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“Enhancing adaptive capacity of women and ethnic minority
smallholder farmers through improved agro-climate information in
South-East Asia” (ACIS) - project
BASELINE STUDY
Findings and Recommendations
Miguel Coulier
James Wilderspin November 2016
© J
ames
Wild
ersp
in/S
ept.
2016
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
2
Table of contents
List of tables and figures 3
Acknowledgements 4
Acronyms 5
Executive summary 6
BACKGROUND 10
1. Project overview 10
2. Project location 11
3. Baseline objective and approach 12
3.1 Objective 12
3.2 Approach and methodology 13
3.3 Limitations 14
FINDINGS 17
4. Socio-economic profile 17
4.1 Demographics and other socio-economic data 17
4.2 Assets 17
4.3 Food security 18
4.4 Livelihood profile 20
4.5 Agricultural productivity 22
4.6 Household division of labor and decision-making 23 5. Climate risks and impact 25
5.1 Ratanak Kiri‟s resilience context 25
5.2 Farmer observations on climate hazards and impact 25
5.3 Impact on main cash crops 26
5.4 Adaptation actions 28
6. Current state of the ACIS system 30
6.1 At the institutional level 30
6.2 At the community level 34
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 39
Annexes
41
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
3
List of tables and figures
1 - Location of ACIS project in Cambodia 12
2 - Baseline assessment methodology 13
3 – Household asset ownership, with EM disaggregation 17
4 - Hunger period: length and time of the year 19
5 - Major causes of hunger 19
6 - Main food crops and livestock 20
7 - Main cash crops and livestock 20
8 - Main source of income 21
9 - Livelihood diversification per EM 22
10 - Livelihood productivity 22
11 - Gendered division of labor and decision-making on farming and finances 24
12 - Ratanak Kiri climate resilience context 25
13 - Main climate hazards and their impact on livelihoods, over the last ten years 26
14 - Extent of damage to major crops caused by weather and disasters, over the past ten years 27
15 - Amount of damage to major crops caused by weather and disasters, over the past ten years 27
16 - Average monetary and weight losses over last 2 to 3 years, as described by farmers 28
17 - Current observed ACIS institutional set-up in Ratanak Kiri 31
18 - Institutional users‟ self-assessment of ACIS attitude and practice 32
19 - Current channels for accessing weather information 35
20 - Current channels for receiving farming advice 35
21 - Current channels for training on agricultural techniques 36
22 - Prioritized channels or formats for agro-climate advice 37
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
4
Acknowledgements
This study would not have been possible without the enumerators from the Highlander Association; Ngok
Chrolang, Chanthorng Snai, Leang Sopheap, Kham Sambeoun, Sa Rady, Ang Bun Keuk, Noub Khoub, Nav
Khet, Savid Nangkra; their excellent language skills and local knowledge was invaluable to this study.
Acknowledgement must also be paid to the CEDAC staff; Pol Samath, Thol Chanthea, Heu Rumdoul and to
Soriyon and Sreang Srey Kouy from the Provincial Department of Agriculture (PDA) for their skills and
experience.
Sincere gratitude is also due to CARE field staff; Thuk Bun, Chum Da with a special thanks to Heang Thira who‟s
coordination and translations made this study possible. Finally thanks are also due to Jan Noorlander and Junge
Madsen for their inputs, advice and support.
Most notably the consultants would like to value the time, energy and openness the women and men in Koun
Mom and Lumphat have set aside to share their stories, ideas and aspirations. We hope all of these have been
reflected in this report and will be disseminated widely to benefit the people of Ratanak Kiri as well as others in
Cambodia.
Pictures in the report have been provided by the international consultants.
Miguel Coulier and James Wilderspin
November 2016
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this document are those of the consultant and do not necessarily reflect the policies or
views of CARE International in Cambodia, CEDAC or ICRAF World Agroforestry Centre.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
5
Acronyms
ACIS Agro-Climate Information Services
CEDAC Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture
DPA Development Partnership in Action
EM Ethnic Minorities
FGD Focus Group Discussions
HA Highlander Association
HHS Household Survey
ICSO Indigenous Community Support Organisation
ICT Information, Communications and Technology
KAP Knowledge, Attitude and Practice
KII Key Informant Interviews
MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
MoE Margin of Error
MOE Ministry of Environment
MOWRAM Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology
NDMC National Disaster Management Committtee
NTFP Non-Timber Forest Products
PDA Provincial Department of Agriculture
PDWRM Provincial Department of Water Resources and Meteorology
SCW Save Cambodia Wildlife
WEM Women and Ethnic Minorities
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
6
Executive Summary
Cambodia is developing rapidly. However the nation remains one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia and
there is a growing disparity between urban wealth and rural poverty. Cambodia faces many socio-economic and
development challenges, including extreme poverty, rising inequality, ineffective management of land and natural
resources, a shortage of sustainable agricultural livelihoods, gender inequality and lack of good governance.
Ratanak Kiri province, with its dense forests, fertile lands, unique biodiversity, a tapestry of indigenous and
cultural richness and strategic borders with Viet Nam and Laos, has been at the forefront of all these dynamic
changes and experienced multiple pressures and deterioration from the rapid commercialization of agriculture,
overexploitation of natural resources, hydropower development, land tenure insecurity, Khmer in-migration,
introduction of Buddhism and other social influences. The various indigenous groups living in Ratanak Kiri have
been undergoing all these shocks and stresses for many years and tried to adapt in a variety of ways.
Climate variability and long term change only adds additional shocks and stresses. While individuals and
communities have always dealt with multiple hazards such as droughts, floods, rainfall, heatwaves, landslides
etc., as these become more unpredictable, more frequent and intense, current coping or adaptation actions
become ineffective. Accessing downscaled and actionable agro-climate information is considered as an
important service to improve adaptive capacity of poor ethnic minority women and result in risk-informed
decision-making on livelihoods.
CARE International in Cambodia‟s Project: „Enhancing adaptive capacity of women and ethnic minority
smallholder farmers through improved agro-climate information in South-East Asia’ aims to enhance the adaptive
capacity of female ethnic minority smallholder farmers through improving agro-climate information, utilising both
scientific climate information as well as traditional climate knowledge, to better anticipate and respond to risks
and opportunities from climatic variability with the explicit goal of reducing vulnerability to the impacts of climate
change.
This baseline study is the initial step in understanding the context and situation in Ratanak Kiri, and to lay the
foundations of CARE‟s ACIS Project. To enhance the adaptive capacity of women and ethnic minority
smallholder farmers, the baseline study endeavours to understand in great detail the current context of these
vulnerable groups and embed this context into the project and work with the local communities to utilise agro
climate information alongside their strengths and limitations. This study also attempts to frame the interventions
to better anticipate and respond to risks and opportunities from climatic variability. With the overarching goal to
reduce vulnerability caused by the impacts of climate change by using scientific climate information as well as
local/traditional climate knowledge for seasonal planning, this baseline study highlights how CARE‟s ACIS project
can best bring about positive change using meteorological observations and decision making on agricultural
management options.
Key findings from the baseline study are:
Poverty, asset ownership and food security information indicate clear differences among the two main
indigenous groups surveyed, with Tampuen clearly poorer than Krueng. Less Krueng than Tampuen own
radios, bicycles and smart phones; are hungry throughout the year (for twelve months); or are very poor;
Overall, mobile phone ownership is very high with 72.1% owning a normal mobile phone. 19.5% of people
own a smart phone;
18.5% of farmers state there was ever a time over the last year where they had less than three meals per
day, with no significant difference between men and women. While hunger is experience throughout the
year, the peak period is August till October for Krueng, August till January for Tampuen.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
7
The main reasons for being hungry are related to; 1/ prices of agricultural produce and food bought in the
market; 2/ sickness of one of the household members; and 3/ food crop or livestock failure or loss due to
weather and disasters, and animal or plant diseases;
Major food crops are cassava, rice, soybean, cashew and vegetables such as pumpkin and cucumber.
NTFPs are also consumed but more by Tampuen than Krueng;
The main cash crops grown are cassava, soy bean, cashew and rice. Currently yield in weight is largest for
cassava, but yield in income is highest for cashew. Rice and cassava have the lowest yield in terms of
income. Over the past ten years, in terms of productivity of yield (income and weight); rice and cassava are
declining, soy bean is stable and cashew is unpredictable;
22.5% of households does off-farm work, often low skilled labor. For 1/4th of Krueng and half of the Khmer,
this is also a major income source;
Overall, the level of diversification for food crops (average 7.2) is good while for cash crops much lower
(3.4). 22.6% of farmers has only one crop or livestock as income source, 25% have 2, 25% have 3 and 12%
has 4. 9.4% of farmers have 5 or more;
In terms of division of labor, women have much more workload than men; while men tend to focus on cash
crop cultivation, NTFP collection, timber logging and off-farm wage labor (often away from the house),
women are involved in food and cash crop cultivation closer to home but also in domestic, including caring,
responsibilities. Men more than women; buy agricultural inputs, sell agricultural produce at the market,
negotiate prices with traders and deal with externally hired farming labor;
A majority or 66.2% of women states they want more influence on household decisions on farming, in
contrast to 74.4% of men saying their wife is already very involved in these decisions. For financial decision-
making, both agree that women have a good level of influence: 59.4% of women say they have the same
level of influence as their husband, and 73.6% of men say their wife has the same level of influence;
Out of all hazards experienced, the most damaging are drought, storms, a long period of high temperature,
an unpredictable start or end of the rainy season and a longer rainy season.
When asked about the differential impact of these hazards to men and women; an overall majority believes
women and men are equally impacted, but that widows and children are more impacted than others.
Rice and soybean are most extensively impacted, followed by cassava and cashew and maize/corn the least
impacted. All crops are affected every year.
Adaptation actions such as changing farming techniques, water management, using vaccines, improved
natural resources management ea. are only practiced by very few farmers.
In terms of pesticides (including herbicides and insecticides) and fertilizer use, there is a higher use of
pesticides than fertilizer and significantly more chemical than organic. Farmers use it mainly for their cash
crops, while a minority for both food and cash crops. Krueng more than Tampuen use pesticides and
fertilizer;
48.2% of farmers have a plan or strategy to prevent or reduce the damage or loss to livelihoods due to
weather or disasters, however, still a minority or one third of farmers have.
48.6% of farmers receive weather information, mainly via radio or household members, and to a limited
extent also television and extension workers. More men than women have access to weather info via
extension workers, village leader, radio and television;
32% uses indigenous weather forecasting techniques, which are found by half of the people to be reliable to
somewhat reliable, and useful for their livelihoods;
87.1% farmers have received farming advice and 66.6% agricultural training; with slightly more men than
women. These are considered useful, but not always timely or in the local language;
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
8
In terms of preferred channel or format, radio is clearly preferred above any other formats or channels, for
both weather as well as farming advice. In addition, face-to-face communication through village leaders as
well as various community organizations and using indigenous knowledge are important preferences;
Overall, farmer social capital is limited with only a small minority currently being a member of one or more
community organizations, mainly savings and loans groups. Sharing of weather information or agricultural
advice via community organizations is very limited at the moment, with exchange or discussions on weather
or farming techniques limited to within the household itself.
Concerning the ACIS institutional users‟ capacity and knowledge, there is a general confidence among them
around the understanding of climate change. Knowledge of gendered climate impacts and the need for
customized climate information products for men compared to women is less evident. There is a strong
consensus about the value of agro-climate advisories for farmers, and that advisories should use scientific
as well as farmer information or experience to be effective.
Suggestions to improve the current ACIS system according to institutional users are: more collaboration and
coordination between NGOs and Government; better horizontal and vertical information flow between
departments; and more direct information dissemination directly to farmers.
Based on the comprehensive findings of the study, the report concludes with a set of actionable
recommendations on the ACIS project components.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
9
BACKGROUND
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
10
BACKGROUND
Short, medium and long term weather variability and change is an essential determinant in how successful
smallholders across the world can sustain or improve a variety of aspects about their lives and livelihoods. It
fundamentally affects people‟s food and nutrition security, health, natural and physical environment, and
importantly the productivity and viability of their livelihoods. Climate change brings an additional set of shocks
and stresses to farmers in the form of severe weather events such as storms and floods which are increasing in
intensity, but also long-term changes to „normal‟ conditions, such as rising sea levels, shifting rainfall seasons,
altered crop patterns and long dry periods. Climate change puts people and resources under pressure and has
the potential to undermine efforts on poverty reduction and socio-economic development.
Climate shocks and stresses have particular adverse impact on the poorest and ethnic minorities. They are not
only exposed to climate risks but also have less capacity or assets to respond to these changes due to
geographical remoteness, poverty and other socio-economic drivers of risk, including limited access to services.
Climate change is also not gender-neutral or gender-blind; issues such as women‟s workloads, their limited
decision-making power in the household and public spheres and unequal access to and control over resources
can prevent Cambodian women from adopting effective strategies to adapt to a changing climate.
Access to regular, understandable, accurate and actionable agro-weather or agro-climate information is
considered as an important service to improve the adaptive capacity of poor women and ethnic minority farmers.
However, the provision of these services is facing lots of challenges, including: (1) Limited technical capacity and
infrastructure for national and local authorities to provide down-scaled forecasts and to interpret information for
application in agriculture; (2) Value and impact of agro-climate information services not well-understood or
accepted; and (3) Low communication infrastructure and capacity, including limited social learning to disseminate
and use information.
1. Project overview
Through a regional project implemented in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia called „Enhancing adaptive capacity of
women and ethnic minority smallholder farmers through improved agro-climate information in South-East Asia‟ or
ACIS, CARE International with ICRAF-World Agroforestry Centre and local partners aim to improve the
information base for women and ethnic minority (WEM) smallholder farmers and agricultural planners to better
anticipate and respond to risks and opportunities from climatic variability with the explicit goal of reducing
vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. In Cambodia, the project is implemented by CARE International in
Cambodia, with ICRAF, the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) and national
and local Government partners.
The project‟s Theory of Change states that: „Institutionalization of equitable access to accurate, relevant, regular
and customized agro-climate information – through multiple user-friendly and complementary Government and
farmer managed channels - leads to better informed decision-making and action on livelihood and ecosystem
planning and management by farmers, Government and private sector.‟
Agricultural and meteorological service providers will work directly with WEM farmers, engaging them in
meteorological observations and decision-making on agricultural management options. Social learning
processes like farmer-learning networks are used for capacity development of farmers and related agencies to
benefit 200,000 farmers by 2018 across Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Research will improve the understanding
of farmer decision-making processes with recommendations for up scaling.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
11
Development objective or goal:
Enhanced adaptive capacity of women and ethnic minority smallholder farmers through improved agro-climate
information in South-East Asia
Outcome 1: Increased capacity of government authorities
to produce and deliver timely and accurate demand-driven
agro-climate information services to smallholder farmers
Outcome 2: Functional farmer learning networks
contribute to participatory and equitable ACIS
The project interventions to achieve this objective
and outcomes have been grouped in five distinct
work packages as indicated in the figure on the
right. Each of these is linked to five clear outputs:
1. Research protocol for developing ACIS
including data analysis;
2. Needs-based action-oriented capacity
development program providing evidence on
adaptation of ACIS;
3. Tried-and-tested agro-climate advisory
products;
4. Functional farmer learning networks ensuring
participatory and equitable ACIS;
5. Evidence and knowledge products on
effectiveness and impact of equitable ACIS.
Primary ACIS users are identified as women and ethnic minority small holder farmers. Secondary users are
agricultural and meteorological service providers (e.g. provincial Department of Water Resources and
Meteorology (PDWRM), Departments of Agriculture (PDA), extension workers), and public sector institutions.
2. Project location
The project is implemented in two districts – Koun Mom and Lumphat - of Ratanak Kiri province, a province
located in the North-Eastern region of Cambodia and sharing a border with Lao PDR (Attapeu province) and
Vietnam (Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces). Ratanak Kiri has a total population of around 183,699 people (2013) -
49.7% male and 50.3% female - with the population nearly doubling between 1998 and 2013 largely due to
internal migration.1 75% of the population is indigenous, representing ethnic groups such as Tampuen, Jarai,
Krueng, Brou, Kawet, Kachok, Pnong, Lun, and others. Khmer make up almost one fifth of the total population.
Although poverty has significantly reduced in the last ten years, it is still significant with a 36.2% poverty rate
compared to a national rate of 18.9% (2012).2
Koun Mom and Lumphat districts have a tropical climate. The wet season or summers have a good amount of
rainfall, while the dry season or winters have very little. The temperature averages 26.3°C and the average
rainfall is 2,171 mm. Precipitation is the lowest in January and the highest in July-August. At an average
temperature of 29°C, April is the hottest month of the year, and December is the coldest with temperatures
averaging 23.6°C.
1 Cambodia Inter-Censal Population Survey 2013. Final Report. National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning, Cambodia. November 2013. http://www.stat.go.jp/info/meetings/cambodia/pdf/ci_fn02.pdf 2 Cambodia Country Poverty Analysis 2014. ADB, 2014. https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/151706/cambodia-country-poverty-analysis-2014.pdf
Abbreviations: Agro-Climate Information Systems (ACIS), monitoring and evaluation (M&E), women and ethnic minorities (WEM, EM), civil
society organisations (CSO)
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
12
While the larger northern half of the province is part of the Central Annamites ecological zone (highlands, approx.
70% of total population), the smaller southern section is considered part of the Eastern Mekong Basin (lowlands,
approx. 30% of total population). Ratanak Kiri has two main protected areas; Virachey National Park in the North
and Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary in the South. The main rivers and branches running through the province are the
Tonle Sre Pok and Tonle Se San. Both originate in Vietnam and are major tributaries to the Mekong River further
west.
1 - Location of ACIS project in Cambodia 3
3. Baseline objective and approach
This section discusses the „what’ and „how’ of the baseline assessment, elaborating on the principal and specific
objectives, overall approaches and applied methodologies and its limitations. More details are provided in the
baseline protocol (see annex).
3.1 Objective
The baseline study has the following main objectives:
To establish baseline information that serves for before-and-after comparison in final and/or mid-term
evaluations;
Assess the capacity of relevant stakeholders (ethnic minority farmers, particularly female farmers and the
PDA and PDWRM) in order to inform training needs, the design and the planning of the project‟s activities;
To inform designing and planning project‟s activities, with potential adjustment to interventions
Additionally, on top of generating the baseline values for project indicators, the study is expected to provide
analysis, identify interactions and potential barriers of the following areas, as per the Terms of Reference:
3 Source of maps: http://www.opendevelopmentcambodia.net/
Lumphat
Koun Mom
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
13
User Profile Analysis – To provide an overall picture of existing ACIS, including the existing policies on
ACIS, the role of different stakeholders at the moment and potential role for replication, analyse Knowledge,
Attitudes and Practice (KAP) as the user profile and to provide recommendation for interventions;
Capacity Needs Assessment – To identify capacity needs of female and male farmers and other institutions
and to provide recommendations for interventions;
Farmer networks – To identify existing networks, individual (livelihoods, farmer interest group, micro-
finance, women clubs, village leader or other) which could serve as a channel for information dissemination;
Gender and Ethnic Minorities Analysis – To analyze the key issues contributing to gender inequalities as
well as barriers from ethnic minorities in engaging in socio-economic development activities and in
accessing agro-climate information;
Women Empowerment in climate smart agriculture – To develop an appropriate assessment tool for women
empowerment in climate smart agriculture index to analyze the current women empowerment level, to
inform interventions and to track women empowerment index (including reviewing the women
empowerment in agriculture index);
3.2 Approach and methodology
Overall principles that guided the baseline were: participatory and inclusive with a collaborative exchange of
knowledge and experience; integration of gender in the process, methodology as well as for the findings; building
staff capacity where possible and strengths-based rather than deficit or needs based.
Based on the Terms of Reference, project M&E plan, research questions, initial desk review and further
discussions with the project team, a baseline study framework was developed around key areas of inquiry: socio-
economic profile; climate exposure, impacts and response; current state of the agro-climate information system;
knowledge, attitude and practice of various users on climate change and livelihoods, agro-climate information
and gender; and social capital. These were then matched with a variety of qualitative and quantitative tools to
collect the information needed. In terms of tools, the baseline applied the following mixed-method approach:
2 - Baseline assessment methodology
Desk review See under annexes for a list of documentation consulted;
Preparation and
training workshop
Analysis of existing data and information gaps;
Adaptation of draft tools, finalization of field work facilitation guide (see annex);
Enumerator training: HHS, FGD tools, facilitation skills and data entry;
Logistical preparation.
Household survey
(HHS)
416 people from 15 villages in the 2 project districts, with 9 villages in Koun Mom
and 6 villages in Lumphat;4 5
60% women and 40% men; 35.4% Tampuen, 43.9% Krueng, 10% Khmer, 1%
Cham and 9.8% households with mixed ethnic background;
Villages selected to represent farming systems, poverty levels and ethnic diversity.
Farmers randomly selected but representing age, socio-economic background and
gender diversity – for more details see the baseline protocol in the annexes;
Questions on the following topics: a/ household basic socio-economic profile; b/
food security; c/ livelihoods and agricultural productivity; d/ impact of climate change
on livelihoods; e/ agro-weather information; and f/ community organizations.
Focus group 11 FGDs with farmers in 9 villages; 3 women-only groups and 6 mixed men and
4 Out of which 263 in Koun Mom (63.2%) (Ta Ang and Teun communes; Ta Ang Kate, Ta Ang Pok, Tus, Sec, Ta Kab, Teun, La En, Ta Heuy and Kam Bak); and 153 in Lumphat (36.8%) (Seda commune; Khmei, Patat, Smut Leu, Pom, Norng Hai and Samut Kraom). Women are slightly overrepresented in Koun Moun (65.1% women vs. 34.9% men) compared to Lumphat (51.3% women vs. 48.7% men) 5 With a total population in the 2 districts of 12,414, this makes for a confidence level of 95% and margin of error (MoE) of 4.72%.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
14
2 - Baseline assessment methodology
discussions (FGD) women – conducted in ethnic language;
6 to 20 people per FGD; participants selected to represent farming systems;
Sessions (with tools): a/ climate change and impact on livelihoods (mapping tree);
and b/ agro-weather information (information mapping); with gender integrated
throughout all the sessions.
Direct observation Village-based assessment of farming systems, livelihood practices and other socio-
economic characteristics.
ACIS institutional stakeholders‟ workshop
18 participants: Farmer Learning Network members, Commune chief, PDA, District Governor, District office of Agriculture, CARE and CEDAC staff;
Sessions on policy mapping, ACIS mapping, capacity self-assessment, interest and influence-quadrant etc.
Key informant
interviews (KII)
5 key informants: PDA, PDWRM, Save Cambodia Wildlife (SCW); Development
Partnership in Action (DPA); and the Teun Commune Chief;
Questions around: major climate risks and impacts, particularly on agriculture;
agricultural productivity; ACIS; Government policies and programs; coordination;
gender and ethnic minorities.
The baseline assessment was led remotely by an evaluation team leader and in-country by an international field
work team leader. The latter led a field assessment team comprised of 3 staff from CARE and 14 local
enumerators from the Highlander Association (HA), CEDAC and the PDA.
In-country preparation, training of the field team and data collection took place between 25th August and 15th
September. HHS data entry and translation of the FGD notes was done by 3rd October; and data analysis and
report writing was done in the first two weeks of October. Further details about the assessment framework,
methodology, team composition as well as schedule can be found in the baseline assessment protocol, see
under annexes.
3.3 Limitations
Several limitations have arisen that should be taken into account when reviewing the findings and
recommendations:
- There were two limitations with regards to the team of enumerators selected to carry out the data collection.
First, there were not enough enumerators available initially. CARE was able to hire an additional nine
enumerators from the indigenous youth project. While this overcame some of the timeframe challenges, the
enumerators lacked experience in data collection. This was overcome with more detailed on-site training and
additional daily debriefs after field research had been conducted.
- Another challenge that arose was the translation of technical terms and concepts into a variety of different
languages, including Khmer and several of the indigenous languages (Kreung, Tampuen). Further,
translating the concepts into the indigenous languages increased the likelihood of terms and concepts
originally explained in English being „lost in translation‟ because they had to first be translated into Khmer
and then translated directly or in many cases described in the indigenous languages. However, this was
overcome because the enumerators were particularly skilled at translation as they were from indigenous
communities and completed their studies in Khmer. Some of the enumerator‟s insights were invaluable to
the shaping of the final data collection tools used in the field research.
- Also due to the limited timeframe, the distance to the target villages, the poor condition of the roads to the
target villages, weather conditions (daily storms) and the fact that target village members would work in their
fields at unspecified times each day, staff in the field experienced some difficulties coordinating a systematic
approach to conducting the HHS and FGDs in the villages. This had to be overcome with the enumerator‟s
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
15
collecting the village data in an unsystematic way and asking potential respondents when was best to come
back to be interviewed (this meant that some HHS were completed over a two day period).
- Finally, the provincial, district and communal capacity around the subject of climate change is low making
some of the respondents of the KII questions, workshop activities and discussions difficult to full engage
with. This was overcome with more time being used for full explanations/definitions and often local examples
provided by the CARE staff to help respondents understand the subject matter. With more time further KII
and additional instructional workshops would allow greater contextual analysis around the subject of ACIS.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
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FINDINGS
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
17
FINDINGS
Baseline findings are structured around the key areas of inquiry in the baseline study framework. Where
differences are distinct, findings are disaggregated per ethnic group (Kreung, Tampuen) and/or gender, as
requested by CARE. The full set of data can be consulted in the annexes.
4. SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE
The following chapter provides a brief snapshot of the two districts‟ socio-economic situation, including on food
security and livelihoods.
4.1 Demographics and other socio-economic data
- Gender: 60% women and 40% men;6
- Age range: from 13 to 85, with an average of 38 and the majority between 20 and 50;
- Ethnic diversity: 4 ethnic groups across the 2 districts, with major groups;
43.9% Krueng (majority living in Koun Moum);
35.4% Tampuen (majority living in Lumphat);
10% Khmer and 1% Cham;7
Most villages are almost exclusively one ethnicity;
- Average household size: 4 to 7, with 31.7% having 7 household members or more;
- Poverty status:8 15.6% very poor („poor 1‟), 44.1% medium poor („poor 2‟) and 40.3% non-
poor, with considerable differences between the 2 main indigenous groups:
Tampuen: 23.2% very poor, 62.7% medium poor and 14.1% non-poor;
Krueng: 9.8% very poor, 30.1% medium poor and 60.1% non-poor;
4.2 Assets
Household ownership of a variety of assets, including communication and transport assets particularly useful for
ACIS, is as follows: a large majority of households have a battery (86.1%), motorbike (78.4%) and a normal
mobile phone (72.1%), while a large minority also owns a radio (41.3%) and a bicycle (27.9%). Household
access to electricity from the grid or other sources is very low to non-existing. Interestingly, 19.5% of households
have a smartphone, which is a potential opportunity for introducing ICT-for-ACIS applications.
For a majority of people (61.2%), phone connection is regular with no significant interruptions, 12.8% says it gets
disrupted only during rainy seasons, and for 12.2% every day.
3 – Household asset ownership, with EM disaggregation – according to the HHS results
Assets – in working condition: Overall Tampuen Krueng
Power: Electricity (from the grid) 1.2% 2.1% -
Electricity (other sources than
grid)
1.9% 0.7% 2.8%
Solar panels 14.2% 14.5% 10.6%
Battery 86.1% 86.9% 88.9%
Generator 7.7% 8.3% 5.6%
Communication: Phone – landline 4.6% 0.7% 6.7%
6 19 household survey respondents (4.8%) are village leaders or village elders, with 6 of them women and 13 men. 7 9.8% of the respondents are from a mixed household, with the majority of them of a mixed Krueng-Khmer and Tampuen-Khmer household. 8 Poverty categories („poor 1‟ and „poor 2‟) are based on the Cambodian Ministry of Planning‟s „Identification of Poor Households Program‟ or IDPoor Program. For more information, see: http://www.idpoor.gov.kh/Data/Kh/Reference/IDPoor_MoP_Brochure_2011-FINAL.pdf
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
18
3 – Household asset ownership, with EM disaggregation – according to the HHS results
Assets – in working condition: Overall Tampuen Krueng
Phone – normal mobile phone 72.1% 71% 71.7%
Phone – smartphone 19.5% 4.8% 27.8%
TV 10.6% 10.3% 10%
Cable /satellite connection (DTV) 2.9% 0.7% 3.3%
Radio 41.3% 32.4% 50.6%
DVD player 18.8% 19.3% 16.1%
Laptop 2.4% 2.1% 2.2%
Transport: Bicycle 27.9% 23.4% 35.6%
Motorbike 78.4% 72.4% 83.9%
Truck or car 6.5% 4.8% 6.7%
Other: Refrigerator 3.8% 5.5% 1.7%
Looking at differences between EM, for the majority of assets, ownership is higher among the Krueng than the
Tampuen; particularly for a smartphone (+23%), radio (+18%), bicycle (+12%) or motorbike (+12%). As
mentioned under the previous section 4.1, this confirms higher poverty levels among the Tampuen compared to
the Krueng.
In terms of productive assets, agricultural inputs most utilized are; seeds (71.4%), chemical pesticides
(including herbicides and insecticides) (62.8%) and tools such as a hoe, spade, plough, saw etc. (56.4%). A
large minority of farmers also uses chemical fertilizer (35%), organic pesticides (27.8%), and water equipment
such as pumps or hoses (27.6%). A small minority of farmers uses water for crops (19.2%), externally hired
farming labor (17.2%), building material for animal cages (16%), water for livestock (15%), vaccines (12.6%),
organic fertilizer (10.3%), livestock feed (9.9%) and tractors (7.9%). All these assets are available for the farmers
who use them.
In terms of differences among EM for utilizing agricultural inputs:
Inputs more used by Tampuen than Krueng: water equipment (+33%), water for crops (+23%) and livestock
(+19%), hired farming labor (+17%); building material for cages (+16%), seeds (+16%) and tractors (+13%);
Inputs more used by Krueng than Tampuen: chemical fertilizer (+15%) and pesticides (+10%), and organic
pesticides (+21%).
4.3 Food security
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (FAO); it refers
to continuous food availability, food access, food utilization and nutrition levels. For this baseline, indicators such
as lack of three meals per day (in terms of occurrence, length, frequency and period of the year), months of food
shortage and reasons for hunger, were used to describe the food security situation in the project districts.9
18.5% of farmers state there was ever a time over the last year where they had less than three meals per day,
with no significant difference between men and women. However, the number is significantly higher for Tampuen
(27%) compared to Krueng (10.6%). While hunger is experienced throughout the year, the peak hunger period
for Krueng is August till October, whereas for Tampuen it is August till January.
9 Other food security and nutrition indicators used by the Cambodian Government can be consulted here: http://foodsecurity.gov.kh/pages/content/indicators-tools-nstruments
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
19
Out of the people who experienced hunger or food shortage over the last year, 25.4% dealt with hunger the
whole year round, 28.2% for 2 months and 15.5% for 3 months. In terms of EM differences;
Out of the people who experience hunger or food shortage, 27.8% Tampuen and 11.8% Krueng have a lack
of sufficient food throughout the entire year, 22.2% Tampuen and 47.1% Krueng for 2 months, 16.7%
Tampuen and 17.6% Krueng for 3 months, and 13.9% Tampuen for 4 months.
The main reasons for being hungry are related to; 1/ prices of agricultural produce and food bought in the
market; 2/ sickness of one of the household members; and 3/ food crop or livestock failure or loss due to weather
and disasters, and animal or plant diseases. In terms of EM differences;
Food crop failure due to farming labor shortage is also significant for Tampuen;
For Krueng, loss of income due to unexpected non-food costs is the main reason for hunger, and distance to
markets is also a major reason;
10 The peak rainfall season is from May till September (see blue line on left graph).
4 - Hunger period: length and time of the year10
5 - Major causes of hunger
Overall Tampuen Krueng
1. Reduced income due to lower or unstable price
for agricultural produce 62.2% 83.3% 38.9%
2. Price of food the household buys in the market is
too high 60% 77.8% 38.9%
3. A longer period of sickness of one of the
household members 60% 72.2% 44.4%
4. Food crop failure due to weather or disasters 59.5% 77.8% 50%
5. Food crop failure due to plant or animal diseases 49.3% 66.7% 35.3%
6. Food crop failure due to reduced amount of labor
to work on the farm 37.8% 50% 38.9%
7. Loss income due to unexpected non-food costs
(e.g. burial, school fees, asset repair etc.) 26.6% 11.1% 55.6%
8. No facilities to store the food that was produced 19.2% 25% 16.7%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Time of the year
Tampuen Krueng
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
# months food shortage
Tampuen Krueng
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
20
4.4 Livelihood profile
The most frequent food crops or livestock are the following – with considerable variations between EM, mainly
on NTFPs, vegetables such as homegarden vegetables and green beans, and cashew:
6 - Main food crops and livestock
Overall: Tampuen Krueng
By a large majority: (+75%)
By a small majority:
(50-75%)
Cassava (69.8%); 63.4% 77.8%
Rain-fed rice (68.1%); 67.6% 77.8%
Soybean (62.5%); 64.1% 65.6%
Cashew (55%); 44.4% 67.8%
Pumpkin (54.5%); 59.9% 57.8%
Cucumber (51.6%); 61.3% 52.2%
Chicken/duck (50.6%); 48.6% 52.8%
By a large minority:
(25-50%)
Pig (42.8%); 42.3% 51.7%
Fruit - mangoes (39.4%); 43.7% 37.2%
NTFP – forest vegetables (33.3%); 51.4% 24.4%
Maize/corn (29.9%); 33.1% 33.3%
NTFP – mushrooms (25.3%); 46.5% 11.1%
Cow/ buffalo (25.3%) 31% 27.2%
By a small minority:
(less than 25%)
Taro (17%); 16.9% 22.8%
NTFP – forest fruit (14.4%); 29.6% 2.2%
NTFP – forest medicine (13.6%); 29.6% 3.9%
Vegetables - home garden (10%); 16.9% 2.8%
River fishing (9.7%); 21.8% 2.8%
NTFP – wild animals (9.7%); 19% 2.2%
NTFP – wild flowers (8.8%); 16.9% 2.8%
Paddy rice (7.8%); 3.5% 13.9%
Rattan (6.3%); 9.9% 3.3%
Within Margin of Error (MoE): Green bean (4.4%) 11.3% 0.6%
Fruit - Rambutan (3.9%) 7% 2.2%
The most prevalent cash crops or livestock are the following – again with considerable variations between EM,
mainly on cassava, cashew, rice, cucumber and pumpkin:
7 - Main cash crops and livestock
Overall: Tampuen Krueng
By a large majority: (+75%)
By a small majority:
(50-75%)
Cassava (70.3%); 60.1% 80%
Soybean (61.1%); 62.2% 65%
By a large minority:
(25-50%)
Cashew (50%); 37.1% 65.6%
Rain-fed rice (28%); 21.7% 37.2%
9. Our household lives too far from the market where
they sell food 18.6% 8.3% 44.4%
10. Wife or husband spends the family income on
other things than food 9.3% 2.8% 27.8%
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
21
7 - Main cash crops and livestock
Overall: Tampuen Krueng
By a small minority:
(less than 25%)
Chicken/duck (23.9%); 28% 23.9%
Pig (22.9%); 25.2% 26.1%
Cow/ buffalo (16.2%) 22.4% 15%
Cucumber (9.9%); 4.2% 15.6%
Pumpkin (9.2%); 4.9% 13.9%
Maize/corn (6.8%); 7% 7.8%
Paddy rice (5.6%); 7.7% 6.7%
Fruit - mangoes (5.1%); 2.8% 6.1%
Within MoE: NTFP – forest vegetables (3.1%); 2.1% 5%
Vegetables - home garden (2.9%); 5.6% 0.6%
Off-farm work – often low skilled labor - is done on average by 22.5% of households in Koun Mom and
Lumphat, with similar numbers for Tampuen (18.7%) as well as Krueng (15.9%). Off-farm work is particularly
common among the Khmer population (52.5%). It‟s also more a considerable source of income for Khmer and
Krueng compared to Tampuen.
Out of the above livelihoods, the main or priority sources of income are:
8 - Main source of income
Tampuen Krueng
Soybean (47.9%) Cashew (63.3%)
Cassava (40.3%) Cassava (59.4%)
Cashew (27.1%) Soybean (41.7%)
Other noteworthy income sources but to a lesser extent than the above:
Rice (20.1%) Off-farm work (23.3%)
Livestock (15.7%) Rice (15.8%)
Maize/corn (15.3%) Maize/corn (15.6%)
22.6% of farmers has only one crop or livestock as income source, 25% have 2, 25% have 3 and 12% has 4.
9.4% of farmers have 5 or more.
Overall, the level of diversification for food crops (average 7.2) is good while for cash crops much lower (3.4).
Tampuen have a slightly higher level of food crop diversification (8.2) than Krueng (7), mainly because of the
much higher use of NTFPs for consumption. Krueng on the other hand have a slightly higher level of cash crop
diversification (3.9 for Krueng vs. 3.4 for Tampuen).
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
22
9 - Livelihood diversification per EM
4.5 Agricultural productivity
For the main crops rice, cassava, maize/corn, cashew and soybean, average yields in terms of income and kilos
over the last 2-3 seasons are indicated in the table below.11 Income and yields from these crops are considered
by the large majority of farmers as unpredictable (29.6%) or unclear (45.7% „I don‟t know‟). Rice and cassava
tend to decrease in income and yield, while soybean remains the same.
10 - Livelihood productivity
Averages over the
last 2-3 seasons: Land size (ha) Yield (kg) Income (KHR) Income (USD)
Rice 1.33 2,525 3,045,434 1,027
Cassava 1.46 11,511.7 3,636,140 2,208
Maize / corn 1.24 2,406.8 5,611,209 -
Cashew 1.59 1,958.2 20,683,307 16,400
Soybean 1.54 2,726.1 6,770,336 4,286
11 Numbers are averages, and based on HHS data. All numbers stand should be compared per column, not horizontally.
15.5% 15.6%
25.4% 27.8%
22.5%
36.1%
21.8%
16.7% 14.8%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Tampuen Krueng
Livelihood diversification - Food crops
3 or less 4 to 6 7 to 9 10 to 12 13 or above
68.3% 56.1%
19.0% 30.0%
8.5% 11.7%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Tampuen Krueng
Livelihood diversification - Cash crops
3 or less 4 to 6 7 to 9 10 to 12 13 or above
6.7% 21.2%
7.2%
21.1% 20.7% 11.1%
13.4%
41.7% 34.7%
8.8%
32.5%
30.4%
29.2% 36.9%
83.7%
46.1% 32.6%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Rice Cassava Maize Cashew Soybean
Predictability of income and yields from livelihoods (over last 2-3 seasons)
Same Increasing Decreasing Unpredictable Don't know
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
23
In terms of pesticides (including herbicides and insecticides) and fertilizer use, there is a higher use of
pesticides than fertilizer and significantly more chemical than organic; 62.8% of farmers state that they use
chemical pesticides and 35% chemical fertilizer, compared to 27.8% using organic pesticides and 10.3% organic
fertilizer. Krueng more than Tampuen use pesticides and fertilizer; chemical (55.9% vs. 43.2%) as well as
organic (23.2% vs. 12.5%).
A large majority of farmers uses chemical pesticides and fertilizer once per season (44.7%) or very often
throughout the season (38.2%). For Tampuen it is mainly once per season (59.8%) while for Krueng very
often throughout the season (47%);
A small majority of farmers (54.2%) uses pesticides and fertilizers only for their cash crops, while a minority
(23.4%) for both food and cash crops. Only a small minority (9.9%) uses it for food crops only, more among
the Krueng than the Tampuen.
4.6 Household division of labor and decision-making
Household‟s division of labor for domestic and non-domestic tasks as well as decision-making on livelihoods and
finances is very variable per household but also heavily influenced by social and cultural norms, education, the
livelihood itself, improved infrastructure and mobility, individual‟s agency, role of influential community agents,
level of social capital, external influence such as media, Government or non-Government programs etc. An in-
depth analysis of all these issues was not the focus of this baseline, so only a narrow snapshot of current farming
roles and related decision-making can be provided.
Key findings from a 2012 gender and power analysis relevant for this baseline are:12
- The improvement of roads has been viewed positively by both men and women and with positive benefits.
Village pump wells and rice milling machines were attributed to reducing women‟s workload;
- A growing cash crop economy is has increased the control of men over decision-making within the
household. This may have negative implications on families as men‟s spending priorities are not always
directed at household needs. However, a more participatory style of decision-making between husbands and
wives was also witnessed, but more likely resulting from advances in gender equality and women‟s
empowerment than a result of changes in livelihoods;
- Both men and women are engaging in income generating activities and sales and many felt their standard of
living has improved through diversified livelihoods;
- The promotion of women‟s rights and gender equality has meant some men were sharing housework duties.
Attitudes in young men and women towards shared domestic workload are also changing positively;
Observations from focus group discussions for this baseline confirm that women have much more workload than
men; while men tend to focus on cash crop cultivation, NTFP collection, timber logging and off-farm wage labor
(often away from the house), women are involved in food and cash crop cultivation closer to home but also in
domestic, including caring, responsibilities. In the majority of cases, women‟s mobility is restricted to the home or
village space. Both women and men see improvement with higher involvement of women in community
meetings, including planning, and more discussion at home for the majority of decisions. Still, all participants
agree that men have the final decision-making power.
From the HHS, in terms of farming division of labor; while the majority of people – with no significant differences
between gender or EM - mention a sharing of roles between husbands and wives for most farming roles, there is
a clear indication that men more than women; buy agricultural inputs, sell agricultural produce at the market,
negotiate prices with traders and deal with externally hired farming labor.
12 Gender and Power Analysis, Report for Marginalized Ethnic Minority Program, Ratanakiri. C. Strickler for CARE Cambodia, 2012.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
24
On decision-making, we can see a similar trend as with the division of labor: a majority indicating joint decision-
making, but with a tendency towards men having more decision-making influence on all farming decisions, while
women more on decisions regarding household finances. Looking at EM differences:
Although a majority says decision-making on farming is done jointly; a higher proportion of Krueng compared
to Tampuen states that men make most decisions, while more Tampuen than Krueng state that the decision-
making is done jointly;13
In terms of decision-making on household finances, Krueng clearly indicate it is more the women than the
men who make the decisions, while Tampuen indicate it is done more jointly.
When asked if women should have more influence on farming and financial decision-making, a significant
majority or 66.2% of women states they want more influence on household decisions on farming, in contrast to
74.4% of men saying their wife is already very involved in these decisions. For financial decision-making, both
agree that women have a good level of influence: 59.4% of women say they have the same level of influence as
their husband, and 73.6% of men say their wife has the same level of influence.
11 – Gendered division of labor and decision-making on farming and finances
(with gender disaggregation)
Roles in farming:
Buys agricultural input 9.2%
(W 13%; M 3.1%)
51.6%
(W 51.2%; M 51.9%)
23.1%
(W 18.7%; M 30.2%)
Sells agricultural produce at markets 13%
(W 14.9%; M 9.2%)
43.4%
(W 44.2%; M 42.3%)
24%
(W 24%; M 27%)
Hires and pays outside labor to work
on the farm
8.6%
(W: 11.5%; M 4.3%)
20.8%
(W 17.2%; M 26.5%)
22.5%
(W 23.4%; M 21%)
Negotiates prices with middlemen or
traders
5.9%
(W 7.5%; M 3%)
18.4%
(W 16.7%; M 21.3%)
32.7%
(W 31.3%; M 35.4%)
Attends farmer groups or cooperatives 14
8.4%
(W 11.2%; M 3.8%)
21.1%
(W 21.9%; M 19.6%)
13.6%
(W 7.4%; 22.8%)
Decision-making on farming:
Decides what to plant 12.7%
(W 19.8%; M 1.8%)
54.4%
(W 56.4%; M 51.8%)
22.2%
(W 16.5%; M 31.1%)
Decides when to plant 14.6%
(W 21.9%; M 3.1%)
60.1%
(W 59.1%; M 62.3%)
22.8%
(W 15.7%; M 33.3%)
Decides when to harvest 11.7%
(W 17.1%; M 3.1%)
58.7%
(W 56.3%; M 62.3%)
26.6%
(W 22.9%; M 32.7%)
Decides what agricultural inputs are
needed
10%
(W 14.8%; M 2.5%)
54.6%
(W 53.4%; M 56.2%)
27.4%
(W 21.2%; M 37%)
Decides the main things on household
finances (how to spend money, who
can spend it and how)
28.6%
(W 30.5%; M 25.6%)
39%
(W 37.8%; M 40.9%)
18.4%
(W 17.5%; M 19.5%)
13 This can indicate more joint decision-making among Tampuen than Krueng, but also a higher level of gender equality and women‟s empowerment among Krueng than Tampuen, leading to more accurate or „honest‟ opinions (rather than confirming what is socially acceptable). 14 13.9% of respondents states that no-one is buying agricultural input; 15.7% that no-one sells agricultural produce; 47.2% that no-one hires outside labor to work on the farmer; 39.8% that no-one negotiates with middlemen or traders, and 55.8% that no-one is attending farmer groups or cooperatives.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
25
5. CLIMATE RISKS AND IMPACT
This section provides a brief overview of the complex climate resilience dynamics in Ratanak Kiri. After, it looks
into the main climate hazards as observed by the farmers, how these impact their livelihoods and main cash
crops, and how farmers have been responding or adapting so far.
5.1 Ratanak Kiri’s resilience context
Climate change impacts results from the dynamic interplay between climate hazards, exposure and sensitivity
and variable levels of adaptive capacity. These climate risks and impacts are positively or negatively affected by
the dynamic interaction with structural drivers of risk such as poverty, gender inequality, governance and unequal
access to resources, as well as socio-economic influences like modernization of agriculture, market pressures,
increased connectivity, environmental degradation and improvement of services. Altogether this makes for a
complex resilience context in Ratanak Kiri (see figure below).
5.2 Farmer observations on climate hazards and impact
Community members‟ observations gathered from focus group discussions predominantly state that drought,
uncertainty about start and end of the rainfall season, storms with lightning and strong winds, and high
temperature are the main climate hazards they experience during the course of a year. Looking at the extent on
how these and other climate hazards cause damage to crops over the last ten years reveals the following:
Experiences among households are very location and livelihood specific;
The least experienced are landslides (94.7% did not experience), slow onset flooding (75.3%), flash floods
(68.4%), hot spells (61.7%) and forest fires (53%);
The most damaging are drought (39.7% major and 15.2% minor damage), heavy storms (33.1% major and
17.2% minor damage), and a longer period of hot temperature (29.7% major and 7.3% minor damage);
Unpredictable rainfall seasons equally causes major or minor damage, depending on the household and
their livelihoods (24.8% major and 23.3% minor damage).
12 – Ratanak Kiri climate resilience context
RATANA KIRI RESILIENCE CONTEXT
Socio-economic influences:
Modernization agriculture:
pesticide, mechanization,
commercialization (ELC)
Market pressure: Vietnam
(cashew, rubber, cassava)
Environmental degradation
and overexploitation of natural
resources: forest, soil, water
Hydropower development
Improvement of services
(health, education)
Increased connectivity (roads,
mobile phone)
Structural drivers of risk:
Poverty
Unequal access to resources
(incl. land tenure insecurity)
Illiteracy, school drop-out
Malnutrition
Gender inequality
Governance, lack of voice and
representation
IMPACT:
Livelihoods (food and cash crops, livestock)
Community and household assets
Health and food nutrition security
Ecosystem health, including ecosystem services
Risk
Climatic
hazards:
Drought
Storms (incl.
lightning
and
whirlwinds)
Shifting
rainfall
seasons
Longer
period of hot
temperature
Vulnerability:
Sensitivity:
Weather-dependent livelihoods: rain-fed rice,
cassava, soybean, cashew, maize, rubber,
vegetables, fruit, livestock
Quality of community and households assets
and infrastructure
Ecosystems: tropical high and lowland,
riverine, biodiversity, NTFP
Adaptive capacity:
Availability and use of assets: natural, physical,
financial, social, human, political, psychological
etc. – variable for village, household or individual
Exposure: location people, assets and livelihoods
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
26
13 – Main climate hazards and their impact on livelihoods, over the last ten years
Detailed impacts described by farmers gathered from FGD, KII and field observations are as follows;
Livelihoods: livestock deaths due to disease (foot-and -mouth disease), lack of water and lightning strikes;
damage to crops due to high temperatures, lack of water and insects/pests; injury to animals; trees falling
down due to strong winds.
Natural resources: no water supply; difficulty planting crops in hard soil.
Health: loss of lives; injury to people; stress and uncertainty; difficulty breathing due to high
temperatures/humid conditions; not enough drinking water.
Assets: damage or total destruction to houses due to storm conditions or flooding.
When asked about the differential impact of these hazards to men and women; an overall majority believes
women and men are equally impacted, but that widows and children are more impacted than others.
5.3 Impact on main cash crops
A detailed comparative analysis of extent and frequency of damage and losses from weather or disasters over
the past ten years evidences that rice and soybean are most extensively impacted, followed by cassava and
cashew and maize/corn the least impacted. All crops are affected every year.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Rain earlier
Rain later
Rain Longer
Storm
Landslide
Flash flood
Slow onset Flooding
Drought
Forest Fire
Hot spell
Long hot temp
Major damage Minor damage No damage Have no experience of these I don‟t know
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
27
14 – Extent of damage to major crops caused by weather and disasters, over the past ten years
Rice crops have experienced the highest aggregate percentage of major damage and minor damage with a
50.3% and 35.4% respectively. Soybeans are the second most effected of the main cash crops with 38.7% major
damage and 39.1% minor damage caused by weather. Cassava and cashew are also affected, but mainly
causing minor damage. Maize/corn are the least overall damaged crop relative to the other cash crops with major
(6.3%), minor (20.3%) and no damage (14.9%).
Rice crops have experienced the most loss due to impacts of weather with 33% of farmers stating that they had
lost their entire crop, and a further 34.7% stating they had lost half or more. To a lesser extent, 36.8% indicated
they had lost half or more of their cassava crops and an additional 31.1% stating they had lost small to medium
amounts of their cassava crops. Both cashew and soybeans have large minorities of 33.4% and 34.9% that
indicate they have lost half or more of these crops. Maize/corn has the lowest aggregate percentages in terms of
damage or loss.
15 – Amount of damage to major crops caused by weather and disasters, over the past ten years
50.4%
35.5%
2.5%
19.1%
43.6%
7.4% 6.4%
20.4%
13.4%
20.4%
40.0%
14.9%
38.8% 39.2%
10.8%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Maj
or D
amag
e
Min
or D
amag
e
No
Dam
age
Maj
or D
amag
e
Min
or D
amag
e
No
Dam
age
Maj
or D
amag
e
Min
or D
amag
e
No
Dam
age
Maj
or D
amag
e
Min
or D
amag
e
No
Dam
age
Maj
or D
amag
e
Min
or D
amag
e
No
Dam
age
Rice Cassava Maize/Corn Cashew Soybean
33.0% 34.7%
20.5%
4.5% 6.1%
36.8%
31.2%
6.9%
2.1%
11.7%
16.6% 15.2%
8.0%
33.5%
26.7%
11.2%
21.2%
34.9%
12.3%
4.8%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Eve
ryth
ing
Hal
f or
mor
e
Sm
all t
o m
ediu
m a
mou
nt
I don
‟t lo
se a
nyth
ing
Eve
ryth
ing
Hal
f or
mor
e
Sm
all t
o m
ediu
m a
mou
nt
I don
‟t lo
se a
nyth
ing
Eve
ryth
ing
Hal
f or
mor
e
Sm
all t
o m
ediu
m a
mou
nt
I don
‟t lo
se a
nyth
ing
Eve
ryth
ing
Hal
f or
mor
e
Sm
all t
o m
ediu
m a
mou
nt
I don
‟t lo
se a
nyth
ing
Eve
ryth
ing
Hal
f or
mor
e
Sm
all t
o m
ediu
m a
mou
nt
I don
‟t lo
se a
nyth
ing
Rice Cassava Maize/Corn Cashew Soybean
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
28
In terms of the frequency in which the main cash crops are impacted by weather; the crops are all affected every
year causing damage and loss of income to livelihoods. Those who grow rice stated that their crops are impacted
upon every season (24.1%), every year (28.2%) or every two years (28.6%). Similarly, the frequency in which
cassava crops are impacted by weather every year is 23.3% or every two years (27.8%). Maize/corn is impacted
less frequently with 34.8% stating that their crops are impacted by weather once every ten years. Cashew and
soybeans both have large minorities of 34.4% and 37.1% (respectively) stating that their crops are impacted
every year by the weather.
The average yield losses in monetary value and weight, according to farmers is:
16 - Average monetary and weight losses over last 2 to 3 years, as described by farmers
Climate hazards Income loss (KHR) Yield loss (Kg)
Most damaging
Drought 2,516,857 2,570
Storms 3,252,349 1,7134
Long hot temperatures 1,346,200 2,820
Earlier rains 3,097,513 57,132
Later rains 20,911,100 13,866
Least experienced or damaging
Longer periods of rain 13,851,308 4,903
Forest fires 2,518,522 2,594
Hot spell 1,117,462 1,360
Flash floods 2,723,966 2,420
Slow onset flooding 381,802 448
Landslides 2,673,375 1,881
5.4 Adaptation actions
Overall very few farmers have taken steps to adapt their agricultural techniques.
- In terms of adapting farming techniques, seeds, and livestock breeds, the majority of farmers stated that
they have not changed their practices; 74.6% stated that they did not change their farming techniques and
82.4% did not change their seed or livestock breed. 84.2% hasn‟t made improvements to their livestock‟s
enclosures or cages;
- In terms of farmers working to improve water management and using a pump to access ground water, the
majority of respondents stated that they have not, with 95.4% who stated that they do not work to improve
their water management and 91.1% who stated that they do not access ground water through pumps;
- The majority of farmers stated that they have not adapted by administering vaccinations to their livestock to
prevent any diseases with a large majority of 79.5% respondents who do not use preventative vaccinations;
- For other actions, there is a large majority of 81.2% who have not hired outside labor and majority of 70.1%
that have not implemented or established community rules and boundaries to protect forest areas. Similarly,
the majority stated they have not started stocking seeds or animal feed (66%), not bought new agricultural
equipment (55.9%), and not taken a loan (65.3%). Additionally large majorities of 92.1% stated they are not
collecting more NTFPs and 92.8% stated that they do not migrate over the short or long term to find work
elsewhere;
- Concerning applying weather forecasts and seasonal calendars, the majority of respondents indicated
that they do not consult a weather forecast (70.5%). However, when asked if the farmers have changed their
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
29
farming calendar - 53.9% stated that they have changed their calendar whereas 46% stated that they did not
change their farming calendar. There is also a divide in how many respondents choose to plant more of a
variety of crops instead of one main. A large minority of 40.5% indicated that they do plant more varieties of
crops, whereas a majority of 59.4% indicated that they do not. 79.4% stated they do not plant trees in-
between their crops;
- Regarding seeking advice and joining farmer groups as an adaptive technique there are large majorities
of 84% that stated they have not joined farmer groups, 87% who do not ask other farmers for advice, and
88.1% as well as 89.1% who do not seek advice from government extension workers or other organizations
such as NGOs (respectively).
- When asked if they conduct traditional ceremonies (including praying) a large minority of 39.4% said they
do use traditional ceremonies and 60.5% said that they do not.
- When asked if their household has any plan or strategy to change what they grow or the way they do it, to
prevent or reduce the damage or loss because of weather, a majority or 51.8% says they don‟t, while a
combined 34% says they do for the next season (22%) or the coming years (12%).
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
30
6. CURRENT STATE OF THE ACIS SYSTEM
This chapter provides an in-depth overview of the current state of the agro-climate information services, at the
institutional level as well as the community or farmer level.
6.1 At the institutional level
The following section looks at institutional users‟ current understanding of various ACIS components in terms of
their knowledge and understanding of relevant existing policies and programs, ACIS roles and responsibilities
and institutional set-up, users‟ attitude, practices and capacities. 15 The section concludes with a brief description
of the existing hydro-meteorological infrastructure.
Policies and programs
Government representatives identified a number of national Government policies and programs relevant to ACIS;
- Agricultural Extension Policy (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)); to improve the
agriculture sector, focusing on improving ability of the agriculture sector through land reform, mine
exploration, fisheries and forestry reform;
- Strategy for Agriculture and Water Resources (2009-2013, MOWRAM); focuses on extending and building
community infrastructure through water resources management and irrigation systems;
- Disaster Preparedness and Response (National Disaster Management Committee (NDMC)); which focuses
on preparing material to save crops, seeds and technology;
- Water Emergency Response Strategy (PDWRM); to deal with droughts
- Agricultural trainings (PDA); by Community Extension Workers - for example on short term rice cropping,
organic fertilizer from pig waste, vaccination of livestock, climate change
Relevant non-Government projects/programs at sub-national level were also identified; 1) Indigenous Community
Support Organisation‟s (ICSO) Women Economy Empowerment project which establishes saving groups16; 2)
CARE and CEDAC‟s own ACIS project, supported by the PDA; and 3) SCW‟s program on drought-tolerant rice.17
Major challenges or needs around the aforementioned policies and programs were also identified: a shortage of
provincial Government staff; more capacity and techniques to conduct analysis and planning over longer
timeframe are required; more variety of crops and expertise on different crops is required to match the market
place; a need for further more in-depth market analysis; and weak or inconsistent information streams from the
Government to the communities and among different departments.
Specifically for NGO projects: a need to create more saving groups; an established disaster preparedness
budget for buying crop seeds as well as maintaining crops following disasters; and a need for more direct
information dissemination directly to people in their communities.
15 The findings in this section are primarily based on workshop discussions and self-assessments with 15 provincial, communal, and district level representatives from Koun Mom and Lumphat districts, with a full list of attendees with information on gender, ethnic group, department and administrative level included in the annexes. While a more in-depth policy mapping and analysis needs to be carried out to fully understand the current ACIS set-up, the findings in this chapter provide an accurate reflection of the Government stakeholders‟ knowledge and understanding. 16 For more information on ICSO‟s Ratanakiri program, see: http://www.icso.org.kh/what-we-do/village-organizing-program/ 17 Local NGOs to further explore partnerships with were mentioned by key informants as follows: NTIP, HA, CPA, ICSO - Indigenous Community Support Organisation, AIDC – Agricultural Industrial Development Community, ICC - International Cooperation Cambodia. Similarly, on women‟s empowerment the following INGOs were mentioned for potential collaboration: Can Do, Hellen Keller, Etea Foundation and PYD (Paz Y Desarrollo).
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
31
ACIS institutional set-up
Government stakeholders‟ current understanding of various ACIS roles and responsibilities, is visualized in the table below;
17 – Current observed ACIS institutional set-up in Ratanak Kiri
Nat
ion
al
Weather Information Agricultural Information Technical Support to Farmers Policy Framework
Pro
vin
ce
Dis
tric
t C
om
mu
ne
and
villa
ge
Suggestions to improve the current ACIS system are: more collaboration and coordination between NGOs and Government; and better horizontal and vertical information flow
from each department, not just top down information dissemination.
No weather forecasts
generated locally and
very general forecasts
(more as early warning)
around storms provided
by Ministry of WRM.
PDWRM: provide info on height of
water in the reservoirs
District and Commune Committee
of Disaster Management:
operating the loudspeaker system
PDWRM: provide medium and long
term climate change scenarios PDA: provide agricultural information
(seasonal calendar)
Ministry of Information
is responsible for
distributing agro-climate
information over the TV
and radio station PDA: responsible for;
Develop legal framework (policies
and regulations) for
implementation in the province;
Develop long term agricultural
strategies, plans, investments;
Approving long term agricultural
strategies, plans and investments
PDA: mentoring farmer interest
groups, community based
organizations etc.
Ministry of Agriculture and
partner with NGOs: technical
livelihood training to farmers
Provincial Department of
Women Affairs and PDA provide
training on gender to farmers
Agricultural extension office:
Collect farmer experience or
good practice on livelihoods
Organizing large awareness
raising campaigns on climate
change
PDA also uses TV and
radio station as a channel to
disseminate additional info
NGOs: build on traditional seasonal
calendars used by farmers when
providing farming advice or training
Institutional users’ knowledge, skills, attitude and practice
Based on institutional users‟ self-assessment of ACIS-related attitudes and practice (see table below);
- Regarding climate change and gender; there is general confidence in the understanding of climate change
and its impact on each of participants own sectors.18 However, knowledge of gendered impacts is less
apparent with 42% strongly agreeing that men and women are impacted in the same way. Additionally, there
is a divided response that either men or women know better how to protect their crops or livestock from
climate impacts, and a large majority or 92% agree or strongly agree that when providing advice or
information to farmers, men should be prioritized;
- In regards to valuing ACIS; 100% agree or strongly agree that agro-climate advisories are useful for farmers
to manage their livelihoods. A large majority believes the format of agro-climate advisories should be the
same for all farmers and that if resources for ACIS are limited, that the Government needs to prioritize agro-
climate information for WEM farmers;
- Concerning farmer engagement; 58% agree that there is a lot of knowledge to be gained from farmers for
Government planning, and 78% believes that agro-climate advisories should use scientific as well as farmer
information to be more effective. However, there is a divide over whether farmers are able to accurately
measure rainfall and temperature for themselves.
- In terms of institutional roles and responsibilities, and use of weather forecasts for planning; a large majority
strongly agree (18%) or agree (54%) that their departments utilize weather forecasts and climate scenarios
to inform plans and programs. Furthermore, 63% agree that they have enough agro-climate information to
plan for the next season and 50% to inform longer term sectoral planning. Similarly, 33% agree and 50%
strongly agree that agro-climate information is received in a timely manner with sufficient time to take action.
However, all participants agree that sharing of agro-climate information between departments and at
different administrative levels needs to improve;
- On the content of the current agro-climate information; there is a divide, with 35% agreeing the information
they receive from other departments is too technical or not understandable, while 54% disagrees and finds it
understandable. 38% agrees and 30% strongly agrees that this information is not specific or detailed enough
for their locality;
18 – Institutional users’ self-assessment of ACIS attitude and practice
STRONGLY
AGREE AGREE NO OPINION DISAGREE
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
My department has a good understanding of climate
change and how it can impact our sector of work 36% 36% 0 27% 0
Men and women in the communities are impacted by
climate change in the same way 42% 28% 28% 0 0
Men in the communities know better than women
how to protect crops from climate change impacts 38% 23% 0 38% 0
Women in the communities know better than men
how to protect livestock from climate change impacts 21% 50% 0 28% 0
Farmers are able to accurately measure rainfall or
temperature themselves 16% 25% 0 25% 33%
The dept. I‟m currently working for uses weather
forecasts and climate scenarios to inform the content
and implementation of Govt. plans and programs
18% 54% 9% 9% 9%
My department has enough agro-climate information 9% 63% 9% 9% 9%
18 As strong knowledge of climate change in the instructional capacity is vital for the ACIS project, further capacity needs assessments are required to ascertain true level of knowledge around climate change and impacts.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
33
18 – Institutional users’ self-assessment of ACIS attitude and practice
STRONGLY
AGREE AGREE NO OPINION DISAGREE
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
to plan for the next season
My department has enough agro-climate information
to inform our long term sectoral planning 25% 50% 8% 8% 8%
The agro-climate information my department
receives from other departments or higher level is
timely to be able to take action
50% 33% 0 8% 8%
The agro-climate information my department
receives from other departments or higher level is
too technical and not understandable
27% 9% 9% 45% 9%
The agro-climate information my department
receives from other departments or higher level is
not specific or detailed enough for my locality
30% 38% 7% 15% 7%
Sharing agro-climate information between different
departments and administrative levels should
improve
27% 72% 0 0 0
Agro-climate advisories are useful for farmers to
manage their livelihoods 76% 23% 0 0 0
My department has adequate human resources to
reach out to farmers to discuss agro-climate
information, e.g. discussing what to do every season
38% 38% 7% 15% 0
Farmers have a lot of knowledge on farm
management or livelihood planning that is useful for
Government planners
8% 50% 8% 25% 8%
When providing advice or information to farmers, we
should prioritize the men in the household 21% 71% 0 0 7%
Agro-climate advisories should use scientific as well
as farmer information to be effective 28% 50% 14% 7% 0
The format of agro-climate advisories should be the
same for all farmers 30% 61% 0 7% 0
If resources for ACIS are limited, Government needs
to prioritize agro-climate information for WEM
farmers
50% 50% 0 0 0
For institutional users‟ current levels of knowledge and skills as well as capacity needs, a rapid self-
assessment indicates good knowledge and skills on:19
1) Working with ethnic minority farmers;
2) Participatory tools to work with communities;
3) Technical training on agriculture and livelihoods;
4) Cost-benefit analysis; and
5) Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E).
19 A total of 17 different areas were offered with respondents able to select as many different areas they felt their department had good knowledge and skills. Full list and results can be found in the annexes.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
34
Areas respondents state that their department needs to improve or needs training in are as follows;
1) Participatory tools to work with communities;
2) Working with ethnic minority farmers;
3) Technical training on agriculture and livelihoods;
4) Communication and awareness raising, in particular on climate change; and
5) Facilitation skills.
It should be noted that „climate change‟ was selected in both good knowledge and areas needed for
improvement during this activity, perhaps indicating a divide between the different administrative levels capacity
on climate change. As previously stated, further and on-going capacity needs assessment should be conducted
around required knowledge areas for ACIS.
Effective training techniques suggested include; trainer of trainers; using local trainers to conduct the training;
and the size of the training events must be proportional to number of attendees. Furthermore, training within the
communities has been seen to be more effective if it targets key farmers in the communities or leaders at the
village level; is conducted in local languages; and if they are based on collected and documented experiences of
farmers that are shared and frequently followed up and updated.
Current hydro-meteorological infrastructure
A new automatic weather station was installed at the PDWRM offices in Ban Lung, Ratanak Kiri in late August
2016. It is the first of its kind in the province. The new station has been installed with weather-proof enclosure
containing the data logger (connected to a computer in the office), rechargeable battery, telemetry and the
meteorological sensors with an attached solar panel or wind turbine mounted upon a mast, thermometers,
anemometer for measuring wind speed, wind vane for measuring wind direction, hygrometer for measuring
humidity and a barometer for measuring atmospheric pressure (for pictures, see annexes).
The station is operational with information already being re-laid automatically to Phnom Penh. Up to this point
temperature and humidity have been taken manually every day at 7am and documented and reported to the
MOWRAM in Phnom Penh. However, in terms of staff and staff capacity, technical capacity to use and interpret
the information that is now available is very low. Key informant interviews with PDWRM staff indicated that they
are understaffed and have not received training on how to interpret and utilise the data from the new automatic
weather station.
6.2 At the community level
This section focuses on the primary users of the agro-climate advisories, the farmers. It examines existing
availability of weather and agricultural information, and maps out needs in terms of agro-climate advisory
content, channels, format, and frequency. It also looks at current levels of social capital to inform the shaping of
the farming learning networks.
Availability of weather information
Weather information is available for almost half of the people, mainly via the radio and through another
household member, and to a limited extent also via television and through Government extension workers. Only
1.7% of people says to measure rainfall or temperatures themselves at their farm or near their house.
More men than women have access to weather info via extension workers, the village leader, radio and
television. More Krueng than Tampuen access it via radio as well as household members, while more Tampuen
than Krueng access this information through their village leader. Other channels such as loud speakers, mobile
phones or other community organizations are used by less than 10 per cent of all people.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
35
19 - Current channels for accessing weather information
Overall Women Men Tampuen Krueng
Radio 48.6% 45.6% 54% 38.6% 58.3%
Other household members 39.3% 42.7% 34.2% 36.4% 44.6%
Television 16% 12.9% 21.1% 14.3% 17.1%
Govt extension workers 15.6% 10% 24.2% 18.6% 14.3%
Village leader 14.8% 11.6% 19.9% 21.4% 12.6%
Farmers‟ groups 14.3% 12.9% 15.5% 17.1% 13.1%
Weather information received through these channels is considered by a majority of people (technically) easy to
understand and useful for crop planning, but not always timely to be able to take action. 24.7% of people find it
never timely and for 21.1% of people it is never useful.
Indigenous weather forecasting
When asked whether they use traditional ways of forecasting the weather a large minority or 32% say they do,
with men slightly more than women (36.3% vs. 29.5%) and Tampuen considerably more than Krueng (47.9% vs.
21.1%). Of those who use the traditional techniques, 48.2% indicate that they use it for their livelihoods, to help
decide what and when to plant, how to protect crops from disasters or bad weather etc. When asked whether the
traditional techniques were reliable to predict the weather, 33% stated they are always reliable, 20.1% said they
are sometimes reliable sometimes not, 17.3% said not reliable and 29.6% who didn‟t know.
An extensive list of examples of these indigenous weather forecasting techniques or so-called „rules of thumb‟
has been provided in the annexes. They range from observing animal behavior (birds, insects, amphibians,
reptiles, wild animals) and human behavior; looking at the number of fruits or flowers in trees, growth rate and
smell of NTFPs (e.g. mushrooms), visual observations of the sky including clouds, and traditional believes or
superstition.
Availability of farming advice
A large majority or 87.1% of all farmers states to receive advice on their farming (information on what and when
to plant, how to treat livestock, when to harvest etc.). This advice is primarily focused on: 1/ rice; 2/ cassava; 3/
livestock; 4/ soybean and 5/ cashew.
In terms of channel, for most part this is through Government extension workers and to a lesser extent husband
or wife, NGO workers, the village leader or the Women‟s Affairs Department. Farming advice through other
channels such as farmers‟ groups, other community groups, private companies, agricultural input providers or
researchers is very limited.
More men than women receive advice from NGO workers, while more women than men through another
household member. More Krueng than Tampuen receive farming advice from any source, particularly from
Government extension and NGO workers, and to a lesser extent also more through other household members.
20 - Current channels for receiving farming advice
Overall Women Men Tampuen Krueng
Govt extension workers 53% 52.2% 53.8% 39.8% 68.4%
Other household members 34.9% 38.1% 30.4% 30.1% 38%
NGO workers 34.1% 29.6% 41.1% 27.1% 42.7%
Village leader 25.1% 25.7% 24.7% 23.3% 29.2%
Women‟s Affairs Dept. 19.4% 21.2% 16.5% 18.8% 22.8%
Nobody receives 12.9% 11.9% 13.9% 9.8% 11.7%
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
36
A small majority of people or 59.9% says the farming advice is (technically) easy to understand, 28% says
sometimes, and 12.1% says it isn‟t. 46.2% finds it timely to be able to take action, 20.5% sometimes and 33.3%
says it is never timely. 43.4% says the advice is in the respondents‟ native language, 29% says sometimes, while
27.6% says the advice never is in the native language. Percentages are similar when asking specifically about
advice provided by Government extension workers.
Access to training on farming techniques
A significant majority of people or 66.6% of farmers states to have received technical training on agricultural
techniques in the last two years, with slightly more men than women benefiting from such training. More Krueng
than Tampuen have received training (72.4% vs. 64.3%); with among Krueng more women than men and among
Tampuen more men than women.
In terms of channel, for the people that did receive training, a large minority or 39.4% of respondents does not
remember who provided the training. For the ones who do, 29.5% says it was provided by NGOs, for 24.3% by
Government extension workers and for 6.8% by a private company. More men than women benefit from training
provided by NGOs and Government extension workers.
21 - Current channels for training on agricultural techniques
Overall Women Men Tampuen Krueng
NGOs 29.5% 21.1% 36.8% 27.1% 25.6%
Govt extension workers 24.3% 17.1% 30.7% 22.4% 26.3%
Private company 6.8% 4.6% 7.9% 8.2% 3%
I don‟t remember 39.4% 40.1% 31.6% 51.8% 30.1%
Nobody receives 33.4% 38.7% 27.5% 35.7% 27.6%
A small majority of people say the trainings are (technically) easy to understand, with 33.5% saying they are
sometimes easy and 12.4% saying they are never easy. 50.2% says the trainings are useful for crop or livestock
planning, 19.7% says they are sometimes, and 30% they are never useful. 33.3% says trainings are provided in
the respondents‟ native language, 29.6% says sometimes and 37.1% says they never are.
Farmer preferences on agro-climate advisories
Priority crops or livestock for agro-climate advisories are: 1/ rice (rain-fed and irrigated); 2/ livestock; 3/ cassava;
4/ soybean, 5/ trees and 6/ cashew.
Agro-climate advice is best delivered to farmers pre-season: with no significant differences on gender or EM:
64.8% of farmers prefer to receive weather forecasts pre-season and 29.1% also during the season;
42.3% of farmers prefer to receive agricultural advice 2 to 3 months before the season starts, 35.6% one
month before and 21% 2 weeks before. In addition, 23.6% of farmers like to receive this advice also during
the season.
In terms of channel or format, radio is clearly preferred above any other formats or channels, for both weather as
well as farming advice. In addition, face-to-face communication through village leaders as well as various
community organizations and valuing indigenous knowledge:
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
37
22 - Prioritized channels or formats for agro-climate advice
Weather information: Agricultural advice:
1/ radio - 57.5% 1/ radio - 41.6%
2/ village leader - 40.3% 2/ paper – in indigenous language – 37.9%
3/ community organizations - 31.3% 3/ village leader – 28.8%
4/ farmers‟ group - 30.8% 4/ NGOs – 28.3%
5/ Government extension workers - 29.5% 5/ farmers‟ group – 22.2%
6/ TV – 20.3% 6/ Government extension workers - 21.4%
7/ paper – in Khmer language – 20%
8/ community organizations – 19%
There are no particular differences between men and women, but among EM; radio is more preferred among
Krueng than Tampuen, and the village leader - and to a lesser extent also NGOs, community and farmers‟
organizations - are more preferred among Tampuen than Krueng. Paper using indigenous knowledge is equally
highly valued by both.
The chief from Teun commune in Koun Mom confirms the value of radio combined with face-to-face. He listens
to the radio “3 times per week (because its) the most reliable source provided by the provincial office of
information. It’s good because it helps the communities to prepare and keep us connected”. He also encourages
people to listen to the radio and Government announcements about weather so that it will help them to plan
better. But he describes a major weakness of the Government as the information is not frequent enough. He
believes Government extension workers should visit people‟s homes and through village meetings, local
language on the radio and training provided by NGOs help communities better plan using weather forecasts. A
DPA representative on the other hand stresses the importance of automated information, for example through
phone, loudspeaker systems, radio, internet20 and social media, the latter targeted at youth in the villages.
Social capital and farmer learning networks
Social capital or membership of community organizations is very limited in Ratanak Kiri with a small minority or
only 18.8% of people currently being a member of one or more community organizations; 15.7% of women and
22.8% men; and 26.6% of Tampuen and 16% Krueng. The large majority of them are member of a savings and
loan group, with very limited membership of women‟s groups, farmers‟ groups, cooperatives or other groups.
Main reasons stated for not participating in such groups are:
1. Limited time (30.6%);
2. No interest (23.6%);
3. Groups not existing in the village (17.8%); or
4. The group meeting place is too far (11.8%).
Sharing of weather information or agricultural advice via community organizations is very limited at the moment,
with only 17.3% of people sharing weather info and 21% sharing farming advice through community
organizations. Slightly more farmers, 34% for weather info and 28.1% for farming advice, share the information
with other farmers but outside a community organization.21 Exchange or discussions on weather or farming
techniques is clearly limited to within the household itself.
More men than women and more Tampuen than Krueng share weather and farming information with other
farmers. Tampuen more than Krueng also discuss this information with the village leader.
20 A good example to start from is (but limited to 3 days forecasts): http://cambodiameteo.com/map?menu=3&lang=en 21 Discussing weather and agricultural info with the village leader is even more limited, with only 9.7% sharing weather info and 13.2% sharing farming advice with the village leader.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
38
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
39
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The findings of this baseline study have surfaced some significant conclusions. With regards to household
assets, a large majority of households have access to a battery, motorbike and mobile phone whereas a minority
of households has access to a radio, bicycle and smartphones. The radio in combination with face-to-face, both
in indigenous knowledge, are the preferred format or channels for farmers to receive weather information and
farming advice. Furthermore, in terms of major assets, the ownership of smartphones, radios, bicycles,
motorbikes is higher among the Kreung than the Tampuen. This finding confirms that there are higher poverty
levels among the Tampuen compared to the Kreung. Moreover, the difference in levels of poverty are apparent
again in terms of food security with the findings indicating that less Tampuen have less than three meals a day
compared to the Kreung.
This baseline study also found that the main crops which include rice, cassava, maize, cashew and soy bean are
considered by the large majority of the farmers as unpredictable or uncertain in terms of their expected yields.
Additionally, rice and cassava tend to decrease in their income and yields while soy beans remain stable. There
is high use of pesticides and fertilizers – mostly for cash crops - and significantly more pesticides and fertilizers
are used than organic methods, more by Krueng than Tampuen.
In terms of major climate risks and impacts, community members predominantly state that drought, uncertainty
about start and end of the rainfall season, storms with lightning and strong winds, and high temperature are the
main climate hazards they experience during the course of a year. The most damaging are drought, heavy
storms, and a longer period of hot temperature. For the major cash crops; rice and soybean are most extensively
impacted, followed by cassava and cashew and maize/corn the least impacted. All these crops are affected
every year.
The findings around ACIS indicate that weather information is available to almost half of the people mainly via
radio and through another household member. More men than women have access to weather information via
extension workers, village leaders, radios and television with the Kreung having more access to the radio than
the Tampuen and the Tampuen having greater access to information through their village leaders.
Interestingly, more than a quarter of respondents use traditional ways of forecasting the weather and of those,
nearly half indicate that they use the traditional forecasting for their livelihoods. A third of people who use it state
that they are reliable techniques. Other adaptation actions such as adapting farming techniques, water
management, using vaccines, improved natural resources management ea. are only practiced by very few
farmers. A majority of farmers has no plan or strategy to prevent or reduce the damage or loss to livelihoods due
to weather or disasters, however, still a minority or one third of farmers have.
In terms of findings around gender, women have much more workload than men; while men tend to focus on
cash crop cultivation, NTFP collection, timber logging and off-farm wage labor (often away from the house),
women are involved in food and cash crop cultivation closer to home but also in domestic, including caring,
responsibilities. In the majority of cases, women‟s mobility is restricted to the home or village space. Men more
than women buy agricultural inputs, sell agricultural produce at the market, negotiate price with traders and deal
with externally hired farming labor. Notably, a significant majority of women want more influence on household
decision making regarding farming
Overall, farmer social capital is limited with only a small minority currently being a member of one or more
community organizations. If they are a member, it is primarily of savings and loans groups. Sharing of weather
information or agricultural advice via community organizations is very limited at the moment, with exchange or
discussions on weather or farming techniques is limited to within the household itself.
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
40
Concerning the institutional capacity and knowledge, there is a general confidence among institutional users
around the understanding of climate change, however this needs further research to test more in-depth and
verify. Knowledge of gender impacts from climate change and the need for tailored climate information products
for men compared to women is less evident in the institutional users. Furthermore, there is a strong consensus
among institutional users that agro-climate advisories are useful for farmers to manage their livelihoods. These
agro-climate advisories should use scientific as well as farmer information or experience to be effective.
In terms of current agro-climate information for agricultural planners, agro-climate information is received in a
timely manner however the majority agrees that agro-climate information between departments and
administrative levels needs to be improved. A noteworthy finding is that a proportion of the institutional users
believe that the agro-climate information that they are currently receiving is not specific or detailed enough for
their locality. Suggestions to improve the current ACIS system according to institutional users are: more
collaboration and coordination between NGOs and Government; better horizontal and vertical information flow
from each department, not just top down information dissemination; and more direct information dissemination
directly to farmers.
Recommendations:
These consolidated findings give rise to the following recommendations which are suggested to move the ACIS
project forward;
Household technology: the project should initially focus on households with the following assets; batteries,
normal mobile phones, smart phones and radios as they provide an opportunity for quick immediate reach
and potentially introducing ICT-for-ACIS applications. Strong gender considerations should be made to
ensure the technology is also managed by or benefiting women equally as men;
Combination of channels: technology should be combined with face-to-face interactions by Farmer
Learning Network representatives. Priority should be given to capacitating community members to play a
key role in their communities rather than going through extension workers;
The project should work with the office of information to disseminate information at appropriate times.
Radio messages should be broadcasted at a time of day that is useful and relevant for the farmers, for
example early in the morning before they go to the field;
The Farmer Learning Networks should build on the savings and loan groups, but also find ways to better
engage men.
Invest more structurally in building social capital, through heavily focusing on farmer-driven social learning
processes.
The project should look into the experience of Community Radio Stations or programs, and aim to
demonstrate a similar community/indigenous group-driven social learning, that will have a larger reach than
discussion through community organizations;
The project should work to record and document the traditional weather observation techniques and
stories with the communities. This type of experiential weather observations should be integrated into the
agro-advisories. By working with what the farmers know, and combining it with other forecasting and
seasonal calendars, demand for the ACIS can be gained in the target communities;
Direct information: According to the findings, there is a need for more direct information dissemination
directly to the people in their communities. The project should work with and through local farmers for
example through farmer-to-farmer training and disseminate information through village leaders;
Time and workload of farmer champions should be continuously monitored in order to avoid overburdening
them or causing decreased motivation;
Collaboration: There should be better horizontal and vertical information exchanges between NGOs and
government departments rather than top-down information dissemination;
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
41
A more in-depth testing of the institutional ACIS users’ knowledge is required to better understand their
knowledge and skills on climate change, agro-weather information, risk mapping and probability, gender etc.
The project should utilize the new automatic weather station by developing the capacity of the hydro-
meteorology office staff in Ban Lung to interpret and disseminate the weather information that they now have
access to;
Farmers and local civil society organizations such as the Highlander Association should also be engaged to
the maximum extent possible in co-research;
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
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Annexes
1. Terms of Reference for baseline study;
2. Baseline protocol, including assessment framework, methodology, team and schedule;
3. Household Survey questionnaire (English-Khmer);
4. Focus Group Discussion guide and note taking formats (English-Khmer);
5. Key Informant Interviews – guiding questions;
6. ACIS institutional users‟ workshop, including attitude and practice mapping and capacity needs
assessment – and list of participants;
7. Comprehensive dataset, including household survey data and analysis, and notes from the focus group
discussions, ACIS workshop and interviews;
8. Literature reviewed
9. Pictures of automatic weather station, recently installed in Ratanak Kiri;
10. Inventory of traditional weather forecasting „rules of thumb‟;
11. Summary sheet of key findings from the baseline study
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
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Annex 8 - Literature reviewed
In addition to project documentation provided by CARE Cambodia:
Baird, I. G., Reflecting on changes in Ratanakiri province, northeastern Cambodia. Watershed Vol. 12
No. 3, 2008.
Cambodia Climate Change Network policy brief, CCCN, 2014.
CARE International in Cambodia, Land-grabbing in Cambodia – Issue brief , CARE, 2013
CARE International in Cambodia, Rapid Policy and Institutional Analysis with reference to CARE‟s
Marginalised Ethnic Minorities (MEM) Impact Group. 2010.
Decision-making for climate resilient livelihoods and risk reduction: A Participatory Scenario Planning
Approach. CARE Adaptation Learning Programme for Africa. 2015
Fraiture, C. D., Farmers‟ Perspectives on Risk and Adaptation Strategies in the Mekong, Cambodia,
UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, 2016.
Good Practice Framework on Gender Analysis. CARE. 2012.
IOM, Mapping vulnerability to natural hazards in Ratanakiri, 2009.
Maffii, M., Changes in Gender Roles and Women‟s Status among Indigenous Communities in
Cambodia‟s Northeast. In: Living on the Margins: Minorities and Borderlines in Cambodia and
Southeast Asia. 2009
Marx S. M., Weber E. U. ea., Communication and mental processes: Experiential and analytical
processing of uncertain climate information. Global Environmental Change 17, 47-58, 2007.
Mauney R., Gender-based Violence in Ethnic Minority Communities. Ratanakiri Province. CARE
International in Cambodia, 2015.
Ministry of Environment of Cambodia, UNDP Cambodia, Cambodia Human Development Report 2011.
Building Resilience: The Future of Rural Livelihoods in the Face of Climate Change. 2011.
Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Health of Cambodia, Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2014.
DHS Program, 2015.
Nang P., Sam S., Lonn P., Ouch C., Adaptation Capacity of Rural People in the Main Agro-Ecological
Zones in Cambodia, CDRI, 2014.
Ruohomaki, O., Encounters in Borderlands: Social and Economic Transformations in Ratanakiri,
Northeastern Cambodia, Moussons 7, 2004.
Sanara, H., The Transition of Farming Systems Causing Forest Degradation in Ratanakiri Province,
Cambodia. 2014.
Simms, R., The Struggle for Indigenous Land Security in Ratanakiri. Strategizing a Role for CARE
Cambodia. 2015.
Tall A, Hansen J, Jay A, Campbell B, Kinyangi J, Aggarwal PK and Zougmoré R. 2014. Scaling up
climate services for farmers: Mission Possible. Learning from good practice in Africa and South Asia.
CCAFS Report No. 13. Copenhagen: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and
Food Security (CCAFS).
Towards Actionable Agro-Climate Information Systems in Southeast Asia. Draft CCAFS working paper,
not yet published
Women‟s Empowerment Impact Measurement Initiative (WEIMI). CARE. 2012.
Women‟s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI). USAID, IFPRI, Oxford University. 2012 (including
materials from application in Uganda)
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
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Annex 9 – Pictures of automatic weather station, recently installed in Ratanak Kiri
A new automatic weather station was installed at the PDWRM offices in Ban Lung, Ratanak Kiri in late August
2016. It is the first of its kind in the province. The new station has been installed with weather-proof enclosure
containing the data logger (connected to a computer in the office), rechargeable battery, telemetry and the
meteorological sensors with an attached solar panel or wind turbine mounted upon a mast, thermometers,
anemometer for measuring wind speed, wind vane for measuring wind direction, hygrometer for measuring
humidity and a barometer for measuring atmospheric pressure (for pictures, see annexes).
© James Wilderspin
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
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Annex 10 - Inventory of traditional weather forecasting ‘rules of thumb’
The following traditional techniques for forecasting the weather are quotes that were gathered from the FGDs,
field observations notes and HHS. The examples have been translated from Khmer, Krueng and Tampuen
languages.
1 “Looking for flying birds, bees and dragonflies. If they are present there will be no rain.”
2 “If the bees are flying low it means rain is coming.”
3 “If the dragonflies are flying low there will be rain but if they are flying high it will be a drought.”
4 “If a yellow bellied lizard comes out of the forest then it means there will be a drought.”
5 “If there is a pregnant woman without a wedding it means there will be a drought.”
6 “If the tree provides less fruits there will be a drought.”
7 “If a kite flies around the community/village, the village will face a storm with lightening.”
8 “We look at the tail of wild animals, if the tails are yellow it means there will be a long drought; if the tail is
black it means there will be a lot of rain.”
9 “If the wild trees have a lot of fruit it means it will be windy and have rain.”
10 “By looking at the bird nests, if the bird nest is on the high branches of the tree it means there will be
strong winds.”
11 “By watching the activity of the ants. When the vast majority of the ants suddenly move their eggs quickly
from its current shelter to another, it warns us that the heavy rain or some time flood would be possible to
come soon”.
12 “If the mushrooms grow lower than normal there will be no rain”.
13 “Wild mushrooms grow in the dry season and if its smell worse than unusual, the rainfall will come.”
14 “If wild mushrooms grow and smell worse than unusual, there will be rainfall this year. But when they grow
in the hot season, the weather will be hotter and maybe there will be a drought”.
15 “When we burn the candle and it melts quickly, we will have rain”
16 “When the sky has looked clear for 2 or 3 months the weather will be hotter and hotter”.
17 “When seeing the dragonfly flying very high, the weather would be hotter”.
18 “If the mushroom grow higher than the normal, it will rain a lot”.
19 “If the candle is quickly burn it will rain a lot. But is the candle slowly burn, it will drought.”
20 “If the mushroom grow lower than normal there will no rain”.
21 “If the lizard tail is black and big it will more rain, but if tail is white it will no rain”
22 “If the mushroom grow a lot it will keep raining”.
23 “If the sky becomes red, there will be drought. But if the sky is dark there will be rain”.
24 “If the scorpion head is blue, it will rain a lot”
25 “If the frogs cry, it will rain”.
26 “If the lizard has a long tail, it will rain. But if the lizard‟s tail is short, there will be a drought.”
27 “The years when bamboo trees bear less fruit, there will be less rainfall.”
28 “By watching the iguana body. If its body has white colour in the middle, it‟s a warning that a drought will
happen during the cultivation period.”
29 “Wild tree flowers. If its flower the vast flowers in both village and forests, it tell us that in the rainy season
would have a lot of rainfall.”
30 “When the iguana has a tail with a big black colour, it confirms that the rainfall will have a lots but if it's
white, we would have less rainfall for the whole year.”
31 “Listening to the frogs crying. When they cry everywhere we know that the rain comes soon and also the
flood would be happened too.”
32 “We predicted based on the wild fruit trees, particularly Pongroh and Khuy fruits. When both of these tree
ACIS project – Baseline report Cambodia – November 2016
46
bear a lot of fruit, we note that our farming crops in this year would increasingly get more yields compared
to last year. Through noticing the wild mushroom. If it grows with a long stem, its tells us that this year the
level of water would be a high level. But when its grows with short stem, we predict that the level of water
would be smaller or a shallower level”.
33 “Based on the Khuy fruit (a kind of wild fruit), if it bear a lot of fruit, it means that this year would have a lot
rainfall.”
34 “At the beginning of the season, if the trees like mango, tamarind and jambolan plum were full of flowers,
this year would access a lot of rainfall.”
35 “Usually take notice the weather in May. If it rain at the beginning of May and then after the raining the
weather become hotter and hotter, it will access long period of drought.”
36 “Based on the tamarind fruit. When its bear a lot of fruit, it would have to much rainfall since the beginning
to the end of the year”
37 “Once the red ants makes it nest in the low level, it will have storm or flood because of the heavy rainfall.
But when its nest in the high level or at the top of the tree, it would have no storm or have less rainfall.”
38 “When wild hens lay their eggs on the bank of the river, there will be less rainfall while they lay theirs on
the hill, it would have a huge water level or may have a flood.”
39 “If the crab cries, it will rain”
40 “Before we had traditional techniques, but today we do not have them since the wild animals and forests
are decreasing.”
41 “When the tail of pupa worm exist less soil, it would have less rainfall while would have a lot of rainfall
once it exists more soil at its tail.”
42 “If geckos cry, it might tell us that the rainfall will come”.
43 “Based on watching at cloud. When the cloud is stay very high, today is no rain.”
44 “Through watching the wild grapes”
45 “Watching the sky, stars and wild mushrooms”
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Annex 11: Summary sheet of key findings from the baseline study
Tampuen Krueng Poverty: Very-poor 23.2% Very-poor 9.8% Medium-poor 62.7% Medium-poor 30.1%
Food security: 27% experience hunger 10.6% experience hunger
12 months 27.8% 12 months 11.8% 3 months 16.7% 3 months 17.6% 2 months 22.2% 2 months 47.1%
Main food crops: Main cash crops: Main income source:
1. Cassava 2. Rice 3. Soybean 4. Cashew 5. Pumpkin/Cucumber
1. Cassava 2. Soybean 3. Cashew 4. Rice 5. Chickens
1. Cassava 2. Soy Bean 3. Cashew 4. Rice 5. Off-farm labor
Currently yield in kilo largest for cassava, but in income largest for cashew.
Rice and cassava have the lowest yield in terms of income
Productivity trends: with household variations: Decrease in income and yield: rice and cassava Stable income and yield: soy bean Unpredictable income and yield: cashew
Most damaging hazards:
Most impacted crops: (red: major damage; orange: minor damage; green: no damage; grey: I don‟t know)
1. Drought 2. Storms 3. Long period of
high temperature
4. Unpredictable start or end of rainy season
5. Longer rainy season
Rice Soybean
Cassava Cashew Maize/corn
ACIS assets: Weather info: Farming advice: Agricultural training 72.1% households own
a normal mobile phone 41.3% a radio 19.5% a smart phone 78.4% a motorbike
48.6% people receive - mainly via radio or household members, - and to a limited extent also television and extension workers
87.1% farmers have received farming advice
66.6% agricultural training
More men than women have access to weather info via extension workers, village leader, radio and television.
More men than women receive advice from NGOs, while more women than men through household members.
Slightly more men (72.5%) than women (61.3%) received training.
Limited membership of community organizations, with only 18.8% of people, mainly savings and loan groups
32% uses indigenous weather forecasting techniques, which are found by half of the people to be reliable to somewhat reliable
48.2% farmers has a plan or strategy to change what they grow, to prevent or reduce damage or loss because of weather, for the next season
66.2% women want more influence on household decisions on farming vs. 74.4% men saying their wife is already very involved
In terms of preferred channel or format, radio is clearly preferred above any other formats or channels, for both weather as well as farming advice. In addition, face-to-face communication through village leaders as well as various community organizations and using indigenous knowledge are important preferences
50.4% 35.5%
2.5% 11.7%
38.8%
39.2%
10.8%
11.3%
19.1%
43.6%
7.4%
20.2%
20.4%
40.0%
14.9%
24.7%
6.4%
20.4%
13.4%
59.9%