Second M&E team meeting on 30 March 2009

On 30 March 2009, the monitoring and evaluation team of CEDAC's Field Program was organized with the participation of 6 staff (Yim Sok Sophors, Chhin Chhunhoir, Nuon Piseth, Pheng Chandy,Vang Sean, Sin Phoan and Phorn Phira).

The meeting was carried out with the following agenda:

1. Introduction of the agenda/program of the meeting
   
2. Review the last meeting in February 2009
3. Sharing the activities and critical information which have been conducted in March 2009
4. Prepare the action plan for April 2009
5. To prepare the guideline for the study on agricultural situation
   
6. Team learning on Microsoft Access
7. Synthesize of the meeting and impression from participants
   

The meeting lasted only from a half day, and we could shared and learned from each other very well especially all participants are able to learn Ms. Access from experienced staff that is helpful for database management. I noted that the participants felt that the meeting is helpful for them to learn more innovations. To me, I think that it is good if we have a form for database management that each project under the program can manage the information successfully. The next meeting will be held on 27 April 2009. The meeting venue will be informed later.

Rapid Rice Market Chain Appraisal

From 18-23 March 2009, Mr. YIM Sok Sophors went to CSPPM (Civil Society and Pro-Poor Market) project in order to assist the project staff for conducting a field study on rapid rice market chain appraisal in 29 villages across 8 communes, 4 districts of Kompot province, Cambodia. More detail about the study is to focus about the market chain of rice product in 29 villages which are the village members of rice producer communities supported by the CSPPM project. During that time, Mr Yim Sok Sophors has met and discussed with the project officer and the other project staff relating to objectives and methodologies of this study. The study mainly focused on the demand and supply of rice product from the studied villages, which mainly concentrated to organic rice product (Mliss and Romduol varieties) that is high market demand.

As the result, it is able to found out that the demand of rice is higher than the supply which is produced by the rice farmer producers. It is good market opportunities for local farmers but they need to pay more attention to the promotion strategies of their unique product (organic rice) and to ensure a good linkage among their appropriate market channels. Furthermore, it is able to know that most of rice product produced by the local farmers are supplied to the collectors and then the collectors will distributed to rice millers and wholesalers within the studied districts. At the end, the most rice product will be exported to neighboring country, Vietnam.

Field visit by IOM-Cambodia

On 05-06 March 2006, there was a field visit conducted by a team from IOM organization included the representative from Ministry of Women's Affairs of Cambodia to the project's target area of the project "Improvement of the most Vulnerable Families for Protection of Human Trafficking and unsafe Migration" in Svay Rieng and Prey Veng provinces.



This team was seeking to understand about the situation and progress of the project implementation by CEDAC. During the the field visit, the visit team met with key farmers in order to interview with them relating to the progress in term of agricultural adoption/adaption and livelihood improvement under the intervention of this project. It was to note that there were many farmers had grown vegetables and most of the farmers in Prey Veng provinces were working on sugar palm production. The visit team suggested that it is good if the project can like those farmer producer groups to the local market especially the markets which is located nearby the Cambodia-Vietnam border, Bavet. It is good market opportunity thanks to there is big demand.

Field study on the adoption/adaptation of SRI technqiue

On 03-04 March 2009, Mr. YIM Sok Sophors conducted a field study on adoption/adaptation of SRI (System of Rice Intensification) in Thnoung village, Sdao Koang commune, Baphnom district, Prey Veng province, Cambodia.

The study aimed to know about the changes of farmers' practices in term of rice production in the village, especially to see the differences before and after the intervention of CEDAC's project in that studied village. It is to note that this study is only a part of the whole study on SRI in 20 villages within CEDAC's target villages. 10 farmers including the chief of village based farmer association and its members as well as the non SRI farmers were also invited to join the group discussion. To seek for more detail information, seveal farmers were in-depth interviewed.

Based on the result of this study, it is able to know that some techniques of SRI have been adapted by the villagers such as:

1. 80% of the farmer families in the village have reduced the amount of rice seed for broadcasting on the seedbed. 22% of seed quantity is reduced as the previously used 57.5 kg/ha and it is now only 45 kg/ha.
2. The age of seedling is also reduced according to the rice varieties
   
3. The number of rice stem per hill is also reduced from averagely 6 stems per hill but it is now only 3 stems per hill
4. Farmers have tried to make further compost of supplying to their rice fields. The average amound of compost is increased from 1750 kg/family/year up to 2425 kg/family/year.
   
5. The rice yield is also increased from 1.1 t/ha before the project's intervention up to 1.87 t/ha at the current time.
   

However, there are some techniques that farmers have not wildely practiced, such as:

1. The size of seedbed, but they just improve the preparation
2. Uproot only healthy seedlings for transplanting
   
3. Transplanting in row and equal from one hill to another
4. Transplanting immediately after uprooting
   
5. Weeding, water management, soil leveling are not widely adapted,

In short, it is able to conclude that farmers have adapted the techniques of SRI that enabled them to increase the rice yield significantly. However, there is a need of effort in order to mainstream other techniques of SRI to the farmers in the communities.