The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has successfully completed its mission to help smallholder farmers in rural Cambodia cope with the risks posed by climate change. IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations working to combat poverty and hunger.
The Tonle Sap Smallholder Agriculture Development and Poverty Reduction (TSSD-AF) project, which won the IFAD Gender Award, received funding from development partners The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Royal Government of Cambodia. The objective of the project is to provide training to smallholder rural farmers in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) across one hundred communes vulnerable to climate change and disaster risk.
The project has selected seven provinces to work towards boosting productivity and increasing sustainable market access. These provinces are Prey Veng, Tbong Khmum, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, and Battambang. IFAD Funded $10 million of the $60 million TSSD-AF project. The project mainly targets smallholder farmers in rural areas, especially women and women-headed households. A total of 26,818 households, including 30,537 beneficiaries, benefited from the project and received CSA training. This was done through an integrated approach to land management, crops, livestock and fisheries. In addition to food security, nutrition and resilience of rural farmers. The ultimate goal is to address the challenges of climate change, food security and sustainable income for farmers and ensure their capacity to address the challenges of climate change.
The project has trained and demonstrated 1,031 on-farm skills in rice, vegetables, crops, small livestock, poultry, fish farming and frog farming. These exercises involved 1,031 farmers 25,787 people, of whom 63 percent were women. 48 percent of the CSA participants were women. The beneficiaries of the training were also prepared to effectively address the consequences of climate change and disaster risk. Gender-inclusive disaster risk reduction (DRR) and commune disaster management committees (CDMCs) For vulnerable communes, this is part of the training.
As a result of the project, farmers are being influenced to diversify their crops into crops other than rice, as well as cash crops. This diversification involves growing and selling at least 10 types of vegetables that meet market demand, including cucumbers, long beans, tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, onions, chilies, peppers, and bitter melons.
With the introduction of techniques such as organic fertilization Soil composting, adoption of climate-resilient cash crops and vegetables that require shorter harvest cycles, better water management and conservation systems, and modern methods of raising chickens and ducks have all resulted in lower mortality rates. “From planning to implementation, IFAD projects have “It has put smallholder farmers in rural areas at the center of the problem and has helped farmers adopt sustainable, climate-resilient agricultural practices. This has directly impacted the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and their families as incomes have increased.”
