Vegetable Farming Practices in Cambodia: Case study of Small-scale Vegetable Farmers in Kandal, Kampong Chhnang and Battambang Provinces

Abstract

Cambodia shifted from an agrarian-based to a service- and production-based economy through its fast-economic growth. However, agriculture is still a backbone of the Cambodian economy because 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas, and around 37 percent of the total workforce remains directly engaged in the agricultural sector. Even though the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) considered the enhancement of the agricultural sector as a high priority in its national development agenda for 2014 to 2018, Cambodia remains a net vegetable importer. Approximately USD 200 million of vegetable products are imported informally from Thailand and Vietnam each year. Several research studies have been conducted to identify farmers’ constraints. However, challenges faced by small-scale vegetable farmers have yet to be clearly characterized. This research aimed to identify the farming practices and challenges of small-scale vegetable farmers in Cambodia. There were 40 households, selected by homogeneous purposive sampling method, surveyed from the Kandal, Kampong Chhnang and Battambang Provinces. The results of the study are divided into three parts, with the first component focused on farming practices. There were 12 types of vegetables that were identified as being grown in the studied areas. However, only 5 types of vegetables were commonly grown by farmers. Chinese mustard (55%) was the most popular vegetable being grown in the areas, followed by green mustard (50%), pak choi (45%), leafy mustard (37.5%) and Chinese kale (27.5%). Due to small production size, almost all interviewed farmers harvested their products by sickle, knife, and/or scissors, and manual harvest is still in practice by some farmers. Post-harvest activities such as grading, sorting and cleaning products after harvesting and before selling are not commonly practiced by farmers. Second, the majority of vegetable products are sold to collectors; a small quantity of remaining products is sold to retailers, farmers’ groups/cooperatives and direct consumers in the areas. Third, the study revealed three main challenges faced by farmers. Insect pests and disease infestation (87.5%) was the most prominent issue of vegetable farmers, followed by climate change (e.g. flooding, drought) (77.5%). Low selling price and considerable fluctuation in prices were equally problematic (both 57.5%). Other notable issues included post-harvest losses especially in peak seasons of oversupply (45%), lack of power in the market chain (42.5%), and lack of pest control information (40%), while lack of information about market prices (37.5%) and poor market information systems (37.5%) were the minor issues in vegetable production.