and Phosphate andNitrate values after normalization, respectively.
Table 1 Values of normalization factor (Ci) for selected parameters of water quality
Parameter
pH
SS
NitratePhosphorus

100
7
<20
<0.5
<0.16

90
7-8
<40
<2.0
<1.6

80
7-8.5
<60
<4.0
<3.2

70
7-9
<80
<6.0
<6.4

Normalization factor (Ci)
60
50
40
30
6.5-7
6-9.5
5-10
4-11
<100
<120
<160
<240
<8.0
<10
<15
<20
<9.6
<16
<32
<64

20
3-12
<320
<50
<96

10
2-13
<400
≤100
<160

0
1-14
>400
>100
>160

All values, except pH, in mg/l (Pesce and Wunderlin, 2000; Sanchez et al., 2007)

Water quantity assessment
In this study, soil moisture storage was used as the indicator for water quantity assessment. Soil
moisture can be affected by various types of agricultural activities and changes in land use. Soil
moisture storage and its change were assessed in this study by using Eq. (3):ΔSM = P − ETc − q(3)© ISERD

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where, ∆SM is the change in soil moisture (cm), P is rainfall (cm), ETc is crop
evapotranspiration (cm), and q is runoff depth (cm).
Land quality assessment
The quality of land resource was assessed through the LQI. In this study the LQI was developed toaddress changes in land quality due to land use change. LQI consisted of major components of theland resource included soil properties, water resource, and land degradation status. The set ofindicators used is presented in Table 2.
Because of the different scale and unit of selected land quality indicators, it was necessary to
standardize the values in order to compare between land quality indicators for land use changes
compared to the no change area. Therefore the linear scaling method was used to normalize thedifferent scale values.
Table 2 Land quality indicators
Indicator suite

Component attributes

Measurement and method

Soil
Physical property
Nutrient status
Water resource
Land degradation status

Water holding capacity
Soil texture (sand and clay content)
Cation exchange capacity (CEC)
Water sufficiency
Erosion status

Laboratory analysis
Laboratory analysis
Laboratory analysis
Effective rainfall
Erosion model

RESULTS AND DISSUSSION
Land use in Phatthalung watershed has been undergoing change, significantly so since 1976. The
major change has been the rise in rubber plantations, continuously increasing due to rapidly
increase in rubber prices in the local and global market during the period 1990 to 2006, The forest
area decreased continuously and significantly and the rubber plantation area rapidly increased(+37.3%), resulting in a decreasing of paddy field (-36.1%) and forest area (-12.4%). Fig. 1 shows

the areas where land use change occurred.
100

WQI

90
80
70
60
50
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Year

Fig. 1 Land use change area
during 1990-2006

Fig. 2 Computed WQI during 1994-2006

Water quality analysis
Based on the parameters presented in the above section, the computed WQI varied ranging from 80
to 97.5 in the study area (Fig. 2). The WQI declined in the period 1998 to 2003 and slightly
increased in 2003 due to lower amounts of suspended solid being loaded into water bodies. The© ISERD

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index decreased again from 2004 to 2006. The highest water quality was in 1997 and 2003 (WQI =97.5), and the lowest WQI (WQI = 80) was in the most recent years (2005 and 2006). The
computed WQI for all periods indicated that water quality is of “good” and “excellent” condition,
as described by Jonnalagadda and Mhere (2001). However, the WQI trend indicates declining
water quality during the study period, implying that the quality of water is degrading based on theparameters used in this study.
Water quantity analysis
The quantity of water can mean different things in different contexts. From an agricultural point ofview soil moisture is very important and was used in this study to refer to water quantity. Soil
moisture is important for agriculture as it is an input to plant production. It can be lost throughmany channels including runoff, deep percolation, evaporation and transpiration. Land use is amajor factor capable of controlling the level of moisture loss through its influence on surface runoff.
The soil moisture change of Phatthalung watershed during the study period was computed
using the concept of soil moisture balance. The number of months in which surplus water impliedhigh soil moisture increased during the study period. Surplus water was found only in November in1976 (Fig. 3) and 1990 (Fig. 4) but it had increased to four months (January, October, November
and December) in 2006 (Fig. 5).

Fig. 3 Soil moisture of Phatthalung watershed
in 1976

Fig. 4 Soil moisture of Phatthalungwatershed in 1990

Note: The surplus water in January = 0.06 cm

Fig. 5 Soil moisture of Phatthalung watershedin 2006© ISERD

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Fig. 6 The relationship of land use types
and the surface runoff

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The moisture of soil in 2006 increased because of the reduction in runoff. Fig. 6 shows therelationship between land use and annual runoff depth of the three main land uses. Note that theincreasing area of rubber plantation and decreasing area of paddy field resulted in the reduction in
runoff depth. Hence, the decline in paddy field area and the increase in area of rubber plantation
can cause positive effects on soil moisture storage
Land quality analysis
Land quality of the study area was assessed through three selected indicator sets, which included
soil, water resource and the status of land degradation. Four indicators were used to assess thequality of soil resource; those were sand and clay content, CEC and water holding capacity (WHC).
Water sufficiency and soil erosion rate were the selected indicators used to assess water resources
and land degradation status, respectively. Table 3 presents the detailed computed score for eachindicator under each land use scenario. The overall LQI, an aggregated index value for the wholestudy area, was 0.452 for the land use change area and 0.629 for no use change area. However,there was no statistically significant difference between the groups.
The no change land use areas have higher LQIs than the land use change areas. the overall soil
resource index of the two areas was significantly different, but the water resource and landdegradation indices were not significantly different. For the soil resource index, the score for the nochange area (0.785) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than for the area of land use change (0.708).
For individual indicators the area of no land use change has higher scores in most of theindicators, except for clay content. This was because the soil sample points that represented theland use change were mostly located in the areas that had been paddy field in the past, and whichusually contain higher clay content.
This is to note here that the computed land quality scores of no change area were higher than
the area where land use change occurred in terms of the selected indicators.
Table 3 Land quality assessment
Land quality indicators
Soil resource
Physical property
%Sand
%Clay
Water holding capacity
Nutrient status
CEC
Overall soil resource index
Water resource
Water sufficiency
Land degradation status
Soil loss
Overall LQI

Land use change

No change

Significance

0.705
0.965
0.468

0.804
0.827
0.689

0.051
0.025*
0.277

0.675
0.708

0.819
0.785

0.361
0.045*

0.327

0.337

0.065

0.643
0.452

0.878
0.629

0.086
0.377

CONCLUSION
Land and water resources of the Phatthalung watershed are influenced by various factors, and land
use is the influencing factor investigated in this study. The computed WQI indicated that theoverall water quality of Phatthalung watershed has declined during the observed period (1994 to2006). Suspended solid has been increasing over the years. Overall the water quantity status of
Phatthalung watershed has increased during the study period because about half of paddy field area
was replaced by rubber plantation, with positive impacts on the water quantity in terms of increased
water storage. The reason is that paddy field areas have the capability to generate higher surface
runoff compared to rubber plantation and forest areas, which can reduce the amount of the moisturein soil.
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The computed LQI of the no change in land use areas tended to have better land quality interms of the selected factors, however the changes were not significantly different between twoareas. In the individual indicator level, no land use change areas had relatively better scores formost of the land quality indicators compared to the area where land use changed, except for water
sufficiency and clay content. The rubber plantation area has higher water sufficiency as it canutilize higher amounts of rainfall with lower water loss through surface runoff. In other words,
rubber plantation areas which have not undergone land use change may exhibit higher LQIs in
terms of water sufficiency. Similarly, the long term rice cultivation areas can have higher clay
content compared to the areas where soil disturbance occurred due to land use change.
REFERENCES
Bushchbacher, R., Uhl, C. and Serrao, E.A.S. (1988) Abandoned pastures in eastern Amazonia. II Nutrientsstocks in the soil and vegetation. Journal of Ecology, 76, 682-699.
Dalal, R.C. and Mayer, R.J. (1986) Long-term trends in fertility of soils under continuous cultivation andcereal cropping in Southern Queensland. Soil Tillage Res., 24, 281-258.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (1996) Control of water pollution from agriculture.
FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper, 55, Italy.
Fu, B.J., Ma, K.M. and Zhou, H.F. (1990) The effect of land use structure on the distribution of soil nutrientsin the hilly area of the Loess Plateau. China Science Bulletin, 44(8), 732-736.
George, Z., Stamatis, S., Takavakoglou, V., Kent, E. and Nikolaos, M. (2002) Impacts of agricultural
practices on soil and water quality in the Mediterranean region and proposed assessment methodology.
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 88, 137-146.
Jonnalagadda, S.B. and Mhere, G. (2001) Water quality of the Odzi River in the eastern highlands ofZimbabwe. Water Resource, 35, 2371-2376.
Pesce, S.F. and Wunderlin, D.A. (2000) Use of water quality indices to verify the impact of Cordoba city
(Argentina) on Suquia River. Water Resource, 34(11), 2915-2926.
Sanchez, E., Colmenarejo, M.F., Vicente, J., Rubio, A., Garcia, M.G. and Travieso, L. (2007) Use of water
quality index and dissolved oxygen deficit as simple indicators of watershed pollution. Ecological
Indicators, 7(2), 315-328.
Wu, G., Zhang, Q., Zheng, X., Mu, L. and Dai, L. (2008) Water quality of Lugu Lake, Changes, causes andmeasurements. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 15, 10-17.

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Research article
erd

Effective Heat Dissipation in Hot-humid Climates: theHypothesis Formulated by the Results in Swamp Buffaloes
ARATA KOGA
University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
Email: arkoga@uvas.edu.pk

MAKHDOOM ABDUL JABBAR
University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

TALAT NASEER PASHA
University of Veterinary and Animal Science, Lahore, Pakistan
Received 4 January 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Most countries of Southeast Asia belong to hot-humid climates with highhumidity and small diurnal changes in air temperature throughout the year. These
conditions are harsh for large livestock ruminants because the conditions prevent
evaporative heat loss (panting and sweating). Swamp buffaloes are distributed widely
throughout this climatic zone as a large livestock ruminant, and traditionally provide
power to plough farm fields. Buffaloes are also valuable for small farmers as these animals
show a good digestibility to low quality roughage. For animal production in hot-humid
climates, crossbred cattle have been exploited as an efficient tool for blending theadaptability of tropical cattle accompanying with high sweating rate. But effective heatdissipation is still a major problem in this area. Buffaloes easily sustain heat stress undersolar radiation as compared to tropical cattle, but they quickly recover after moving into
shade or spraying with water. Therefore these adapted animals must have an effective
physiological system for heat dissipation under hot-humid conditions. Several comparative
experiments have been conducted comparing thermo-regulatory responses between swamp
buffaloes and cattle. Hormone and blood parameters were also compared between the two
species in terms of blood volume and distribution in the body. The results show active heattransport through blood flow and water turnover in buffaloes as compared to temperate or
tropical cattle. In hot-humid climates, there is usually high water availability with a large
amount of precipitation. Therefore the effective heat dissipation in buffaloes may be
developed through water utilization rather than evaporative heat loss. The observed
physiological system suggests that the adapted heat dissipation is combined withbehavioral heat dissipations such as wallowing.
Keywords: Swamp buffaloes, heat dissipation, hot-humid climates, Southeast Asia

INTRODUCTION
For large livestock animals living in hot climates it is very important, though difficult, to dissipate
excessive internal heat through sweating and panting. There are some instances in which animals
living in severe environments have shown distinctive thermo-regulatory responses. SchmidtNielsen et al. (1957) reported that the rectal temperature of camels fluctuates within a large range,
allowing these animals to avoid heat stress without body-water loss through sweating and panting.
Although the low humidity in hot-dry climates lends itself to evaporative heat loss, it is very
difficult to find water in this climate. Thus the adaptation to dissipate heat without body-water loss
is achieved using the large diurnal change in air temperature. Among hot climates the difficulty ofheat dissipation varies between hot-dry and hot-humid climates. In hot-humid climates highhumidity is generally paired with a small diurnal change in air temperature and thus evaporative© ISERD

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heat loss is not as effective for body-heat dissipation. However, there is usually an abundance ofwater in hot-humid climates which may be effectively used for body-heat dissipation.
Swamp buffaloes are found in hot-humid climates and are an important livestock ruminant for
East and Southeast Asia. Despite being endemic to this habitat, rectal and skin temperatures inbuffaloes increase rapidly under solar radiation and the rate of sweating is lower than in cattle.
Respiratory evaporation is ineffective because panting in buffaloes induces an increase in blood pH
and causes respiratory alkalosis. In contrast, panting does not cause blood pH changes in cattle(Koga et al., 1991a). Regardless of the inefficacy of evaporative heat loss, the rectal temperature inbuffaloes decreases rapidly when they are moved into the shade or sprayed with water following
heat stress. A large fluctuation in rectal temperature was observed in buffaloes exposed to artificial
controlled temperature that fluctuated diurnally between 25 and 35˚C (Fig. 1; Koga et al., 1999b).
Under natural conditions, the rectal temperature in buffaloes was correlated with seasonal changes
in environmental temperatures, but the same was not true for Friesian cattle in temperate zones(Koga et al., 1991b) or tropical cattle in tropical zones (Koga et al., 2004). Furthermore, undernatural conditions, haematocrit (Ht) in buffaloes was correlated with seasonal changes inenvironmental temperatures, but the same was not true for Friesian cattle in temperate zones (Fig.
2; Koga et al., 1991b). A correlation was detected between rectal temperature and Ht in buffaloes,
but not in cattle (Koga et al., 1991b; 2004). These results suggest that thermo-regulation in
buffaloes is more reliant upon heat transport through blood flow than in cattle.
Water turnover is generally higher in temperate cattle than in tropical cattle (Siebert andMacfarlane, 1969), because the retention of body water is very important for dissipating heatthrough blood circulation in hot conditions. Although buffaloes are endemic to the tropics, thewater turnover in these animals is higher than in temperate cattle (Siebert and Macfarlane, 1969).
Moreover, Chaiyabutr et al. (1987) reported that water turnover increases when buffaloes are
exposed to hot conditions, which contradicts the findings in cattle. This increase in water turnoveris accompanied by high water requirements and body water content, especially in hot conditions(Siebert and Macfarlane, 1969). In previous experiments water intake in buffaloes increased
markedly with increased air temperature, and it was significantly higher than in Friesian cattle at
35˚C (Koga et al., 1999a). The volume of urine and the water content of the faeces were also higher
in buffaloes than in Friesian cattle under normal conditions (Koga et al., 2002). These results
suggest that water excretion contributes to heat dissipation in the thermo-regulatory system of
buffaloes.

Fig.1 Change of rectal temperature with diurnallychanging temperature© ISERD

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Fig.2 Monthly mean values of haematocrit during
the course of one year
On the basis of these reports the physiological system in buffaloes suggests that the adaptive
thermo-regulatory functions use internal and external water in hot-humid climates. Because ofplentiful rainfall in these climates an abundant supply of water is available. Therefore, in this shortreview two distinctive physiological systems in buffaloes are discussed with the results obtained
from several experiments.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Marked increase in blood volume and blood flow to the skin surface
In animals the redistribution of cardiac output generally arises from the necessity to dissipate heat
under hot conditions, which is facilitated by sending more blood to the surface of the body.
Excessive heat is left in the subcutaneous tissues and skin temperature increases (Hales, 1973).
Consequently the internal heat gradient between the rectal and skin temperature is narrowed andthe external heat gradient between the skin and the surrounding air is widened, thus promoting
body-heat dissipation from the skin surface. On the basis of published reports, we compared thechanges in blood and plasma volume, rectal and skin temperature, and blood flow to the skinsurface before and after heat exposure in both buffaloes and temperate cattle. From the results ofseveral experiments the blood volume, especially plasma volume, increased more in buffaloes thanin cattle after heat exposure. The increase in skin temperature and blood flow to the skin surface
was also larger in buffaloes than in cattle after heat exposure (Koga et al., 1999a). In addition, thedifference of rectal and skin temperature (R-S difference) was calculated, and a relationshipbetween R-S difference and blood volume (as indicated by Ht) was compared in both species(Koga et al., 1998). The R-S difference was significantly smaller in buffaloes than in cattle. And Ht
in buffaloes decreased significantly as the surrounding temperature increased, while the Ht in cattle
was almost stable during the same period (Fig. 3; Koga et al., 1998). Conversely, as thesurrounding temperature decreased the R-S difference and the Ht in buffaloes increased, and theany significant difference between the animals vanished after that point (Koga et al., 1998).
Distinctive arginine vasopressin response to a decrease of blood volume in buffaloes
MacFarlane et al. (1967) reported that body-water regulation, which involves the renin-angiotensin
axis and arginine vasopressin (AVP), is influenced by the availability of water in the native habitatof animal species. Based on this work, the correlation between plasma AVP concentrations and Ht(as an index of plasma volume) were investigated between swamp buffaloes and Friesian cattle
after 3 days of water deprivation (Fig. 4; Koga et al., 2002). An increase in AVP concentration and
Ht was finally larger in buffaloes (3267% in AVP and 30.5% in Ht) than in cattle (886% in AVP
and 19.0% in Ht) on day 3. But the initial response in AVP was distinctive in buffaloes. From day
0-1, the AVP/Ht ratio, (as an index of AVP sensitivity) was lower in buffaloes (2.51) than in cattle(3.40), although the increase in Ht was larger in buffaloes (16.0%) than in cattle (4.8%) during thesame period. From Days 1-2 and 2-3, the AVP/Ht ratio was higher in buffaloes than in cattle (the© ISERD

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values are shown in Fig. 2), although there was a similar increase in Ht in both species (7.1% and5.1% in buffaloes, and 9.2% and 3.9% in cattle, respectively).

Fig.3 Change in rectal-skin (R-S) temperature and haematocrit
following a temperature increase from 20 ˚C to 30 ˚C during
one hour* Significant difference from cattle (p<0.05)
a, b, c: Values having same letters in the same line are not significantly different(p<0.05) (Modified from Kogo et al., 1998)

Fig.4 Change in AVP and haematocrit over 3 days following
water deprivation* Significant difference from cattle (p<0.05)

CONCLUSION
This research has shown that heat transport through blood flow is more active in buffaloes than incattle, and that the initial AVP sensitivity is lower in buffaloes than in cattle, as indicated by adecrease in plasma volume. The increase in blood volume in buffaloes maintains an elevated skintemperature under hot conditions, thus facilitating the dissipation of heat from the surface of skinwhen buffaloes wallow in the mud or move into the shade. The initial decreased AVP sensitivity
observed in buffaloes permits a decrease in body water through urine excretion, within certain
limits, and appears to be a typical response for animals living in habitats with high water
availability. Our findings in swamp buffaloes contradict the findings in temperate and tropicalcattle in that buffaloes, unlike cattle, use body-water for heat dissipation. In hot-humid climates© ISERD

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there is generally an abundance of water as well as high humidity and a narrow diurnal range in air
temperature. Therefore, the physiological responses observed in buffaloes demonstrate that the heatdissipation system via body-water circulation is more adaptive than evaporative heat loss in theseclimates. For animal production systems in hot-humid climate areas, this animal species may be
expected a good potential with the adapted heat dissipation system as well as good digestibility of
low quality roughage (Homma, 1994).
REFERENCES
Chaiyabutr, N., Buranakarl, C., Muangcharoen, V., Loypetjra, P. and Pichaicharnarong, A. (1987) Effects ofacute heat stress on changes in the rate of liquid flow from the rumen and turnover of body water ofswamp buffalo. J. Agric. Sci., 108, 549-553.
Hales, J.R.S. (1973) Effects of exposure to hot environments on the regional distribution of blood flow andcardio-respiratory function in sheep. Pflugers Arch., 344, 133-148.
Homma, H. (1994) Liquid turnover rate and water flux rate in the rumen of cattle and buffaloes. Anim. Sci. J.,
65, 258-260.
Koga, A., Chikamune, T., Kanai, Y., Homma, H., Tajima, A., Ishikawa, N., Furukawa, R., Ueno, T.,
Nakajima, M. and Watanabe, T. (1991a) Effects of high environmental temperatures on somephysicochemical parameters of blood and heat production in swamp buffaloes and Holstein cattle. Anim.
Sci. J., 62, 1022-1028.
Koga, A., Ishikawa, N., Tajima, A., Homma, H., Kanai, Y. and Chikamune, T. (1991b) Characteristics ofphysiological responses and blood constituents in relation to seasonal changes of the environment inbuffaloes compared with cattle. Jpn J. Trop. Agric., 35, 283-288.
Koga, A., Kurata, K., Furukawa, R., Nakajima, M., Homma, H., Kanai, Y. and Chikamune, T. (1998) Rectalskin temperature difference regulated by blood volume in swamp buffaloes in hot conditions,Comparative study of thermo-regulation in buffaloes and cattle. Anim. Sci. J., 69, 81-89.
Koga, A., Kurata, K., Ohata, K., Nakajima, M., Hirose, H., Furukawa, R., Kanai, Y. and Chikamune, T.
(1999a) Internal changes of blood compartment and heat distribution in swamp buffaloes under hot
conditions, Comparative study of thermo-regulation in buffaloes and Friesian cows. Asian-Aus. J. Anim.
Sci., 12, 886-890.
Koga, A., Kurata, K., Furukawa, R., Nakajima, M., Kanai, Y. and Chikamune, T. (1999b) Thermoregulatory
responses of swamp buffaloes and Friesian cows to diurnal changes in temperature. Asian-Aus. J. Anim.
Sci., 12, 1273-1276.
Koga, A., Kuhara, T. and Kanai, Y. (2002) Comparison of body water retention during water deprivation
between swamp buffaloes and Friesian cattle. J. Agric. Sci., 138, 435-440.
Koga, A., Sugiyama, M., Del Barrio, A.N., Lapitan, R.M., Arenda, B.R., Robles, A.Y., Cruz, L.C. and Kanai,
Y. (2004) Comparison of the thermoregulatory response of buffaloes and tropical cattle, using
fluctuations in rectal temperature, skin temperature and haematocrit as an index. J. Agric. Sci., 142, 351355.
MacFarlane, W.V., Kinne, R., Walmsley, C.M., Siebert, B.D. and Peter, D. (1967) Vasopressin and theincrease of water and electrolyte excretion by sheep, cattle and camels. Nature, 214, 979-981.
Schmidt-Nielsen, K., Schmidt-Nielsen, B., Jarnum, S.A. and Houpt, T.R. (1957) Body temperature of thecamel and its relation to water economy. Am. J. Physiol., 188, 103-112.
Siebert, B.D. and Macfarlane, W.V. (1969) Body water content and water turnover of tropical Bos Taurus,
Bos Indicus, Bibos Banteng and Bos Bubalus. Aust. J. Agric. Res., 20, 613-622.

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Research article
erdSocial Land Policy for Sustainable Rural Development in
Cambodia
FABIAN THIEL
Faculty of Land Management and Land Administration,
Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia
Email: fabian.thiel@cimonline.deReceived 6 January 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract On 1st of July 2009, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen signed the“Declaration of the Royal Government on Land Policy”. According to this documentemphasis should be given to State reform, land law, and environmental law with theirimpacts on the use of non-renewable resources (land, water, and soil). The implementationof the Cambodian social land policy should start with the need to ensure access to land andto sustain rural development and environment for a modern, prosperous Cambodia. The
legal framework for sustainable rural development and land policy includes theConstitution from 1993, and the Land Law from 2001, and Sub-Decrees. Land policy canbe interpreted as a central element of property policy. Property is protected under theConstitution and the Land Law from 2001. State public property must be interpreted as theproperty of all Cambodian people, or as social land policy, that serves the purposes ofhumans living in the country as a public interest, particularly in rural areas. With a land
use planning system the Cambodian planning authorities are able to guide and to restrict
the use of land property to foster sustainable rural development. Social land policy needs abroader basis in Cambodia than at present State public property with the guarantee forprivate use, e.g. through land leasing and concessions, is absolutely sufficient, efficientand effective. Social land policy is an interdisciplinary approach of good governance, landand constitutional law, land economy, spatial planning, and gender issues. This policy canalso be a state-driven concept for rural areas in other (developing) countries. It must be
legally classified as a public interest so that the eternal ground rent, as the economic gainof the land use, is appropriated and then distributed to all Cambodians in equal shares.
Keywords: Social land policy, sustainable rural development, land law, Cambodia

INTRODUCTION
On 1st of July 2009, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen signed the “Declaration of the Royal
Government on Land Policy”. According to this document emphasis should be given to State
reform, land law, and environmental law with their impacts on the use of non-renewable resources(land, water, and soil). Moreover the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) “attaches priority to
granting land ownership rights to poor households and vulnerable groups for housing, farming andsmall businesses” and wants to “ensure land use efficiency”. In 2009 Cambodia still experienced ahigh rural poverty rate, high land concentration and “anarchy in illegal land possession, illegal
claim of state land and protected areas as privately owned and unlawful logging” (RGC, 2008). A
national goal has been established in order to solve these problems, especially rural poverty (World
Bank, 2007). This goal aims to alleviate poverty by ensuring food security, equitable economic andsocial development, fair distribution of land and national resources, secure housing rights andenvironmental protection.
Development under the “new rural paradigm” depends on government activities at all levels
and including local stakeholders (OECD, 2006). Hence rural development is a cornerstone of social
land policy and good land governance. The “rule of law” can be interpreted as a central element ofland policy and environmental governance issues for water, forests and land (Deininger, 2003).
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Land Law, Planning Law, Property Law and the Constitution are crucial for the appropriate use ofnatural resources in Cambodia. The Land Law of Cambodia from 2001 was expected to be
implemented to ensure an equitable and efficient system of land management. This includes
provisions for fair land distribution, land tenure security, eradication of illegal settlements andencroachment, eradicating land grabbing, and the control of ownership concentration for
speculative purposes. At present it is not clear if the Land Law or the planning instruments, letalone other policy documents and regulations, will be able to fulfill all of these expectations. This
article outlines the necessities for implementing a social land policy for rural development, a spatialplanning system, and socio-ecologic and environmentally-sound land policy in Cambodia. This
process has started from “point zero” because of the lack of the State’s awareness of urban andrural land inventories.
METHODOLOGY: SOCIAL LAND POLICY AND THE “RULE OF LAW”
Social land policy in Cambodia should try to answer the following core questions (Graefen andBaldi, 2009): what kind of arable land and how much of that should be allocated (land reform)?
Which land uses are envisaged? Are the beneficiaries of the State’s interventions in land markets
landless households or also land-poor people? Approximately 80 % of Cambodian territory consistsof State property (World Bank, 2008). The management of public land is of crucial importance forrural development, but implementation faces numerous problems. These include the often
confusing difference between State public land (Art. 17 Land Law) and State private land (Art. 14
and Art. 15 Land Law), unclear boundaries in urban and rural areas, a weak rule of law, and theunfinished recovery of administrative documents for titling, mapping, properties, and taxation (forland value and land property).
The methodology of this paper follows the “rule of law”: the State is always the main actor in
the land sector and has to guarantee State public property which cannot be transformed into private
property. State land management needs to be broadened in Cambodia within its Constitution, theLand Law, and Sub-Decrees. One of the main purposes of public-oriented and constitutionallyjustified land management is that it ensures private land access for all Cambodian people (Suárez etal., 2009). Private land use under the conditions of tenure security is more efficient than State landuse, but that does not per se require the designation of private property. State public property with aguarantee for private land use is absolutely sufficient, efficient, effective, and sustainable. State
public or State private land cannot be owned by private people, except with a legal document suchas a Sub-Decree or registration procedure.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Common property and cooperatives for rural development
Land use models with the concept of common property resources (CPR) or community-based
natural resource management (CBNRM) with regulations, participation and decentralization
strategies for avoiding a land-free-for-all-mentality are underdeveloped in Cambodia (CBNRM,
2009; Markussen, 2008). Land management and socio-ecological land policy (RGC, 2009b) alsoneed a sound land use planning system which is completely missing (Thiel, 2009), apart from somepilot planning at regional and communal level. An innovative land use alternative might include
agricultural associations and service/producer cooperatives or group rights under control ofwomen’s groups on common property resources (land, forest, water) (Ostrom, 1990). These are
additional instruments which can secure gender-equal land rights. Cooperatives need to be based on
key principles such as strictly voluntary membership and exit options, autonomy and independence
from government activities, self-organization, and governance, including autonomous decisions
about objectives, strategies, and management (Kirk, 2004).
Cooperatives may be suitable for landless and land-poor female-headed households forresidential, rural and agricultural community empowerment. They encourage self-help groups,© ISERD

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house construction and business communities, income generation for women and agriculture foodprocessing. Agricultural extension services can be a basis for food security and poverty reduction
in Cambodia since 80 % of the population lives in rural areas (World Bank, 2007). Moreover,cooperatives and associations can provide access to micro-credit institutions and build up
credit/loan/mortgage communities including value chain business approaches.
Spatial planning for rural development
Although the Cambodian Constitution states that “the State shall protect the environment and thebalance of natural resources and establish a precise plan for the management of land” (Art. 59
Constitutional Law) a coherent, hierarchic spatial planning/land use system for urban and rural
areas is still under-developed. Ideally rural development in Cambodia would be based on acomprehensive spatial planning system which would develop, organize, and protect the entire rural
territory. Legal protection would be achieved with integrative and strategic territorial planning, andthe harmonization of regionally - and locally - significant instruments and measures. These include
Commune Land Use Planning (CLUP), Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP) and Initial StateLand Use Plan (I-SLUP), which are part of the land allocation process for social and economic
rural development (LASED) project in three Cambodian provinces.
Sufficient compliance with the land use planning objectives would be achieved. Regionallysignificant plans and measures would be harmonized and conducted with comprehensive
development concepts while satisfying the requirements of the current land use planning policy.
Rural development and land management are cornerstones within Cambodian policy papers aiming
at food security, poverty reduction, and agricultural extension, such as the Rectangular Strategy(RGC, 2008). Rural and infrastructural developments that ensure cultural preservation andcommunity empowerment such as village renewal can be very costly and time-consuming toundertake. This depends on cooperation with land owners who have to pay for the supply of
infrastructure systems. Hence, the Cambodian municipalities should be entitled to some limited
value capture. To ensure the development of local public transportation and communication
infrastructure (energy supply, public health services, sanitation and water supply) in the context ofvillage renewal and rural development, land owners should be required to bear some of theseinfrastructure costs. Moreover development in rural areas depends on the poly-rationalities andproperties of the involved land owners. These poly-rationalities can be divided into individualist
bias (private property), egalitarian bias (common property) and hierarchist bias (rearranged land
use rights) (Davy, 2009). Therefore rural development needs a property steering component tointegrate these rationalities of land owners affected by rural development planning instruments andtheir modules. However, even the best plans are useless when they cannot be implemented. In somecases plans are blocked by private land owners who do not accept the planning determinations fortheir plots and the restrictions on their private property. Instead these private land owners hope toincrease and appropriate the ground rent (or “rent seeking”).
This interlocking set of land use plans on a national, provincial, district and communal level isnecessary to avoid urbanization, urban sprawl, hoarding of underused land, the destruction of fertile
farm land and, with growing importance, to gain comprehensive, systematic and transparent
information for the assessment (screening and monitoring) of large scale foreign direct investments(FDI) in agriculture, hydropower and mining. Land use plans should protect land that has been
designated for a special purpose, such as the protection of a landscape for biodiversity andagricultural uses, or to prevent development of an open space or fertile land area for other uses (e. g.
conversion of farmland which reduces food security).
Public property for rural development
Land use regulations must satisfy the public interest. The term “public interest” should be
integrated into Art. 58 of Cambodian Constitutional Law to clarify that State public property is ofessential public interest. Avoiding land speculation and combating illegal claims for State land
must be a constitutionally-demanded public interest and hence a cornerstone of State land
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management. Social housing and any sustainable use of forests, fisheries, and other resources
should also clearly be defined as public interests of the Cambodian State. The problem of (private)
encroachment on State (public) land raises the question whether there is enough public, andpolitical, awareness of the need for socially-balanced land distribution. Thus the State has a
responsibility to provide “secure land rights for all” (UN-Habitat/GLTN, 2008) and social
citizenship in Cambodia.
However, social land policy shows insufficient results in implementation, in spite ofincreasing capacities and political commitment from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban
Planning and Construction (MLMUPC). At present, there is a demand for mapping in the context
of tenure security for Cambodia’s indigenous communities since land disputes and “land grabbing”
by the rich and the powerful are rising in the face of an “elite capture of law” (Menzel, 2008).
Practices of public administration, which are not foreseen by law, fill the gaps between traditionaland modern concepts of law, and land disputes are decided in the interest of private individuals or
wealthy urban investors (Adler et al., 2006).
Ground rent-seeking, speculation, a massive competition for land through Economic Land
Concessions (ELC) and FDIs are causing deforestation, a decreased amount of land available,latent conflicts, anarchic encroachment, and both legal and illegal land transactions. These
processes are faster and seem more rational to some members of indigenous communities thanmapping, registering of collective title, and legislation processes for indigenous land rights.
Individualist rationalities of the indigenous people in remote areas towards short-term profit, inparticular for cash needed for health treatment, motorcycles, education and household consumption,from the land resource are stronger than the long-term management and maintaining of community
ownership for scarce natural resources.
Land leasing for rural development
Leasehold tenure on land can reduce transaction costs for access to agricultural and residential landsince it is the market mechanism that offers the greatest short-term potential for increasing theaccess of the poor to land (Bruce et al., 2006). Private land use (land rights and land tenure) does
not have to be linked to private property. Private-property-oriented western nations have effectively
created a situation in which private property rights have negative consequences for land use
planning, land allocation, and land distribution because of the incremental economic value and rentof the land. Private property rights are, to some extent, obstacles for a sustainable land use planningpolicy and for a social land law. The “control of ownership concentration for speculative purpose”(one of the clear political aims of the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) from 20062010 (RGC, 2005)) would not be necessary if there were no exclusive private property rights for
non-renewable natural resources such as land, soils and other assets.
Cambodia can achieve a land-use system similar to the land leasehold tenure regulations inmany modern states. In addition, the Cambodian state could partly appropriate the economic
ground rent through taxes such as income tax, unused land tax and other tax forms that have to beconstitutional before implementation. In other words land use planning by the State would become
neutral when private property ownership of land would be replaced by public land leasing. All
citizens should have the same chance to access land and its products via leasehold rights andauctions of the private land use rights. But such an innovative land allocation and distribution
system causes higher rents, land values and thus higher leasehold fees if an adjustment to groundrents is made. A revolving (local) land fund can solve this problem by pooling the ground rents
paid and then redistributing these rents in equal shares to the people (Löhr, 2009). A leasehold
tenure and distributed ground rents system can prevent tenure insecurity for indigenous rural landowners and for communes. Instead, the Land Administration Sub Sector Program (LA-SSP) in
Cambodia focuses on systematic land registration rather than registering time-restricted landleasing rights to create private ownership and tenure security. Leasehold tenure can reducetransaction costs for access to agricultural land. Leasehold tenure regulations that already exist in
the Cambodian Land Law 2001 (Art. 106-113; Rendall, 2003) are excellent land tenure alternatives
to private property rights and absolutely equivalent to secure land tenure rights. The granted land
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use rights have to be paid for by users because of the economic potential. The lower the income perhousehold, the lower the cost of the lease and the transaction costs for this household. In a soundpublic land management system land hoarding for speculative purposes and “rent seeking” would
no longer exist. Moreover leasehold tenure can avoid the lack of tenure security for indigenous land
rights and for rural communes. It can help register land to women who primarily tend to achieve
secure land use rights for their families to undertake subsistence farming or smallholder businesses.
However, major challenges remain in ensuring effective land ownership security for farmers andequality in land access for marginal groups like women, the young and the poor. This is valid forland policy not only in Cambodia but also for other developing countries.
CONCLUSION
Based on the “Declaration of the Royal Government on Land Policy” from 2009, the Cambodian
legislator has a unique opportunity to elucidate and improve social land policy throughout thewhole territory, in particular for rural areas where 80 % of the population lives. Therefore, land
policy should include:· Different property forms and tenure securities for land beyond the private property rights
solution for the use of non-renewable natural resources and any immovable property;· Effective and efficient State land management with non-transferable public property;· Leasehold tenure contracts, eventually combined with innovative land taxation models(redistribution of the ground rent for the benefit of the people as an “add up”);· Indigenous, customary and other informal land use rights, eventually combined with leasehold
rights, in particular for agriculture land;· Rural development and village renewal as essential elements of land use planning policy;· Property steering function of the spatial/land use planning policy (property policy) and· Reduced transaction costs for the access to arable land.
Social land policy, State land management and spatial/land use planning policy needframework arrangements guaranteed by the institutions responsible for land use development in
Cambodia. The Council of Ministers, national ministries, the legislature, the Council for Land
Policy, the institutions of the provinces, districts, municipalities and the civil sector must consider
these planning and property issues for the Cambodian people. Different institutions for the
management of the non-renewable resource land have to be built up in the future.
REFERENCES
Adler, D., Chhim, K., Path, H. and Sochanny, H. (2006) Towards institutional justice?, A review of the workof Cambodia’s cadastral commission in relation to land dispute resolution. GTZ-Cambodia, Land
Management Project, Cambodia.
Bruce, J.W., Giovarelli, R., Rolfes, L. Jr., Bledsoe, D. and Mitchell, R. (2006) Land law reform, Achieving
development policy objectives. Law, Justice, and Development Series, World Bank, USA.
Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in Cambodia (2009) Emerging trends,
challenges and innovations. Learning Symposiums and the Development of Selected Papers, CBNRM
Learning Institute, Volume II, Cambodia.
Davy, B. (2009) The poor and the land: Poverty, property, planning. Town Planning Review, 80 (3), 227-265.
Deininger, K. (2003) Land policies for growth and poverty reduction. World Bank Policy Research Report,
USA.
Graefen, C. and Baldi, M. (2009) Governance and land issues, Capacity development for good governance.
Nomos, Baden-Baden/Eschborn, 70-89.
Kirk, M. (2004) State land economics in Cambodia. Land Policy Discussion Paper, Marburg/Phnom Penh,
Cambodia.
Leuprecht, P. (2004) Land concessions for economic purposes in Cambodia, A human rights perspective.
Cambodian Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Cambodia.
Löhr, D. (2009) Public land leasehold tenure approaches, A way towards an efficient and effective land use
management. UNESCO, ERSEC International Conference Proceeding on Sustainable Land Use and© ISERD

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Water Management, 287-313.
Markussen, T. (2008) Property rights, productivity, and common property resources, Insights from rural
Cambodia. World Development, 36, 11, 2277-2296.
Menzel, J. (2008) Cambodia. Constitutionalism in Southeast Asia, Volume 2, Reports on National
Constitutions, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Singapore.
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) (2006) The new rural paradigm,
Policies and governance. France.
Ostrom, E. (1990) Governing the commons, The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge
Univ. Press, UK.
Rendall, M. (2003) Land law of Cambodia, A study and research manual. East West Management Institute,Cambodia.
Royal Government of Cambodia (2005) National strategic development plan. Cambodia.
Royal Government of Cambodia (2008) Rectangular strategy, Phase II. Cambodia.
Royal Government of Cambodia (2009a) Sub-decree on procedure for commune/sangkat land use planning.
No. 72, ANK BK, Cambodia.
Royal Government of Cambodia (2009b) Declaration of the royal government of Cambodia on land policy.
No. 27, Sar Chuor Nor A.K., Cambodia.
Suárez, S.M., Osorio, L.M. and Langford, M. (2009) Voluntary guidelines for good governance. Land andNatural Resource Tenure, Civil society perspectives, FAO Land Tenure Working Paper, No. 8, Italy.
Thiel, F. (2009) Law for state land management in Cambodia. Rural 21, International Journal for Rural
Development, 43 (3), 34-36.
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) (2008)
Secure land rights for all. Kenya.
World Bank (2007) Sharing growth, Equity and development in Cambodia. Equity Report 2007, Report No.
39809-KH, USA.
World Bank (2008) Project appraisal document, Land allocation for social and economic development
project. (http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects).

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Research article
erdManagement of Manure Taking into Account of E.coli Lossfrom Farmland
YU SAITO
Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture,
Tokyo, Japan
Email:saichu0136@yahoo.co.jp

MACHITO MIHARA
Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture,
Tokyo, Japan
Email:m-mihara@nodai.ac.jp
Received 9 January 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Manure fermented insufficiently includes pathogen such as E.coli threatens theenvironment and human health. Thus, a proper management of the excrement is an
important issue. In addition, E.coli can be easily transported by surface runoff orpercolation from farmland where manure had been applied. So, the loss of E.coli fromfarmlands and its survival limit in manure are big concern from the viewpoints ofenvironmental conservation. Model experiments were conducted under artificial rainfall
simulator to investigate E.coli loss. Slope plots were filled with soil and then applied 3
types of manure; fresh cow dung, manures fermented for 14 days and 60 days. It wasproven that E.coli losses occurred even from the manure which was fermented for 60 days.
In addition, to acquire a proper treatment of manures, the experiments were conducted toinvestigate the survival limit of E.coli in the manure. It was observed that E.coli vanishedat the temperature higher than 60 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, the reduction of watercontent was not enough to eliminate E.coli. So, it became clear that controlling
temperature of manure is important for vanishing E.coli existing in manures.
Keywords E.coli, surface runoff, manure, temperature, water content

INTRODUCTION
Large amounts of livestock excrements are being produced in Japan. The Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries of Japan estimated 9,000,000 tons of livestock excrements are being
produced per year, and 60% of total livestock excrements are cow dung. At present, these large
amounts of excrements are being utilized as manure for improving soil condition. However, large
amounts of manure production lead to insufficient fermentation of cow dung. In developing
countries, it is difficult to ferment cow dung sufficiently, because of the lack of tools or equipments.
There were reports that insufficient fermented manure includes pathogens such as E.coli, a
microorganism which is normally present in intestinal tract of animals (Chun-Ming Gong et al.,2005). This bacterium will easily propagate in the surrounding environment and can be a threat tosanitation once being discharged with the excrements (Saito et al., 2006). Also, E.coli can be easilytransported by surface runoff along with soil sediments during heavy rainfall or by percolation into
groundwater (Yagura et al., 2006). Thus, a proper treatment of cow dung before applying tofarmlands became big concern. Therefore, research interests have been paid to the survival limits ofE.coli in manure for preventing the loss of E.coli from farmlands. So, the objective of this study
was to investigate the proper treatment of manure from the viewpoints of environmental
conservation.

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EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
Experiment on E.coli loss
Model experiments were conducted to investigate the E.coli loss from farmlands employing slope
plots under artificial rainfall simulator as shown in Fig. 1. Cow dung was utilized as the material
source of E.coli in this study, as it includes more E.coli than other animal excrements. The
properties of each material are shown in Table 1. The cell numbers of E.coli in fresh cow dung, 14
days fermented manure and 60 days fermented manure were 4.1 x 107, 1.6 x 105 and 8.0 x 104 cfu/g
dry matters, respectively.
Three stainless slope model plots were prepared at 8 degrees as it is the maximum slope limiton handling agricultural machineries in sloping lands. Soil was compacted into the slope plots at
1.00 ± 0.06 g/cm3 in dry density (Kawai et al., 2007) and then cow dung or 2 kinds of manure wereapplied. Fresh cow dung was spread at Plot 1, while Plot 2 and Plot 3 were spread with fermented
manures for 14 days and 60 days, respectively. Both cow dung and fermented manures werebroadcasted into each plot uniformly. In order to observe and compare the losses of E.coli andorganic matter from 3 types of plot, artificial rainfall at 60mm/h intensity was simulated for 2 hours.
Discharge of surface runoff was measured at certain interval and sampled from each plots. The
E.coli in each sample was cultured by the spread plate method on the XM-G agar at 37 degrees
Celsius. After 20 hours, the number of blue spots showing E.coli colonies appeared on the agar wascounted. On the other hand, organic matter was analyzed by means of the ignition loss method.
Plot 1

Artificial rainfall simulator

Plot 2Plot 3

ManureSoil

Plot 1: Cow dung
Plot 2: Manure fermented for 14 days (Manure I)
Plot 3: Manure fermented for 60 days (Manure II)

Fig. 1 Slope model experiment

Table 1 Properties of materials
SampleCow dung
Manure I
Manure II

Sub-material
SawdustSawdustSawdustFermentation term

E.coli(day)(cfu/g dry matter)

0
14
60

Water content
7

4.1 x 10
1.6 x 105
8.0 x 104

(%)
82
73
72

Experiment on survival limit
Another experiment was conducted to investigate the survival condition of E.coli in the manure. As
shown in Tables 2 and 3, cow dung and manure fermented for 14 days were used in thisexperiment. The change in E.coli cell number was observed under different temperature or watercontent.
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Cow dung or manure fermented for 14 days was enclosed with plastic wrap to avoid the
reduction of water content and kept in the incubator under the different temperature at 30, 40, 50
and 60 degrees Celsius. Additionally, the changes in E.coli cell number with water content wereobserved. Cow dung or manure fermented for 14 days was kept in the greenhouse for enhancing
evaporation, and then certain amounts of samples were collected occasionally for analyzing E.coli
cell number as well as water content.
Table 2 Properties of cow dung or manure used in experiment at different temperature
SampleSub-material

Fermentation term

E.coli

Water content(day)(cfu/g dry)

(%)

7

82
72

Cow dung

Sawdust0

1.8 x 10

Manure I

Sawdust14

1.4 x 103

Table 3 Properties of cow dung or manure used in experiment at different water content
SampleSub-material

Fermentation term(day)

E.coli(cfu/g dry)

Water content(%)

Cow dung
Manure I

SawdustSawdust0
14

1.4 x 1088.6 x 105

79
70

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
E.coli loss from plots applied cow dung or manure
As shown in Fig. 2, E.coli loss from the plot applied fresh cow dung was the highest among allplots at 99% confidence interval. The loss of E.coli was observed not only from the plot applied
fresh cow dung but also from the plot applied manure fermented for 14 days or 60 days. Figs. 3, 4
and 5 show the correlation between the amounts of E.coli and organic matter. It showed that E.coli
loss increased with organic matter in sediments.

84x10
4.0E+08abb

E.coli , cfu/LE.coli , cfu/m2

1.0E+121012

1.0E+06
1060
1.0E10+00

R = 0.9735**22x108
2.0E+0800.0E+00
Cow dung

M anurefermented for
14 days

M anurefermented for
60 days

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Organic matter, g/L*There was a significant difference in total surface E.coli loss
at 99% between a and b.

Fig. 3 Relationship between E.coli andorganic matter in plot applied
cow dung

Fig. 2 E.coli loss by surface runoff during
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6

5.0E+05
5.0x105
E.coli , cfu/LE.coli , cfu/L

5.0x105.0E+06
2

R = 0.9006 **6

2.5x102.5E+06

2

R = 0.8011 **5

2.5x102.5E+0500.0E+000
0.0E+00

0.0

0.5

1.0

0.0

1.5

0.4

0.8

1.2

Organic matter, g/L

Organic matter, g/L

Fig. 4 Relationship between E.coli andorganic matter in plot appliedmanure fermented for 14 days

Fig. 5 Relationship between E.coli andorganic matter in plot appliedmanure fermented for 60 days

Change in E.coli cell number
Based on the results of the experiment employing the incubator, the changes in E.coli cell number
at different temperature were summarized in Figs. 6 and 7. The cell number of E.coli started todecrease at 50 degrees Celsius in either cow dung or manure; however it did not vanish completely.
It was observed that E.coli vanished completely at 60 degrees Celsius in either cow dung or manure.
In opposition, there was no significant difference in E.coli cell number among various temperatures
under 50 degrees Celsius in either cow dung or manure.
The results of the experiment on the changes in E.coli cell number with water content weresummarized in Figs. 8 and 9. Water content decreased to 10% in either cow dung or manure for 9days. There was a tendency for E.coli cell number in either cow dung or manure to decrease withthe decrease in water content. Additionally, the fluctuation of E.coli cell number in cow dung wascomparatively smaller than that in manure. Although E.coli cell number at 28 days passed wassignificantly smaller than that at initial stage at 99% confidence interval, the reduction of watercontent was not enough for vanishing E.coli.

60℃

50℃

40℃

1.0E+04104

30℃
E.coli , cfu/g
dry matter

E.coli , cfu/g
dry matter

1.0E+08108

1.0E+04
104

60℃

50℃

40℃

30℃

1.0E+02102100
1.0E+00

1.0E+00
100
2H

4H

2H

6H

Fig. 6 Changes in E.coli with temperaturein cow dung

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4H

6H

Fig. 7 Changes in E.coli with temperature
in manure fermented for 14 days

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

E.colia

Water content
100

b
c

c

c

c

105
1.0E+0550010
1.0E+00

Water content

E.coli , cfu/g
dry matter

1010
1.0E+10

0
0

4

9

15

21

28

day
*The data followed by different letters differs significantly at 99% confidence interval.

Fig. 8 E.coli cell number with reduction of water content in cow
dung

E.coliE.coli , cfu/g
dry matter10
1.0E+06

Water content

a
b

80
b

b

b

b

103
1.0E+0340010
1.0E+00

Water content

6

0
0

4

9

15

21

28

day
*The data followed by different letters differs significantly at 99% confidence interval.

Fig. 9 E.coli cell number with reduction of water content in manure
fermented for 14 days

CONCLUSIONAs the loss of E.coli from farmlands is big concern from the viewpoints of environmental
conservation, this study dealt with 2 kinds of experiments, one is for observing E.coli loss using
slope model plots under artificial rainfall simulator and the other is for observing survival limit ofE.coli in the manure.
It was proven that the loss of E.coli was observed not only from the plot applied fresh cow
dung but also from the plot applied manure fermented for 14 days or 60 days. Also, E.coli loss
increased in proportion to the loss of organic matter in sediments. So, it was considered that
attentions should be paid more to soil erosion process, as it accelerates E.coli loss from uplandfields.
Also, it was concluded that E.coli vanished at the temperature higher than 60 degrees
Celsius.The reduction of water content was not enough to eliminate E.coli. So, it became clear that
controlling temperature of manure is important for vanishing E.coli existing in manures.
This work was supported by KAKENHI (C) of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(21580301) of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

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REFERENCES
Chun-Ming Gong, Koshida, J., Moriyama, N., Xiaodan, W., Udou, T., Inoue, K., and Someya, T. (2005)
Occurrence and survival of coliform bacteria, Escherichia coli and Salmonella in various manure andcompost. Journal of the science of soil and manure, 76, 865-874.
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ability of bacterial growth in environment water. Annual Report of Miyagi Prefectural Institute of
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in cattle grazing land. Research bulletin of the Kyoto Prefectural Livestock Technological ResearchCenter, 3, 71-73.
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Research article
erd

The ‘Jorani Project’: Incorporating Principles of
Sustainable Rural Development into the Education System
of Cambodia
ROBERT J. MARTIN
University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
Email: bob.martin@une.edu.au

WENDY MATTHEWS
Wellington, Ontario, Canada

STEPHAN D. BOGNAR, NARAP OURM AND KYNAL KEO
Maddox Jolie Pitt Foundation, Battambang, Cambodia
Received 11 January 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract An illustrated children’s book “Jorani and the Green Vegetable Bugs” has been
published in Khmer language to teach children and teachers in rural areas about integrated
pest management (IPM) in upland crops and the positive impacts on the environment andhuman health in Cambodia. The project involves introducing the Jorani Project to school
directors and teachers; development of a teacher guide; implementation in schools; andcelebration and public launch. Further books in the series are planned to teach the benefitsof other sustainable land management practices. The project targets five primary schools
in northwestern Cambodia in the district of Samlout in Battambang Province where the
Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation (MJP), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education,
Youth and Sport (MoEYS) is working to strengthen primary education for all school-agedboys and girls. The potential to achieve the stated agricultural extension and primaryeducation objectives will be evaluated after completion of the pilot project. Social network
analysis will be used to test the effectiveness of the proposed learning environment model.
Depending on the findings, a Life Skills framework for rural primary schools will
presented to the MoEYS for endorsement and roll-out to primary schools in other Districts
and Provinces in Cambodia.
Keywords rural development, primary education, life skills, crop diversification, foodsecurity, nutrition

BACKGROUND
Since 2003, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has funded two
projects in upland areas of Cambodia to help reduce poverty and contribute to food security
through the development of sustainable farming systems for upland crops such as maize, soybean,
peanut, mungbean and sesame. The original ACIAR project involved discussion with farmers,
validation of local knowledge, documentation of case studies and agronomic field experiments. The
project was conducted in collaboration with the Cambodian Agricultural Research & Development
Institute (CARDI) and with support from the Cambodian Department of Agricultural Extension in
the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (MAFF).
The approach of the ACIAR project (Farquharson et al., 2010) has been to first investigate anddemonstrate new technologies or improved practices in a farming systems context through a
network of on-farm trials and demonstrations. These are combined with village workshops to
identify the social and economic constraints to adoption of new technologies and changes inmanagement practices. “Crop Profit Groups” of local farmers have been formed to assess the
economic costs and benefits of new technologies and changed management practices. The project© ISERD

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provides outside expertise in a co-learning environment with local farmers, government advisers
and NGOs. Education and capacity-building for Cambodian collaborators has been an importantpart of the work.
Various extension publications have also been produced targeting agricultural extension
professionals and tertiary agricultural educational institutions. These publications have a highpotential for impact on the profitability of small-holder farms, leading to poverty reduction, andfood security. Extension materials directed at farmers, however, are somewhat ineffective becauseof the low literacy levels in the rural areas of Cambodia. It was thought that production of
educational material for rural primary school children and teachers could improve the flow of new
agricultural information to farm families.
The idea for the Jorani Project arose when it became evident that government agencies did nothave the physical infrastructure or human resources to implement extension messages such asenvironmentally friendly agriculture to the local communities in a sustainable way. MJP, working
with teachers and school directors in the region since 2006 to reach the UN Millennium
Development Goals (MDG 2) in primary education, identified the primary school classroom as apotential vehicle to not only deliver the messages, but also create child friendly life skill ‘farming’
activities for both the teacher and student.
To move the project forward, ACIAR agreed to publish an illustrated children’s book createdby a team of authors, including local Samlout teachers to raise awareness on sustainable green
farming practices. The book, called “Jorani and the Green Vegetable Bugs” is to complement thesecond ACIAR project “Enhancing production and marketing of maize and soybean in northwestern Cambodia” (ASEM/2006/130) which commenced in 2008 and runs to 2011. The aim of
the ACIAR project is to improve the functioning of the production and marketing system for maize
and soybean in north-western Cambodia as a key to increasing cash income, sustainable growthand poverty reduction for small-holder farmers. The project facilitates the sharing of knowledge
and information at all stages of the value chain from farmer to end-user.
The Jorani Project will teach children in five target schools in Samlout about integrated pest
management (IPM) in crops and the positive impact on human health and the environment. If thepilot is successful, further books in the series are planned to teach the environmental benefits ofreduced cultivation and burning in crop production, and also the value of wildlife conservation andhealthy eco-systems.
Jorani’s success will also be linked to the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation’s environmental
youth program. In 2008, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) gave approval to
MJP to create a youth program called ‘Eco-Rangers’, a club designed to help Samlout’s children
and their families explore and learn about their environment. The Jorani Project will be included inthe ‘Eco-Ranger Club’ initiative. It will establish links between agriculture and other community
activities such as those directed to improving human health and nutrition.
Teacher training in Cambodia may include a variety of agricultural topics such as chemicaland organic fertilizers, insect pests, IPM, rice production, water usage, land preparation andchicken-raising. Most school directors, however, do not develop or implement the given
Government agriculture curriculum, instead pushing it into the voluntary Life Skills program.
Unfortunately, most teachers use the time allocated to Life Skills for clean-up day, presumably
because of lack of teacher training and life skills resource materials for teachers.
The Jorani Project could easily be integrated into the Life Skills program if teachers areprovided with resources, appropriate training and technical support from agricultural experts. This
strategy has been achieved in other countries. For example, Hoppers (2007) noted that the need forlife skills development as a core set of competencies is accepted in countries such as Brazil,
Namibia, Burkina Faso, Uganda and Thailand. In Cambodia, however, little appears to have been
done to include these types of activities in school curricula. Part of the problem appears to be thattechnical expertise for life skill subjects such as agriculture is provided by different government
ministries and teachers might find it difficult to access appropriate information. This is the case in
Cambodia where tertiary agricultural education is administered through the Ministry ofAgriculture, Foresry and Fisheries. It is important to note that MoEYS officials advised MJP that

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previous attempts to introduce life skills programs had not been sustainable in Cambodia and thatany project will need to have clear goals and be coordinated through MoEYS.
The Jorani Project is a case study to see if agricultural content can be incorporated into the life
skills program. Benefits to primary education at student, teacher and system level will need to be
demonstrated as well as improved uptake of agricultural technologies. Taylor and Mulhall (2001)
carried out research on linking learning environments through agricultural experience to enhance
the learning process in rural primary schools in Tanzania, Sri Lanka, India and Ethiopia. They
examined the way in which teachers in rural primary schools link the formal school curriculumwith the life experience of their pupils, particularly in relation to agriculture. They found thatteaching aids and materials, particularly those which relate to the local context, were often in short
supply or lacking altogether. Where they were available, teachers’ guides and pupils’ textbooks
often used urban-based examples which were not familiar to children in rural areas.

(a)
(b)

SchoolenvironmentHomeenvironment
The learnerHome

Schoolenvironment

environment

The learner
Community
environment

Community
environment

Influence link
Weak or non-existent link

Fig. 1 Strengthening the learning environment linkages between school, home andcommunity (Taylor and Mulhall, 2001)
Taylor and Mulhall identified three key learning environments for school-going children: theschool, the home and the wider community. They observed that these three learning environments
are often disconnected and the experiences gained in each are seldom drawn together andintegrated in the learning process (Fig. 1a). According to Taylor & Mulhall, weak linkages between
the three learning environments infers that the experiences gained by pupils in school are often
perceived to be divorced from life outside school, not only by pupils but also by parents andteachers. Learning could become more effective if these linkages were strengthened and if theinterfaces between learning environments were maximised (Fig. 1b). Developing life skills
programs that are relevant to rural communities may achieve the outcomes suggested by Taylor &Mulhall.
Other studies in developing countries confirm these observations. Khupe et al. (2009) reported
that education for most rural children has only a small, if any, relationship with students’ lives
outside the classroom. More than 30 years ago, Lindsey (1975) observed that school curricula wereleaving rural children with a low capacity to function within their societies because they lacked therequisite skills. This appears to be true today. The challenge for rural education is not only that ofachieving literacy, but also guaranteeing employment and self-employment of the ‘economically
active’ population (Bouyer et al., 2005). Rural people make their own informal evaluations of local
education, where they check school leavers’ capacity to contribute towards community
improvement. Formal education in many developing nations does not equip students with skills that
could be useful in developing their communities. Acker & Gasperini (2003) emphasized that
relevance of educational programs in rural areas is an important area for improvement especiallywith regard to relevance to local needs.

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It should be noted that in some cases locally relevant life skills programs have met withhostility from parents who do did not see the point of having their children acquire practicalknowledge which they felt they could provide themselves (Atchoarena and Gasperini, 2003). If
parents send their children to school so that they can escape from rural life and find a job in the city
they might not be happy with locally-relevant life skills programs (Bergmann, 1985). Therefore the
Jorani Project will need to obtain feedback on attitudes and beliefs of all participants andstakeholders in the Samlout case study.
THE “JORANI PROJECT”
The purpose of the Jorani Project was to conduct a pilot study in the district of Samlout to:1.
2.

Determine if inclusion of agricultural subjects in the primary school life skills program leads
to improved uptake of new technologies and more sustainable land management practices
Determine if life skills activities in rural primary that are relevant to rural communities canstrengthen the linkages between the school, the home and the wider community.

The MJP education project team examined the curriculum for primary school grades 4, 5 and 6
to determine where the Jorani resource best fitted into the current curriculum. The education teamthen consulted with the agriculture team to produce activities and materials to enhance teachers’
understanding of important content presented in the Jorani book. The education team worked with
the Battambang Provincial Director of Primary Schools to develop a template for the Teacher
Guide. The Director was also invited to be the advisor and possibly co-facilitator for teacher
professional development. The project involved the Samlout district villages of Bueng Run,
Kampong Touk, Kantout, Ou Chrab, Samlout and Sre Reach. The schools involved were:
Kampong Touk, Ou Chrab, Sre Andoung II, Sre Andoung lower secondary and Sre Reach. The
total number of children involved in the project was 638 (Table 1).
In phase 1 of the project a group of 20 teachers and school directors from Samlout district
attended an introductory workshop on IPM run by the ACIAR project at Samlout in October 2009.
The workshop was also attended by the Battambang Provincial Director of Primary Education. The
workshop was in the same format as used for agricultural advisers and key farmers and consisted ofa series of presentations, practical exercises and field activities. Resource materials included aworkshop manual, an insect identification guide, notebooks and data recording sheets. The
workshop covered: an overview of IPM; crop growth and development; insect management
options; insect monitoring techniques; calculating economic thresholds; safe and proper use ofpesticides; personal protective equipment (PPE); and types of insecticides available in local
markets. The illustrated insect field guide provided a brief description of insect pests and thedamage they cause as well as information on a range of beneficial insects and spiders that can befound in upland crops in north-western Cambodia.
Table 1 Samlout District primary schools and numbers of children involved in the Jorani
Project

Ampob Leu
Kampong ToukOu Chrab
Sre Andoung II
Sre Reach
Total

Grade 4
M
F
10
17
9
4
33
31
39
47
36
27
127
126

Grade 5
M
F
0
0
15
2
36
30
43
44
20
21
114
97

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Grade 6
M
F
0
0
0
0
37
26
38
35
15
23
90
84

Sub Total
M
F
10
17
24
6
106
87
120
126
71
71
331
307

Total
27
30
193
246
142
638

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

It is important to note that the education team consulted with MJP’s agriculture team toproduce activities and materials to enhance teachers’ understanding of important content presented
in the Jorani book. The education team also worked with the Battambang Provincial Director ofPrimary Schools to develop a template for the Teacher Guide. The Provincial Director was invited
to be the advisor and possibly co-facilitator for teacher professional development.
Phase 2 of the project involved a three day workshop for all grade 4-6 teachers and school
directors from the pilot schools as well as senior staff from the provincial and district offices of the
MoEYS. The goal of this workshop, facilitated by the MJP education team and an expert teacher
from Canada, was to demonstrate how a resource such as the Jorani book that is based on life skills
important to students’ families and community can be effectively used to develop literacy andscientific skills linked to curriculum expectations. During the workshop teachers learned andpracticed 15 different methodologies such as jigsaw, book making, song creation, puppet plays,
nature colour hunts, interviews and sports games. They created a journal record of eachmethodology and more importantly identified and discussed the skills students would be
developing as they participated in these stimulating child-friendly activities. Discussions included
how the same methodologies could be applied in different subjects within the curriculum. On the
final afternoon teachers and staff developed plans for the next phase – development, timing andimplementation of the IPM Life Skills program they would present using the Jorani book and the
new methodologies they learned.
Phase 3 was designed to ensure teachers are well prepared and confident to provide the IPM
Life Skills program. The design included one full-day training and two half-day workshops forteachers prior to their implementation of the IPM Life Skills program in their classrooms.
At the end of phases one and two teachers still had questions about IPM. Unlike classrooms inthe developed world, students do not have access to the internet and teachers recognize they need
to be the experts. The full-day training will be offered by an MAFF expert to provide sufficient
content in the Khmer language for them to feel comfortable as IPM experts in the classroom.
Resource materials will include an illustrated insect field identification guide and an IPM workshop
manual.
The teachers will then participate in two half day workshops. The objectives of the firstworkshop are to: decide what content about plants, bugs, and pesticides should be covered in eachschool grade; develop their IPM Life Skills lesson plans incorporating some of the 15
methodologies they learned at the previous workshop. During the second half-day workshop,
teachers will complete lesson plans for IPM Life Skills and produce teaching materials for the
program. Teaching materials will be prepared and include school kits with specimens of insects
occurring in local crops and as shown in the Jorani book, insect field guide book and the IPM
workshop manual.
The project is to be implemented in the Samlout schools during January and February 2010.
The teachers were advised to modify the program as necessary to adapt to the needs of theindividual class. Suggestions for school class activities included:• Working in groups to develop dramas based on the story and making costumes or masks tolook like insect characters from the book (there should be a prior class discussion to identify
the important agricultural information that should be built in to the plays);• Simple hand puppets of the good and bad bugs could be made to create puppet shows to act
out the roles of the good and bad bugs;• Making up lyrics about the story and sing these to the tune of a popular song;• Preparation of short speeches on integrated pest management (IPM) based on what waslearned from the book;• Creation of individual insect books or working collaboratively to make a large class book that
could be placed in the school library.
Local farmers, agricultural experts and conservation officers will be invited to the school totalk to the students about their experience using IPM on their farms and the positive impact on theenvironment. Students will develop a series of interview questions ahead of time and one or two
students will conduct the interview followed by a question and answer period where all students© ISERD

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ask questions. Follow-up activities planned for the early wet season (May-June) include insect
collections and school gardens.
The program will culminate in an open door Celebration Day including games, songs, puppet
plays, displays of work books and artwork (Phase 4). During the event, each child will be presented
with their own personal copy of “Jorani and the Green Vegetable Bugs” to take home. A total of
700 Khmer language Jorani books will be distributed.
CONCLUSION
After completion of the pilot project, the ACIAR project team plans to carry out an evaluation todetermine the potential to achieve both agricultural extension and primary education objectives. It
is expected that the project messages will spread through expanding circles of sharing (like ripples)
among small groups; the whole class; between classes; between schools; at home with parents; andwith the wider community. Social network analysis as described by Borgatti et al. (2009) will be
used to test the learning environment model proposed by Taylor and Mulhall. Depending on thefindings, a proposed Life Skills program for rural primary schools will presented to the MoEYS for
endorsement and roll-out to primary schools in other Districts and Provinces in Cambodia.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Royal Government of Cambodia, the Maddox Jolie Pitt
Foundation and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research for making this project
possible.

REFERENCES
Acker, D. and Gasperini, L. (2003) Launching a new flagship on education for rural people, An initiative
agricultural and extension educators can get behind. Journal of International Agricultural and Extension
Education, 10, 81-85. (http://www.fao.org/sd/erp/ackerfall2003.pdf.).
Atchoarena, D. and Gasperini, L. (2003) Education for rural development, Towards new policy responses.
FAO and UNESCO/IIEP (http://www.fao.org/sd/erp/ERPglobalstudy_en.htm.).
Bergmann, H. (1985) Agriculture as a subject in primary school. International Review of Education, 31, 155174.
Borgatti, S.P., Mehra, A., Brass, D.J. and Labianca, G. (2009) Network analysis in the social sciences.
Science, 323, 892-895.
Bouyer, B.; Debouvry, P. and Maragnani, A. (2005) Skills for rural people, A renewed challenge. Debates in
Skills Development, Paper 10, Working Group for International Cooperation in Skills Development,
Italy.
Farquharson, R.J., Martin, R.J., Chan, P., Touch, V. and Keo, K. (2010) Crop profit groups and farmer
participation in research, Some experiences from Cambodian upland regions. International Journal ofEnvironmental and Rural Development, 1(1), 194-203.
Gasperini, L. (2000) From agricultural education to education for rural development and food security, Allfor education and food for all. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (http://www.
fao.org/sd/exdirect/exre0028.htm).
Hoppers, W. (2007) Meeting the learning needs of all young people and adults, An exploration of successfulpolicies and strategies in non-formal education. Background paper prepared for the Education for All
Global Monitoring Report, 2008.
Khupe, C., Keane, M. and Cameron, A. (2009) Education, relevance and rural development. Innovation for
Equity in Rural Education, Symposium Proceedings, Australia.
Lindsey, J.K. (1975) Rural education and underdevelopment, Aspects of the politics of education. Paper for
the UNESCO IIEP Seminar.
Martin, B. and White, D. (2009) Jorani and the green vegetable bugs. ACIAR Monograph, 137, 1-48. (http://
www.aciar.gov.au/publication/MN137).
Taylor, P. and Mulhall, A. (2001) Linking learning environments through agricultural experience, Enhancing
the learning process in rural primary schools. International Journal of Educational Development, 21,© ISERD

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135–148.
Van Crowder, L., Lindley, W.I., Bruening, T.H. and Doron, N. (1998) Agricultural education for sustainable
rural development, Challenges for developing countries in the 21st century. Journal of Agricultural
Education and Extension, 5, 71-84.

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Research article
erd

Building Capacity for Sustainable Rural Development:
Lessons from Nepal
MURARI SUVEDI
Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies,
Michigan State University, Michigan, USA
Email: suvedi@msu.edu
Received 15 January 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Rural development has been a buzzword in recent years among international
development professionals. Numerous programs and policies have been implemented
worldwide to bring about positive development in rural areas. Consistent with such efforts,
we have introduced a series of projects to promote sustainable livelihoods in the village ofHamsapur, Nepal, such as developing a system to supply clean drinking water, a storage
system for potatoes, and a computer lab to improve education quality. The purpose of thispaper is to illustrate the need for building human capacity to sustain benefits fromdevelopment projects. Qualitative data derived from observation and key informant
interviews were used to assess impacts. Findings indicate that these projects did not meet
our expectations of improving livelihoods in a sustainable way. Some changes resulting
from the projects did not last long, and others could not be continued after external support
was withdrawn. The main reason for lack of long-term sustainability was the lack of local
capacity, specifically, a lack of knowledge and skills by locals that are critical to planningand implementing development projects and associated activities. The beneficiaries wereunable to maintain the projects locally.
Keywords capacity building, rural development, Nepal

INTRODUCTION
Over four-fifths of the people of Nepal live in rural areas. Farming is their main occupation. They
grow crops and tend livestock in a small land area. They understand the interdependence between
nature and people. They practice subsistence agriculture that has sustained many generations. For
generations, they followed a social system that governs their way of life. Rural development in thiscontext could be synonymous with agricultural development.
International donor communities have widely recognized the need for rural development as ameans to end hunger, poverty, inequality and unemployment in developing countries. National
planners have adopted various plans and policies to promote rural development through a variety of
programs, such as agricultural extension services for farmers, rural credit and cooperatives forfarmers and entrepreneurs, construction of farm-to-market access roads, and irrigation schemes toincrease crop yields. Development projects were implemented, but in many cases they were
ineffective due to poor implementation and management (Government of Nepal, 2007). Of course,
progress has been made to improve the livelihoods of many millions in rural areas. Policy reforms
contributed to economic growth in the early 1990s. However, the initial momentum generated by
the reforms began to wane by 1995 (Shakya, 2002). The rate of progress has not met the
expectations of development professionals (Mishra, 2006; Panday, 1983). Moreover, some of thechanges made by development projects were short-lived. Many project activities could not be
continued by the local people after the donors pulled out. Local people did not have the financial
and managerial capacity to maintain the development projects in their communities. To put it
simply, although well intended, many development programs or projects have not been sustainable(Panday, 1983; Shakya, 2002; Nepal South Asia Center, 1998).

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Sustainable development has been a buzzword in development literature. Global dialog on theconcept and issues of sustainability began in the late 1970s (Orr, 2002). Scholars and practitioners
continue to debate about what is to be sustained, and how we measure sustainability (Bell andMorse, 2000). Thompson (2007) argues that definition and conceptualization of sustainability havebeen philosophically open ended and continuously evolving tasks. Many tend to agree with thedefinition of sustainability advanced by the World Commission on Environment and Developmentin 1987: “meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future
generations to do the same.” Similarly, there seems to be agreement on three primary dimensionsof sustainability: social, economic and environmental. To some extent these dimensions overlap.
Michigan State University, in collaboration with a local school and a non-governmentalorganization, introduced a series of micro-projects to promote sustainable livelihoods in the villageof Hamsapur, Nepal. These development programs included development of a system to supply
clean drinking water, potato storage, and computer education at a public high school. This paper
outlines the nature of these micro-projects, describes how they were implemented, and discusses
the lessons learned for sustainable development.
METHODSThis paper is based on a case study approach. A household survey was used to establish socioeconomic benchmarks of the community. A survey instrument developed by the United Nations
Development Program of Nepal was adopted. Trained interviewers conducted surveys of 838
households. Data were coded and entered into SPSS software. Descriptive statistics, including
percentages, range, mean and standard deviations were used to analyze the data.
Observations and informal interviews with key informants were used to describe project
implementation and impacts. The researcher visited the study area every year, taking digital photos,
interviewing beneficiaries, observing changes over time, and listening to key informants about
issues and impacts. Notes were reviewed, organized by project, and analyzed to draw conclusions.
Findings are presented as case studies.
RESULTS
Hamsapur is a typical hilly cluster of villages located in western Nepal near Pokhara. The populationof the village is diverse, comprising Gurungs and Magars (major ethnic groups), Bishwokarma,
Nepali/Magrati, Gharti/Bhujel, Bahuns and Chhetris. Education of the population is a critical factor
for sustainable development. To respond to change, people must be able to read and write tounderstand messages for change. Table 1 show that in 2006, about one-fifth of the population ofHamsapur was illiterate. Although there seems to be an equal proportion of the population
attending primary school and high school, higher caste people (e.g., Bahun, Newar and Chhetri)tend to pursue higher education more frequently than people from other castes or ethnic groups.
Table 1 Educational level of school age population by caste/ethnicity (N= 4,302)
Caste/Ethnicity
Bahun
ChhetriPariyarGharti/Bhujel
GurungMagar
Bishwokarma
Nepali/Magrati
Newar

N
2,194
114
64
197
566
137
656
135
241

Illiterate
Literate/
High School(%)
Primary (%)
(%)
17.1
27.7
28.1
16.7
43.9
25.4
17.2
29.7
18.8
23.4
35.0
23.4
15.0
38.5
31.6
24.8
34.3
32.1
33.8
43.6
8.7
31.1
33.3
16.3
20.3
25.3
26.1

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Higher
Education (%)
21.2
10.5
4.7
5.6
7.4
7.3
2.6
4.4
17.4

Currently
Studying (%)
5.9
3.5
29.7
12.7
7.4
1.5
11.3
14.8
10.8

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Over 90 percent indicated that they are engaged in farming. Respondents were asked toindicate their total household incomes, derived from various sources. Crop yield and livestock
production, salary and wages, including pension and remittances of all family members, were
included in the household income computations. Table 2 shows the total household income forvarious caste and ethnic groups. It should be noted that some households did not report income.
Table 2 Household’ annual income by caste/ethnic group (N=802)
Caste/Ethnic Group
Bahun
ChhetriPariyarGharti/Bhujel
GurungMagar
Bishwokarma
Nepali/Magrati
Newar

N
415
23
10
41
102
18
123
28
42

Mean Household Income(Nepali Rupees)
131,309
113,842
142,280
99,893
177,993
199,642
69,684
98,13690,876

SD
219,932
114,172
153,169
88,693
336,149
266,290
97,30061,44448,928Exchange rate as of January 25, 2010: USD 1 = Nepali Rupees 74.4

As shown in Table 2, Bishwokarma (traditional blacksmith caste) had the lowest householdincome. Magar households had the highest income, followed by Gurung. The Bahun and Chhetri
households, although they belong to a high caste, had incomes lower than Magar, Gurung andPariyar but higher than those of Bishwokarma, Nepali/Magrati, Newar and Gharti/Bhujel.
Micro-development Projects: We introduced a series of micro-development projects in Hamsapur.
These projects included the construction of a drinking water system, bee keeping, raising of goatsand pigs for income generation, promotion of coffee for cash income, potato storage, anddevelopment of a computer lab with Internet access to improve education. The following sections
present three of these projects as case studies.
Case I - Drinking Water System: Drinking water is the major problem for Hamsapur residents
during the dry season. The village is situated on the southern slope of an independent mountain andthe mountain does not have a permanent spring to supply drinking water via gravity. Beginning inNovember, most water holes and springs at higher altitudes dry up as the monsoon ceases; thevillagers are forced to go farther down the slopes to collect water from permanent springs/waterholes. During December through May, women spend about three hours daily carrying pots ofdrinking water to meet family needs.
The shortage of drinking water has forced many households to migrate to the Terai region of
Nepal or relocate their houses to the lower valleys. However, many villagers have neither the landin the valleys nor the resources to move their households. Needless to say, the poorest of the poor
have no place to go for an improved quality of life.
In February 2000, the Mothers Group of Hamsapur approached the author of this paper toassist in finding appropriate help to address the drinking water situation in this village. During avillage gathering, the local people agreed that a water user committee would be formed. The wateruser committee was tasked with setting policies for water distribution, mobilizing local people tovolunteer for project implementation, and collecting monthly water user fees for managing thewater supply.
The Rotary Club of Traverse City, Michigan sponsored this drinking water project. The Rotary
Club of Pokhara, Nepal worked closely with the local Water User Group and an NGO, Indragufa
Community Development Foundation, to implement the project. The author of this paper facilitatedcoordination of all partners for the project’s implementation.
The major project activities included construction of a collection reservoir at Kurlungkhola;construction of a small pump house adjacent to the intake reservoir; and installation of a pump tolift water to the first reservoir (325 meters from the intake tank) and to the second reservoir (294
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meters from the first reservoir). During the monsoon season, the electric pump may not need to be
operational because water pipelines from a natural spring are connected to the second reservoir,using gravity to send the water to the reservoir. This system should provide a year-round watersupply to almost 80 percent of water users in the village. To reach the remaining population,
primarily in upper Syaklung, a third pump was installed at the second reservoir. Construction work
started in May 2001 and was completed in February 2004. The supply of clean drinking water
began in March 2004. A local person was trained to operate the system. Approximately 240
households benefited from the drinking water supply system.
One of the major problems for the system has been lack of a consistent supply of electrical
power. Frequent lightning in the area and the fluctuation in electrical voltage blew the electricalfuse at the control panel. Every year, lightning damaged the motor or burned out the coiling inside
the pump. The local people spent significant resources repairing the pump. Other problems
included lack of timely payment or non-payment of water user fees by some households. In
absence of an appropriate incentive for managing and maintaining the water system, the leadershipof the local Water User Committee became dysfunctional. Despite the frequent interruptions inwater supply and lack of leadership, the system was operational for five years. In 2009, the water
pump at the base station was damaged badly and the water supply was not operational for the entire
dry season. In January 2010, a new submersible pump replaced the old one, and the water supply
has been restored. Challenges of maintenance, management and responsible fee payment are still
to be addressed.
Case II - Potato Storage: Potato is a relatively new crop in the middle hills and valleys of Western
Nepal. Farmers began planting potatoes in the 1970s. Many farmers of Hamsapur now growpotatoes. They harvest their potato crops in April and sell them at a low price, but they buy seedpotatoes in October/November at very expensive prices. If farmers could store their potatoes forabout six months, they could significantly increase their income from the sale of potatoes when
demand is higher and supplies lower than at harvest time.
A group of farmers requested this researcher to demonstrate potato storage. The cost of
constructing a community-based potato storage facility was funded by the Empower Nepal
Foundation. Local farmers agreed to pay a small fee for the storage of their potatoes. It was
proposed that the storage fee collected would be reinvested to build additional storage facilities forneighboring farmers during the second year and so on. Indragufa Community Development
Foundation agreed to work with the local farmers’ group to mobilize their resources and to build
the demonstration potato storage facility.
The potato storage facility was constructed in 2001. The farmer who owned the storage facility
indicated that he would begin storing the potato crop in 2002. He, however, was concerned if theright temperature and humidity could be maintained inside the storage facility. Once the storage
facilty was complete, it stayed idle for a few years. No farmers used the potato storage facility.
When asked why they did not use the storage facility, farmers said:• “Needed cash, so I sold my potato crop immediately after the harvest. I did not need the storage.”• “I grow potato only for my family’s use. I did not need the storage.”• “We don’t know if the potato stays good for 5-6 months. What would happen if the crop got
rotten? Who will pay for the loss?”
Case III - Computer Lab to Improve Education Quality: Ramkot Higher Secondary School islocated about 35 kilometers southeast of Pokhara. It has over 400 students in grades 6 through 12.
The school has 13 teachers and two support staff members. English, math, science, social studies,
Nepali languages, and health studies are taught at the school. Twelve elementary schools and two
middle schools in Hamsapur Village Development Committee feed students to Ramkot Higher
Secondary School.
In March 2007, this researcher met with the Ramkot Higher Secondary School Management
Committee to jointly develop a master plan for systemic educational quality improvement. The
master plan included the use of technology in teaching and learning, construction of newclassrooms and lab facilities, engagement of parents and volunteers in school improvement
activities, and offering of technical training to enhance employment opportunities for graduates.
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A computer lab having nine computers, access to wireless Internet, and a printer was
established at Ramkot Higher Secondary School. The computer lab was intended primarily for use
by the school teachers and students. Other professionals working in the area such as healthtechnicians, agriculture extension workers, and Village Development Committee staff members
could also access the computer lab on a “fee for use” basis.
The computer lab was originally set up in a small classroom at Ramkot Higher Secondary
School. It was under direct supervision of the school administration. It was agreed that Ramkot
Higher Secondary School would identify one or two teachers having basic knowledge of computer
and/or showing strong interest in using computers. These teachers would be sent elsewhere forcomputer training. Upon their return, they would serve as instructors. They were expected toreceive periodic upgrading courses as needed. The school would be expected to formulate policies
and guidelines for the day-to-day operation of the computer lab. It was agreed that the computerlab would be open for students during school hours and open to community members andprofessionals during weekends and after-school hours. A small user-fee was proposed to sustain theoperation of the computer lab.
It has been three years since the computer lab with Internet access became operational and thecomputers are kept covered to protect from dust. However, no teacher has been given full
responsibility to manage the computer lab and/or offer classes to students and teachers. One teacher
is assigned to look after all hardware and software on an ad-hoc basis. This teacher is asked to sende-mails for the school and uses word processing software to type examination questions andimportant school communications. The lab has never opened its door to students and not manyteachers have made use of this facility. When asked why the lab is not made open to students andteachers, the head master and members of the School Management Committee said,· “We had limited classroom space, so we had to move the computers to our office area. Now
we have new classrooms and we hope to have one room dedicated to the computer lab. Soon,
we will start offering computer training to students and interested teachers.”· “Computer is not required in the curriculum, so there is no position for a computer teacher. As
a result, we are unable to offer computer classes.”· “The classes are scheduled from 10:00a.m. - 4:00p.m. There is not free time to schedule acomputer class. It is possible that we could offer computer classes either before or after the
regular school classes to interested students. We can offer computer classes if we have a hostel
at our school.”
It should be noted that a few teachers and the school librarian have shown interest in learning
how to use the computer. During a recent visit to the school, many students approached thisresearcher indicating that they are truly interested in learning the use of computer for word
processing and Internet access.
CONCLUSIONS
Hamsapur is a typical hill village of Nepal. Most households are subsistence farmers. Althoughschool participation has improved in recent years, local people lack skills to manage technologicalaspects of rural development. For example, graduates from local high school have not skills inusing electrical tools or plumbing equipments, and there is no easy access to receive training. Most
development projects focus on technologies that require the use of electricity, operation of amachine or equipment. Thus, building local capacity is imperative.
We have found that human capacity is the fundamental factor in the sustaining benefits ofrural development programs. Despite the fact that drinking water is a real need of the people ofHamsapur, local capacity to maintain the system was missing. The project did not include trainingof the local people as electricians and plumbers. They did not receive proper training on how to use
the plumbing and electrical tools and equipments. Instead of building local capacity to prevent
possible problems in the operation of the drinking water supply, the project depended on outside
expertise for repairing the broken pumps. This increased the community’s dependency on theoutside world and reducing local capacity for development.
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The case of potato storage suggests that we, as development professionals, tend to movequickly to address problems without fully studying the nature and scope of a problem. It seems that
long-term storage was not a real need of most of the farmers, who grow potatoes mainly for homeconsumption. Further, farmers having low levels of education are unable to comprehend the need tomaintain stable room temperature and humidity for potato storage. Their perceived and real risk oflosing the crop was greater than the potential long-term financial benefit of the storage. It would
have been appropriate to demonstrate potato storage for a couple of years at no cost so the local
farmers could learn from the experience, and adopt the practice after a few years if perceived as
valuable to them. Again, building local capacity through a demonstration project would help thetransfer of technology.
Use of computers has changed the way we do business globally. All businesses and industriesof the modern world use computers for their operation. Teaching computers at high school has
proven to be necessary for graduates to find employment. Many educational resources are now
made available online. However, in the context of rural Nepal, most public schools have no
infrastructure or resources to offer computer education to students. School teachers who never used
computers have little appreciation of computer education. The school curriculum does not require
use of computers. Accordingly, the government does not support computer teacher positions inpublic schools. In such a context, how can public schools begin offering computer literacy to theirstudents? Questions abound. Who is responsible to develop computer literacy among high school
students? What should be the role of the government? What should be the role of local schools andparents? Do development planners and policy makers realize that that students’ ability to use
computer is a corner stone for building local capacity for rural development in the 21st century?
In our work in Nepal, we emphasized community needs assessment, allocation of resources toaddress needs identified by the community, and insurance of participation by local people inproject implementation. Nevertheless, our projects did not achieve their potential, particularly overthe long term. We learned that participation in project planning and implementation is a necessary
but not sufficient condition for sustainable development. Developing local capacity to manage thechange over the long term is imperative, and should be addressed specifically during projectplanning. We suggest that development projects should develop the skills of the local people
through training so they could operate and maintain machinery and equipments. More importantly,
keeping the capacity in the village, either by incentivizing trained people to stay or by developing asystem for training others to replace them, is essential for sustainable rural development.
REFERENCES
Thompson, Paul B. (2007) Agricultural sustainability, What it is and what it is not. International Journal of
Agricultural Sustainability, 5(1), 5-16.
Bell, S. and Morse, S. (2000) Sustainability indicators. Measuring the Immeasurable, Earthscan, UK.
Government of Nepal (2007) Three year interim plan: 2007/08-2009/10. National Planning Commission,
Nepal.
Nepal South Asia Center (1998) Nepal human development report 1998. Nepal.
Mishra, C. (2006) Development and underdevelopment, A preliminary sociological perspective. Capitalism
and Nepal, Mulyankan Publication House, Nepal. (in Nepali)Orr, David W. (2002) Four challenges of sustainability. Conservation Biology, 16 (6), 1457–1460.
Panday, Devenrda R. (1983) Foreign aid in Nepal’s development: an overview. Foreign Aid andDevelopment in Nepal, Integrated Development Systems, Nepal.
Shakya, S. (2002) The squandering of a promising economy. State of Nepal, Himal Press, Nepal.
World Commission of Environment and Development (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press,
UK.

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Research article
erdCrop Profit Groups and Farmer Participation in Research:Some Experiences from Cambodian Upland Regions
ROBERT J. FARQUHARSONThe University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Email: bob.farquharson@unimelb.edu.au

ROBERT J. MARTIN
The University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia

J. FIONA SCOTT
Industry & Investment NSW, Tamworth, NSW, Australia

CHAN PHALOEUN
Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

TOUCH VAN
CARE-Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

KEO KYNAL
Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, Rotanak Commune,
Battambang, Cambodia
Received 15 January 2010

Accepted 5 March 2010

Abstract Reductions in poverty and improvements in food security are important issues
for farmers and agricultural regions in Cambodia. In this paper we relate our approach andexperience working in upland areas of Battambang Province to improve agricultural,environmental and social outcomes for farm families and villagers. Small farm sizes andobserved low levels of agricultural productivity exacerbate poverty and food insecurity.
We have approached this challenge by first investigating and demonstrating new
agricultural methods (or technologies) in a farming systems context, through developing a
network of farm trials and demonstrations. To this is added activity in contextual
economic and social assessment of new versus old farming methods and management,with the objective of farmer adoption of improved methods and associated increases infarm family incomes. We have formed Crop Profit Groups of local farmers to assess the
economic costs and benefits of changed management in the main cash crops of maize andsoybean. We have also investigated marketing and value-chain issues since these affectupland farmers in important ways. Our approach has been to bring expertise to eachsituation and adopt a co-learning approach with local farmers, government officials andNGOs. Education and capacity-building of Cambodian collaborators has been an
important part of the work. While our work is not yet finished we have found a genuine
willingness by the Cambodian farmers to consider new ‘ways of doing things’ and be
involved in assessing their own incentives to change. A variety of approaches are used intraining and capacity building of the local researchers and officials. There seem to be
substantial economic incentives to change some farming practices, but issues of farm input
supply availability, markets and prices received for farm produce, transport costs andinfrastructure appear to constrain improved farm and regional outcomes.
Keywords Cambodia, agriculture, environment, technology, poverty, food security,© ISERD

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INTRODUCTION
Reductions in poverty and improvements in food security are primary objectives of project funding
supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), theCambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), and non-governmentorganizations (NGOs) such as CARE-Cambodia (CARE) and the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation(MJP). In this paper we draw on information and experiences from a number of ACIAR-funded
projects in the upland regions of Cambodia. In recent years Cambodia has regained self-sufficiency
in rice production and some research and development (R&D) priorities have moved to non-rice
farming systems in upland regions. In the north-western Provinces of Battambang and Pailin themain non-rice field crops are maize and soybean, with mungbean, peanut, sesame and cassava also
being important.
Our objectives in this work have been to investigate typical farms, farming systems, crop
management and use of crop technologies to see whether improved management can be introduced
and demonstrated so that, if adopted by farmers, our activities lead to improved farm-family
incomes. The process followed has been one of assessing the existing situation, choosing andphysically demonstrating new crop technologies and management, and then assessing the financial
and social implications for change at the farm level. Throughout our focus has been on talking tofarmers and farmer groups about how they do things at present, and asking what they might thinkof the opportunity to change - a co-learning approach. Our project work is not yet finished, so theoutcomes of our R&D are not yet obvious - at least in terms of substantial uptake of new crop
technologies by upland farmers.
As well, we have been keen to consider the environmental implications of our work and toneither impose external paradigms on these upland farmers nor to repeat mistakes that might havebeen made in other places and earlier times. This has involved a balancing of agricultural
production, farm-family income and environmental objectives. In this paper we discuss issues thathave been confronted in undertaking this balancing task.
Our recent work has focused on three districts, Pailin and Sala Krau in Pailin Province, andSamlaut in Battambang province, of north-west Cambodia. The target villages and clusters areshown in Fig. 1. Village clusters are Baysey, Bor Tangsu, Ou Ro El and Prey Santeah in Pailin
district, and Beoung Run, Kampong Touk, Kantout and Sre Reach in Samlaut district.

Fig. 1 Target villages and clusters - Samlaut (left) and Pailin (right)© ISERD

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CONDITIONS
Rural development, environmental outcomes and agricultural development ethics
Agricultural development activity in developing countries must face ethical questions such as ‘what
type of agricultural paradigm should be promoted in developing agricultural communities?’ and‘how can the expressed needs of farm families, village communities and national governments be
accounted for in agricultural development activities?’ (Chrispeels and Mandoli 2003). There arealternative ways of improving farm family incomes, in terms of the agricultural technologies andmanagement that can be promoted, and we can make choices based on the underlying moral andethical belief systems of both the funding agency (and country) and the recipient communities (andcountry).
The traditional agricultural paradigm of production to feed the world at the lowest possible
food price is being challenged by changes in societal thinking about the impacts of such changes on
agricultural societies and the natural environment. The (western) utilitarian agricultural ethic of
judging actions by their effects on fellow human beings (the greatest good for the greatest numberof people) can be interpreted as emphasizing production without a full consideration of other (morenuanced) impacts. With a projected increase in world population an important need is for future
agricultural production systems to be able to satisfy the associated increases in demand for food.
But can that be accomplished without further detrimental effects on natural ecosystems andchanges to a (perhaps idealized) view of how rural and urban societies should develop? The
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has a 2020 vision of a world:• where every person has access to sufficient food to sustain a healthy and productive life;• where malnutrition is absent;• where food originates from efficient, effective, and low-cost food systems; and• where food production is compatible with sustainable use of natural resources (IFPRI undated).
How has our project matched against these sustainability and food security goals?: The
current project (Cambodian Crop Production and Marketing Project (CCPMP), see
http://ccpmp.pbworks.com/) has four communities of practice - Production, Socio-Economics,
Marketing and Value Chain. The teams associated with each community of practice conduct
specific and coordinated activities to achieve the project goals. A Continuous Improvement andInnovation Approach to project management and evaluation was used (Madzivhandila et al. 2008).
In this paper we focus on the Production and Socio-Economics team activities, but first we set theoverall project context and report the perspectives of the project participants.
Cambodian agricultural priorities and institutions
National R&D priorities: The Royal Cambodian Government’s National Poverty Reduction
Strategy (2003-2005) committed research centres and extension systems to focus on small-scale
farmers and place emphasis on the use of improved tools and management practices for cropping
systems. Priority was given to diversification and intensification of sustainable agricultural
production with few external inputs as well as cost–effective management practices.
Institutional priorities in Cambodia: CARDI was established in 1999 by the Royal Governmentof Cambodia as a semi-autonomous institute. It has a vision of partnerships for livelihood
improvement and economic growth in Cambodia, and a mission to contribute to the Royal
Government of Cambodia Policies on poverty reduction and economic development (CARDI
undated). CARE has worked for some time in Cambodia, initially (in the 1990s) with the United
Nations to help refugees. Since then CARE has shifted its focus to long-term development
programs, helping poor communities improve their standard of living (CARE undated). MJP isdedicated to eradicating extreme rural poverty, protecting natural resources and conserving
wildlife; MJP promotes sustainable rural economies that directly contribute to the health andvitality of communities, wildlife and forests (MJP undated).

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Upland crop production in Cambodia
Constraints to crop production: Dillon and Hardaker’s (1993) conceptualization of theconstraints to production at the farm level has been adapted for this project as shown in Fig. 2.
Biological and bio-physical constraints are addressed by the Production team, and other socioeconomic constraints are addressed by the Socio-Economics, Marketing and Value Chain groups.

Fig. 2 Project focus on constraints to crop production in Cambodia
New crop production technologies considered: The new upland crop management technologies
considered within CCPMP have been: (1) rhizobium inoculation of legume seeds, (2) theapplication of urea (Nitrogen (N)) fertilizer to maize, (3) changes in crop rotations and/or crop
sequencing, (4) use of reduced or conservation tillage, (5) integrated pest management (IPM) for
insects, and (6) weed control in crops. These have been trialed on farmer fields by project staff andsubjected to farm management economic analysis.
Project activities and methodologies
Production team activities: The CCPMP Production team activities have involved establishingtrials of new crop technologies in farmer fields. These trials are supervised in establishment,
maintenance and extension activities by the project team, especially the CARE and MJP officers.
Careful experimental designs and plot planning and management have been conducted to facilitate
farm walks and extension activities to demonstrate to farmer and village groups the possible
physical changes that might accompany changes in crop management and technology use. The
development of crop production information and publications for insect and weed identification has
been an important part of the Production activities.
Socio-Economic team activities: Economic evaluation activities have been conducted on the basisthat farm profits and economic incentives are important to these farmers in considering farm
practice change (further discussion below). Pannell et al (2006) considered that adoption of ruralinnovations depends on a range of personal, social, cultural and economic goals. ‘Adoption occurs
when the landholder perceives that the innovation in question will enhance the achievement ofthese personal goals. Innovations are more likely to be to be adopted when they have a high‘relative advantage’ (perceived superiority to the idea or technology that it supersedes) and when
they are readily trialable (easy to test and learn about prior to adoption)’ (Pannell et al., 2006). We
have focused mainly on the economics of technology and management and less on social analysis
in this project.
The Socio-Economic activities have consisted of several components. One economic activity
has involved conducting economic analyses of new crop management and technology in the uplandfarm context. These activities have allowed us to estimate the likely economic appeal of ourtechnologies to the target farmer groups and hence to rank and prioritize the technologies in terms
of project focus. The economic assessments have considered the likely return on investment (ROI)
to an upland farmer from undertaking the management change (adopting the technology) in thecontext of the cost of capital and size of the economic gain. A second component has involved
training the Cambodian project officers in conducting simple economic comparisons, and thenusing a Crop Profit Framework in farmer workshops to consider new technologies. A third© ISERD

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component involves conducting village workshops to assess economic and social issues for farmers
in possible changes to their crop management and technology use. Each of these activities isdiscussed below.
Economic methodologies used have been relatively simple enterprise profit (gross margin) andpartial budgeting approaches to compare existing and alternative management as set out by, among
others, Malcolm et al. (2005). What do we mean by the ROI, or as it is sometimes called themarginal rate of return (CIMMYT, 1988)? For simplicity let’s use an example of an upland farmer
investing in a crop input like rhizobium - where the rhizobium must be purchased, applied tolegume seed at sowing and a higher yield is expected to be achieved. We want to calculate theexpected return and compare it with the extra cost. This extra cost is the amount of money investedby the farmer in the new crop technology.
From trial information we have an idea of how the yield might change and so we undertake aneconomic analysis for a typical upland farm to show the likely benefits before any farmer decision
is made about using the technology. The analysis is conducted to provide information to the farmer
about the decision to invest in rhizobium. The expected net benefit is the value of extra returns(extra yield multiplied by the price expected to be received by the farmer) less the extra cost (thecost of the rhizobium). There may also be other extra costs (e.g. harvest of a larger crop) which
need to be included. The total extra cost is the amount invested which we assume is borrowed by
the farmer.
The marginal rate of return (CIMMYT, 1988, p.32) is the marginal (or extra) net benefit
divided by the marginal (or extra) cost, expressed as a percentage. As an example if $1 is borrowed
and invested in a new crop input so that the expected net benefit is, say, $0.50 then the ROI is 50%.
The size of this ROI can be compared to the cost of capital or set according to some minimum or
target rate that accounts for such attitudes as the risk attitudes of indigenous farmers (Scott andFreeman, 2007). While it is not possible to provide an exact minimum or target figure, CIMMYT(1988) suggested a possible target rate of (a) twice the cost of capital, or (b) higher rates such as 50
to 100% (especially for farms in developing countries). In Cambodia the cost of capital to farmers
is often 3% per month or more, so that a minimum ROI for new crop technologies or managementchange could be 100% per annum or more.
The Crop Profit Group framework was adapted from an ACIAR project in South Africa aimed
at improving beef production for small farmers (see Madzivhandila et al., 2008). This framework isshown in Fig. 3, where the potential changes in enterprise economic return at the farm level can be
identified in terms of partial productivity measures on the costs or returns side of the enterpriseprofit equation.

Fig. 3 Crop Profit Group framework
The village workshop approach conducted using Participatory Rural Appraisal methods (e.g.
see de Zeeuw and Wilbers, 2004) relied on accompanying farmer groups at field walks conductedby the Production team and then taking those groups into workshops to conduct conversations© ISERD198

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about technologies and rural change. Similar activities have been reported by Sophal and Acharya(2002) and Sedara et al (2002).
RESULTSA picture of upland cropping systems and farm families in Cambodia was developed throughsurveys (Farquharson et al. 2006a). Average farm sizes of the surveyed farms in Battambang,
Kampong Cham and Takeo Provinces were small (2-8 ha), capital (mechanical) equipment
included draft animals, ox carts and mouldboard ploughs as well as tractors and disc ploughs insome areas. Levels of farmer education were relatively low and farm-family incomes were small.
The cost of borrowing money for crop inputs in rural Cambodia can be 3-5% per month or more,
depending on the source of funds. Problem areas for crops included low yields, lack of knowledge(especially about insects), concerns about profitability, land/soil constraints, labour/equipment
issues and agronomic and climate risk (including drought). There were significant numbers offemale farmers.
Other background information has been provided from MJP (2008), where a comprehensive
survey was conducted to identify the poorest and most vulnerable households in Samlaut. Four
categories were identified: poorest (extremely poor) with incomes generally less than US$1/day,poor with an income generally less than $2/day, middle with an income of $5-7/day, and high withan income of $8-10/day. Villages were ranked according to these categories and allocated into
clusters for attention (Fig. 1).
Three reports were available from CARE - Samaiyar and Sopheap (2007a and b) and Kiereini(2007). Samaiyar and Sopheap (2007a, b) specifically targeted 28 villages in three clusters.
Contributing factors to food insecurity were that 14% of rural households were landless in 2004,
another 19% possessed less than 1ha of land, and that the variable climate and the frequency ofnatural calamities also contributed to food insecurity.
Outputs from CCPMP are in a number of different formats. Martin and Chanthy (2007) havepublished a crop weed identification manual in a hard-copy format suitable for farmer/field use.
For the Socio-Economic activities an important early question related to the farmers’ basic
farm management orientation. In contrast to rice production in Cambodia, which has traditionallybeen of a subsistence nature, the upland production of maize and soybean is primarily for sale todomestic and export buyers for human and animal consumption. Hence it is mainly commerciallyoriented and so farm profits and farm management economics were assumed to be importantdrivers for decisions and processes within the project.
Training in economic evaluation methodologies (gross margin, partial budgeting and ROI
analyses) has been conducted via workshops and written notes (Scott 2008). This economic
framework was the basis of the Crop Profit Group framework used in the village workshops.
Economic evaluations of crop production technologies were conducted and reported in
Farquharson et al. (2006b, 2008) and Scott and Freeman (2007). These evaluations were forprospective technologies that were not yet available to farmers. The analysis of Scott and Freeman(2007) in the Samlaut district involved comparing improved with farmer practice based on crop
yields from field demonstrations and expressing the economic result as a ROI figure (as explained
above). Their main result was indicative return of 743% for rhizobium inoculation of peanut seed.
Farquharson et al. (2006b) used data from on-farm trials to assess the likely advantages for upland
farmers of changing crop technology and management. Their main result (expressed in terms of
ROI) was that rhizobium inoculation could return up to 600% for soybean. These are very highnumbers based on a substantial yield improvement from rhizobium trials and an expected low costfor the technology. This technology was not available to upland farmers at the time of theseanalyses.
This indication of high potential return for rhizobium inoculation was mirrored in the village
workshops where upland farmers indicated a strong preference for trying this technology. In 2010
inoculum will be introduced and distributed for farmers to try themselves. Other recent trial data
for the application of N fertilizer (urea) to maize showed only modest yield improvement and it© ISERD

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seems that the upland soils retain a substantial level of the soil fertility that was present when they
were (relatively recently) cleared for farming. Hence the project activities will not proceed with astrong recommendation for farmers to apply N fertilizer to maize. From observation in the field,
adequate fallow and in-crop weed control would do more to improve maize yields.
Another technology considered within the project was of changes in crop rotations or crop
sequencing. Such changes (from a monoculture) in other places have shown substantial
improvement in crop performance due to insect, weed and disease threats being reduced with theuse of varied crop sequences. In the Cambodian uplands the wet season allows two crops to begrown, and generally there is a different crop grown in the early to the main wet season. Given thatthe crops include legumes plus grains there appears to be an adequate amount of crop variation andthere did not seem to be a need to further investigate the gains from changing crop sequences.
The fourth technology considered was reduced or conservation tillage to minimize soil
erosion. Crop establishment methods in the upland areas are mixed, with some traditional methods
such as mouldboard ploughing by oxen and planting by hand and stick, while other farmers own orhire tractors with disc ploughs and planters to establish crops. The development of a small-scale
planter for farmer use has been investigated but the capital costs to construct and market suchplanters are considered prohibitive. No further action has been taken on this technology.
The fifth technology is IPM, especially with respect to insect control. Our project has strongly
emphasized the use of IPM for insects by running workshops on insect identification anddiscussion of appropriate ‘soft’ chemical sprays, and also through training of a PhD student inAustralia. An insect identification manual is being developed. Another approach to IPM has beenthe ‘Jorani project’ to develop educational material (including a children’s book) for the primaryschool Life Skills curriculum (Martin et al., 2010). The Jorani project provides technical training
and resource materials to teachers including an IPM workshop manual and an illustrated insect
identification guide. It is being introduced to years 4-5 in five primary schools on a trial basis in
Samlaut district.
From our observations of farmer crops in the upland regions weed control is a major constraint
to crop yields and profits. A number of issues are relevant here. In the past much crop weeding (byhand) has been performed by (often landless) laborers from nearby villages. More recently upland
farmers have been using chemicals for weed control, but these chemicals are imported mainly fromThailand and the labels and instructions are written in Thai, which the farmers cannot read. We
have discussed this with farmers in our workshops and they report that they do not understand how
to appropriately apply these chemicals and we have observed inappropriate handling procedures
injurious to human health.
We have observed that the price of labour has increased substantially in these districts – in2005 farmers were paying 5000 Riel/day for labour to plant, weed and harvest crops but by 2009
this had risen to 10,000 R/d in Pailin and 12,000 R/d in Samlaut. Such a change in the price of animportant farm input could be expected (by simple economic logic) to force cash-oriented farmers
to adjust the use of crop inputs.
An analysis using a simple model with a limited amount of data developed the relationshipshown in Fig. 4. The natural exponential function applied to data of labour price (P) over time (T),
was analysed as shown in Eq. (1).

P = ae bT(1)

The advantage of this model is that the b-coefficient can be interpreted as an average annual
growth rate in the dependent variable. The estimated b-coefficient of 0.185 (t statistic 5.36)
indicates that the growth rate in the price of labour has been around 18% per annum.
In a recent (2009) visit to the project districts we asked questions of farmers at the field days
and in the village workshops about weed control practices in their crops. In particular we asked
them about the cost of weeding by hand (the traditional practice) and the costs of using herbicides.
The results were that the cash costs of hand weeding were generally double, or more, the cost ofusing chemical sprays to control weeds. However, the farmers confirmed that weed control in crops
is essential for successful crop production, and that if they did not control weeds the resultant
yields would be either zero or completely uneconomic. Hence the project will focus more on© ISERD

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

chemical weed control using appropriate (soft) chemicals and application rates, and also on
operational health and safety issues for farmers in applying chemicals.

Price (Riel / day)

12000

8000

4000

0
2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Year
Labour pricePredicted

Fig. 4 Actual and predicted price of labour, Battambang Province
DISCUSSION
Our Cambodian project experiences have touched on a number of issues relating to agriculturaldevelopment as it relates to poverty alleviation, improvements in food security and agriculturaldevelopment ethics. The farm and village systems that we have worked in are characterized bysmall-scale farmers with low financial reserves, low levels of education and low levels ofagricultural productivity. Their institutions do not provide reliable input supplies or competitivemarkets for their outputs, and their cost of credit is very high. Hence many of them are vulnerable
to climatic and market price risk.
Their farm objectives are stated to be commercial; hence we have used an economic
framework to initially evaluate new crop technologies. We have conducted discussions with
farmers using a Crop Profit Group approach to focus on potential benefits and costs of changing
farming practices. This production economic focus has been set alongside discussions of social
issues for change. We have not considered any fundamental changes to the type of agriculture
practiced (e.g. changing to tree from field crops) in these districts although such changes areinteresting to consider.
Chrispeels and Mandoli (2003) discussed the traditional agricultural production paradigm
which has been criticized for not considering effects on the natural environment or social structures
within communities. The expressed primary concern (by the Royal Cambodian Government, theNGOs and the Australian funding body) for poor farmers in Cambodia has been to reduce poverty
and improve food security, and this has been taken as the primary objective in our project work.
We have interpreted the best means of addressing these goals as through improvements inagricultural productivity and profitability so that farm family incomes are raised. But while doing
this we have been aware of the need to consider environmental and social implications.
There is a (sometimes muted) debate in Cambodia about ‘sustainable’ farm practices,
particularly in relation to the use of agro-chemicals for pest control, and fertilizer and hybrid seeds
for crop production. We are now observing a change in the use of farm labour because of theopportunity cost of labour has risen. These are ongoing challenges that we need to address in our
project.
Our main conclusion regarding agricultural technologies, based on farm trials and contextual
economic analysis of farm trial data, is that rhizobium inoculation of legume seed prior to sowing
seems to offer a major opportunity for improving crop productivity and profitability.
For crop production it is also apparent that insects, weeds and diseases need to be controlled;
otherwise agricultural production is simply not feasible. We have focused on IPM as a desirable© ISERD

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2010) 1–1

insect control approach and strongly emphasized provision of better information and training tofarmers (and their children), and the education of scientific and extension R&D staff.
For weed control the price of labour has risen – whether because of improved income-earning
opportunities off the farm or a shortage in labour supply is unknown. Because weed control isessential for successful crop production, and because the farmers are profit oriented, the only
option is to use a cheaper means of weed control. An appropriate response from projects such as
ours appears to be to improve the information available to, and skills of, farmers in using
appropriate (softer) chemicals to achieve cost-effective crop production. However, it is not known
whether such a practice is ‘sustainable’.
Capacity building for Cambodian personnel by the project has involved Australian PhD study
for one Cambodian researcher in IPM; training of local research and extension officers in field
identification of insects for IPM, the production and distribution of a weed identification manual,and training workshops for economic and statistical analysis; and discussions with farmer groups
about the crop profit framework including returns, costs and profits.
New research ideas and priorities have been developed in the course of the project, using acontinuous improvement and innovation approach to (1) review, (2) plan, (3) act, and (4) evaluate
project activities. This allowed revision of thinking about project focus, from which new activities
and information were developed. This information was transmitted to farmers through project
activities which included the local agricultural extension network. Other ways of taking new ideas
to upland communities included preparation of education material for primary school curricula(Martin et al. 2010) and further investigation of placing technical material in university courses.
CONCLUSION
As individual project members we have come to this work with our own ideas on agriculturaldevelopment ethics and agricultural development paradigms. The institutional setting ofagricultural development entities in Cambodia (the Government, government institutions andNGOs) have set out their priorities in the stated visions and mission statements as specified here.
Our work has been within the spirit of those institutional objectives and consistent with anagricultural development ethic that is aimed at making immediate improvements in the welfare of
Cambodian upland farm families while minimizing detrimental effects on the natural environment
and local communities.
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CARE (https://www.careinternational.org.uk/11231/cambodia/care-in-cambodia.html).
Chrispeels, Maartin J. and Mandoli, Dina F. (2003) Agricultural ethics. Plant Physiology, 132, 4-9.
CIMMYT (1988) From agronomic data to farmer recommendations, An economics training manual. Mexico.
Dillon, John L. and Hardaker, J. Brian (1993) Farm management research for small farmer development.
FAO Farm Systems Management Series, 6, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
Italy.
Farquharson, R., Chea, S., Chapho, S., Bell, R., Seng, V., Vance, W., Martin, R., Ung, S. and Scott, F.
(2006a) Contemporary practices, constraints and opportunities for non-rice crops in Cambodia.
Cambodian Journal of Agriculture, 7(1), 1-12.
Farquharson, R.J., Chea, S., Chapho, S., Martin, R.J., Haigh, B.M., Scott, J.F. and Ung, S., (2006b) Changes
in management can improve returns from Cambodian upland crops. Paper presented at the 26th
Conference of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, 12-18, Australia.
Farquharson Bob, Scott Fiona and Chea Sareth (2008) Upland crop technologies in Cambodia, Economic
evaluations and some adoption issues. Contributed paper to the 52nd Annual Conference of theAustralian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, Australia. (http://www.landfood.unimelb.edu.
au/staff/farquharson.html).
IFPRI (http://www.ifpri.org/book-753/ourwork/program/2020-vision-food-agriculture-and-environment).
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Madzivhandila Percy, Groenewald Izak, Griffith Garry and Fleming Euan (2008) Continuous improvement
and innovation as an approach to effective research and development, A ‘Trident’ evaluation of the beef
profit partnerships project. Contributed paper to the 52nd Annual Conference of the Australian
Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc., Australia.
Malcolm Bill, Makeham Jack and Wright Vic (2005) The farming game. Agricultural Management andMarketing, Cambridge University Press, UK.
Martin Robert and Chanthy Pol (2007) Weeds of upland crops in Cambodia. New South Wales Departmentof Primary Industries (http://www.cardi.org.kh/images/stories/Books/PDF).
Martin Robert J., Matthews Wendy, Bognar Stephan D., Ourm Narap and Keo Kynal (2010) The ‘Jorani’Project, Incorporating principles of sustainable rural development into the education system of
Cambodia. International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development, 1(1), 181-187.
MJP (http://www.mjpasia.org/).
MJP (2008) Survey report, Vulnerable households in MV Samlaut. MJP Foundation Agriculture Department,
Mimeo.
Pannell, D.J., Marshall, G.R., Barr, N., Curtis, A., Vanclay, F. and Wilkinson, R. (2006) Understanding andpromoting adoption of conservation practices by rural landholders. Australian Journal of Experimental
Agriculture, 46, 1407-1424.
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Commission.
Samaiyar Priyajit and Sopheap Seth (2007b) Baseline survey report, Australia Cambodia integrated mine
action project. European Commission.
Sedara Kim, Sophal Chan and Acharya Sarthi (2002) Land, rural livelihoods and food security in Cambodia.
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Scott Fiona and Freeman Lex (2007) Gross margin budget report, MJP farmer demonstrations. Samlaut
District, Mimeo.
Scott Fiona (2008) Economic evaluation, Workshop on implementation of on-farm demonstrations ofimproved practices for upland crops. ACIAR Project Number ASEM/2006/130, The ATSE Crawford
Fund, Cambodia.
Sophal Chan and Acharya Sarthi (2002) Facing the challenge of rural livelihoods, A perspective from ninevillages in Cambodia. Working Paper, 25, Cambodian Development Research Institute, Cambodia.
de Zeeuw Henk and Wilbers Joanna (2004) PRA tools for studying urban agriculture and gender. The
Resource Centre on Urban Agriculture and Forestry, Mimeo.

© ISERD203

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