There are many studies about rice production in Cambodia, but none focus on the geographical location of rice production, particularly in the south-eastern provinces of Prey Veng, Takeo and Svay Rieng. Farmers in these areas produce mainly low-value rice (IR504) most of which is exported as wet paddy to Vietnam. The Vietnamese government recently decided to restructure its economic and agricultural policy by shifting from low-value rice to high-value rice and other agricultural crops. It is strongly believed that this […]

This study uses panel data collected in 11 villages in 2011-14 to investigate the impact of microcredit on paddy harvest and income, input costs for paddy production, and self-employment income. The panel data make it possible to implement difference-in-differences and triple-differences estimators. The results show that credit participants have a 26.1 percent increase in paddy income, a 68.9 percent increase in paddy harvest and a 26.5 percent increase in expenditure on farm inputs. Poorer households benefit more from credit participation. […]

Using primary and secondary data sources, this study synthesises existing knowledge on community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) approaches in Cambodia. It identifies critical challenges and suggests ways to optimise the benefits of CBNRM in the context of climate change. Selected CBNRM initiatives include farmer water user communities, community fisheries, community-based ecotourism and community forestry. Factors contributing to the success and potential sustainability of resource communities are visible local economic benefits; ongoing institutional support including from government, NGOs and the private […]

Lack of human capital is seen as one of the most significant constraints for Cambodia to be more competitive and to reach upper-middle-income country status. A recent discussion among researchers, policymakers, the private sector and development partners reached a broad consensus that a skills gap is emerging in Cambodia. In spite of concerted efforts, policymakers and bureaucrats still face challenges in designing and executing education policies that could build more human capital, especially highly skilled and educated labour. Information on […]

Women’s leadership is necessary for Cambodia’s sustained development. Their involvement in leadership roles in the public sphere and politics is crucial and has been shown to impact positively on poverty reduction. Governments, NGOs and international organisations have been increasingly aware that sustainable development is significantly linked to gender equality  and women’s empowerment, key factors in ending extreme poverty. It is only logical then that  Cambodia should pay greater attention to developing future generations of women for leadership, especially at the […]

This paper looks at the effect of labour movement on farm mechanisation in rural Cambodia. The study focuses on labour movement from on-farm towards off-farm jobs, and uses investment in agricultural machinery as a proxy for farm mechanisation. Statistics show that in recent years there has been a huge outmigration from rural areas. This has had significant impacts on farming practices across the country. Farmers can no longer depend on a ready supply of labourers, which in turn necessitates more […]

We use the 2004 and 2009 Cambodia Socio-Economic Surveys to measure the impact of user fees, health equity funds, the government health subsidy scheme, vouchers and various combinations of these policies on household health spending. Employing a difference-indifferences estimator and a two-part model, we find that health equity funds and vouchers help to reduce household health spending whereas user fees and the government health subsidy scheme are unlikely to reduce household health spending as was originally designed. Continuation and expansion […]

Motivated by the relatively low indicators for access to basic secondary education and healthcare, the study attempts to (1) analyse national policy and institutional framework for inclusive development in health and education, and (2) identify areas needing attention or updating. In education, Cambodia has made considerable progress towards achieving universal nine-year basic education. Supply-side issues are more important than demand-side factors, particularly the poor quality of teaching and learning; relatively low, albeit growing, government funds for education; corruption in service […]

Contract farming (CF) is increasingly seen as an effective mechanism to maximise the inclusion of and benefits for small-scale farmers, while giving some control over production to agribusinesses without requiring land ownership. In Cambodia, CF takes many forms and involves food and industrial crops, yet the different CF models and contract types have not been identified. Farmers and contractors have encountered many problems in obtaining reliable benefits from and sustaining CF schemes. The research objectives were to identify and evaluate the various models of CF […]

This paper estimates the incidence and intensity of catastrophic health payments and their impoverishment effects and identifies the sources of catastrophic payments by using the nationally representative household survey, the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey conducted in 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 by the National Institute of Statistics. We find that the proportion of households with out-of-pocket health spending exceeding the 10 percent threshold (the incidence of catastrophic payments) declined from 12.3 percent in 2004 to 9.2 percent in 2011, and […]

The rights-based approach (RBA) to development emerged as a new and relatively authoritative paradigm, starting from the late 1990s. At its core is the argument that human rights and development converge and, unless the socio-economic rights of the poor are attained, poverty cannot be alleviated. Its approach is to shift NGOs’ strategy from providing charity to empowering the poor politically so that they are able to claim their rights. Recently, major bilateral and multilateral donors and international non-government organisations have […]

Agriculture plays an important role in sustaining rural livelihoods. Eighty-three percent of rural people are engaged in agriculture (NIS and MAFF 2014). An emerging problem facing agriculture is climate change. The anticipated impacts of climate change and variability on agriculture include changes in rainfall patterns, higher temperatures, increased frequency and intensity of flood and drought, and increased incidence of pests and disease (MOE and UNDP 2011). These serious problems emphasise the critical need for climate-smart agriculture (CSA) (FAO 2013). Among CSA techniques, the system of rice […]