Making economic integration work for the rural poor through contract farming practices in Cambodia

Submitted by Michael Rastall 8th January 2014 14:49

Adaptation challenge

About 80 percent of the national rice production is cultivated in the wet season, and only 20 percent is produced by irrigation in the dry season.

For farmers in Cambodia, access to agricultural machinery and water infrastructure is of significant concern. Only 16 percent of households in our study had access to agricultural machinery equipment such as water pumps, hand tractors, planting or harvesting machines.

A third of farmers who have engaged in rice contract farming dropped out in the first two years demonstrating low levels of commitment.

Both contractors and farmers broke contractual agreements or rules (e.g. late payment) with 62 percent of interviewed farmers citing difficulty in meeting the quality standards of the contract farming company).

Most farmers, particularly the older generation, are not familiar with, or cannot easily adapt to, new techniques required and provided by contract farming companies.

Expected outputs

The SUMERNET study on contract farming in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand has attempted to model the policy recommendations in response to information provided by farmers, contracting representatives, government representatives and other experts, while comparing the hopes for the future with the status of contract farming on the ground. Each recommendation is designed to respond to the way impacts are felt by contract farmers and to engage the stakeholders, both the farmers and contractors on a level that takes into account the strategies they currently employ in contract farming.