Heng Samrin
UNICEF and the ICRC were initially opposed to a large seed distribution program because they feared that it would attract farmers permanently into the camps, having made the journey to the border, although others argued that It was the only way to provide farmers with an incentive to remain on the land. The ICRC was also particularly wary about running a large-scale operation without first assessing the attitude of the Heng Samrin government. ICRC therefore attempted to restrict hoarding and to keep the scale of the program small by imposing ceilings on both the total quantities of seed that could be distributed and on levels of distribution in any one day. UNICEF and WFP at first shared ICRC's caution but became more relaxed after it became clear that the Heng Samrin government had no strong objections to the program. Although the Vietnam-backed government in Phnom Penh refused to allow CARE and ICRC to distribute seed rice inside Kampuchea, officials did not prevent Khmer villagers from traveling to Nong Chan to receive rice, and in a few cases actually encouraged it.