"I am 54 and I thought that I was too old to learn anything new," says San Van, a grandmother and farmer in a nearby village. "But I came here and see this movie and it is easy. I will try this new way and save seeds and grow more rice. It is exciting."
Pov Cham shakes her head in agreement. "I am very excited because with the old method of farming I could not have such a surplus like I can with this," Cham says. "I like how easy this was to learn and it was from people like me."
What has excited these women to change the way they will farm?
An instructional movie released today by Oxfam America and the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture, or CEDAC.
The new movie, titled "Do You Speak SRI?" was developed to assist Cambodian farmers to easily and effectively grow more rice to support their families and to teach them new ways to farm. It takes a different approach of the traditional educational movie by using real farmers rather than actors to tell their own story and successes in using the new practices. The movie follows the journey of a young farmer as he learns each of the 12 practices from more experienced farmers.
In a recent viewing in Kampong Chhang, audience members were excited to see real farmers in the movie—most of whom were unscripted. The farmers showed off their natural enthusiasm for the practices.
"I like that I could see someone like me," says Van. "They are so happy and have grown so much rice using less seeds."
The movie is an addition to the other training tools CEDAC uses to assist farmers in implementing the practices.
"We hope that farmers will learn how to implement their choice of 12 practices into their own farming practices and realize that this can improve their yield and thus their quality of life," says Dr. Yang Saing Koma, President of CEDAC.
System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which was first introduced to Cambodia in 2000, has helped more than 80,000 Cambodian families grow more rice by using a selection of up to 12 simple practices. By adopting these steps, Cambodian farmers can increase rice yields from 50 to 150 percent, compared to yields harvested from traditional methods. Many farmers use this surplus of rice to feed their families, generate extra income and make improvements for other agricultural ventures.
"Boosting the farming community's skills so that they can grow more rice is about more than feeding Cambodian families,"" says Brian Lund, Regional Director of Oxfam America's East Asia Office in Phnom Penh. "It also is about boosting the farmer's confidence so that they take control over their life now and in the future."
To better empower farmers and sustain their self-reliance, Oxfam America and CEDAC recently combined the SRI training with a savings-led microfinance program called Saving for Change, which enables farmers and community members to better retain and manage the improved wealth they are achieving from their crops.
CEDAC plans to teach the SRI method to farmers in the 13,000 villages in Cambodia over the next five years.
As for Cham and Van, both said the movie convinced them to try SRI practices on a small part of their rice field to test it and see how it works for them.
"I am going to try it out," says Cham laughing. "Then I will let you know if I will be ready to be in the next movie to show my surplus of rice."
]]>For villagers in Mindanao, once known as the food basket of the Philippines, extreme heat, droughts and flash flooding are now annual occurrences. They used to enjoy three planting seasons a year, generating bountiful crops from their fertile soil. Now, villagers are battling regular pest infestations and unpredictable weather, malnutrition is rising, and some villagers are forced to survive on bananas.
The worst crisis so far was the 1997 El Niño, which lasted for nine months. The temperature soared, plants dried, land cracked, and clean water sources were threatened. People left their villages.
In the village of Sepaka, last year's drought lasted for six months. All the crops failed and some farmers only managed to produce one sack of rice. In a good season, one hectare yields an average of 70 sacks of rice.
This year the farmers face an added crisis: many of the rice fields have turned black and dried up because of an infestation of black rice bugs. Nobody knows where the bugs come from, or why. All the villagers know is that they face food shortages again within the next six months. The people of Sepaka are desperate because they do not have staple foods.
One villager has decided to find a new way to survive in the face of a changing climate. He is Rasid Naim, 28 years old, from a family of farmers of rice and corn. In 2004, Rasid started to volunteer for Oxfam's operational project and received training in organic farming techniques. He applied these techniques to his father's hectare of land and soon found he was making huge savings by mixing his own pesticides and fertilizers instead of buying synthetic ones. He was able to pay his previous debts to traders and buy an additional 1.5 hectares of land, which is now an organic farm too.
At first, Rasid's fellow farmers teased him that his new approaches would not withstand the threats from insects and pests. But they did, and his success in organic farming has convinced 18 more farmers to shift from chemical-dependent to natural and organic practices. His experience proves that his own rice field withstood not only rice farm pests, but also intense flash floods and recurring droughts. Now Rasid is experimenting with an organic pesticide against the deadly black bugs.
It is still early days, but Rasid's work is just one of a myriad of grassroots adaptations to climate change that are already happening across the developing world. Rasid hopes for more support from the government for this kind of project.
"Organic farming frees us from poisonous substance from the chemicals found in the synthetic fertilisers and pesticides," says Rasid. "Our land is more fertile, our bodies are healthier, and we are happier that even the next generation, our children and grandchildren, can benefit from it."
Women's groups have also been created to generate income. One of their activities is making organic soap. They sell it to their neighbors and use their income to buy ingredients needed to make organic fertilizers.
"We need to save mother Earth," says Nor-aisa Iskak, one of the women fundraising to make organic fertilizers and pesticides.
]]>Following the advice of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture, or CEDAC, Som abandoned his use of chemicals in favor of organic fertilizer. He planted fewer seeds and spaced them widely apart. He kept the soil moist—without flooding it. He transplanted the rice seedlings while they were young and took the time to weed. Halfway through that first season, Som noticed his rice plants were growing bigger and stronger.
"The same seeds used to produce plants that came up to my knees," he said. "Now they reach above my head."
Since Som's experiment, CEDAC has trained more than 60,000 Cambodian farmers to modify their farming techniques to correspond with SRI. Like farmers in Madagascar, China, and Bangladesh, they have increased their yields by 50 to 100 percent, and sometimes more.
Yang Saing Koma, the president of CEDAC, better known as "Dr. Koma," calls it the "Root Revolution," and eventually he wants the majority of Cambodia's rice farmers to have joined in.
"It's just a question of changing your attitude and thinking," he said. "Conventional agriculture just looks at the plant above ground. With SRI, you look at the roots—big, strong roots."
Using grants from Oxfam America totaling about $222,000 since 2003, CEDAC has used SRI to build financial and food security in one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries. More than 70 percent of the workforce depends on agriculture to make a living—most of them, rice farmers.
Dr. Koma says it's like a metaphor for human development. If you give people enough room to grow, they flourish. If you plant seedlings far enough apart, the seedlings sprout several stalks and the stalks produce hundreds of grains of rice.
He first learned about SRI after reading a magazine article chronicling the experiences of farmers in Madagascar. Jesuit priest Father Henri de Laulanié spent 20 years working with Malagasy farmers, refining a set of practices that required less land, seed, water, and money.
At first, the Cambodian farmers who are approached by CEDAC about trying SRI had trouble believing what they were hearing. Some even ridiculed the farmers who tried the new method.
When So Tith began planting through SRI three years ago, his neighbors saw him pressing fewer seeds into the soil and pitied him, thinking he couldn't afford to buy more. "They offered to give me some of their seed," he said.
Even after Tith's new stalks began to grow, his neighbors wouldn't attribute their sturdiness to SRI. They attributed it to "trickery" instead. But Tith didn't mind, for in a couple years these same doubters would end up changing their practices, and more important, their minds.
Accustomed to using oxen and carts to take water to their fields, they now fill jugs and carry them on their shoulders to small plots of land near their homes. They plant during the wet and dry seasons, doubling their production and incomes.
"Daily life is better than before," said Sorn Ton, another rice farmer who adopted SRI. "When we used to farm, there wasn't enough rice to support the family for the whole year. We had to borrow money to buy rice from others in the village. Now my family has enough to eat."
The farmers use the extra profits to invest in more rice seed, send their children to school, and participate in the simple joys of everyday life—the religious and family ceremonies, the weddings and festivals.
All this from a little bit of creative thinking informed by the people who work the land themselves.
"Throughout Cambodia, the farmers who adopted SRI—they have more self confidence. They see what they can get from what they do," Dr. Koma said.
]]>Five men from the Community Cooperative for Rural Development, or CCRD, an Oxfam partner organization, stood along the mill's perimeter, watching it work. Serious and proud, they admired their prize: the only certified organic rice mill in the country.
Cambodian rice farmers, long vulnerable to fluctuating prices and heavy regional competition, are looking to organic rice to help them carve out a niche in the market. As eating healthily has become more popular around the world, so has organic food. Organic products sell for a higher price than conventionally farmed food. In a country where more than a third of the population lives on less than $1 a day and more than half depends on agriculture, the organic advantage could translate into a reliable and steady income.
"The momentum is really growing," said Le Thi Nguyet Minh, an Oxfam America program officer in the East Asia office. "We need to maintain it."
Maintaining the organic momentum requires establishing farming cooperatives, which are equipped to work in the organic market. This transition represents a huge practical and emotional leap for many Khmer farmers.
The bloody civil war and subsequent genocide that ravaged Cambodia left many Khmer people distrustful of both their neighbors—and any sort of collective work, said Yann Omer-Kassin, an Oxfam Quebec field advisor supporting CCRD.
Even the words "farming cooperative" pose a problem. In Khmer, they translate into "work camp," a term that conjures up painful fears or memories of Khmer Rouge death camps. Many of the people Kassin talked to in Pursat said they were wary of joining a farming coop "because it's linked to a horrible past."
Because of these cultural sensitivities, CCRD staff work slowly and patiently to convert farmers to organic production. They spend much of their time simply building trust in the cooperative concept. They point to the tangible benefits of organic production.
Farmers are encouraged to use animal manure instead of chemical fertilizers—a requirement of organic certification. The resulting savings can be used—to grow other crops, or send children to school. If farmers use natural fertilizer, they can also prevent illness. Many farmers and farm workers get sick because they can't read the labels on the chemicals they use. Many of the chemicals are so dangerous they're prohibited in other countries.
Tang Eum, 47, a rice farmer in Pursat, said she began farming organic rice three years ago. She said natural fertilizer doesn't always produce as much rice as chemical fertilizer. But she's willing to accept that tradeoff if it means her family and friends won't get sick.
CCRD has converted at least 75 of the 1,500 farmers in its collective to farm organic. Their support is crucial. Many of the rice farmers face the same challenges organic and fair trade coffee farmers saw when they first learned about the new model. Many have farmed small plots with chemicals for generations. They need help learning new agriculture techniques so that they can someday grow as much rice as they had before.
Then they need help getting the experience, technical assistance, and market access to pull it all off.
It is a challenging task, CCRD workers said. But knowing what they do about the potential benefits keeps them motivated. Eventually they want to help local farmers not only farm organically, but take the next logical step, and sell to the fair trade market.
Fair Trade Certified™ products are high quality and grown through practices friendly to the environment. Farmers receive a minimum price even when the market price is low. According to a 2005 market study, if farmers made the transition from conventional growing to fair trade organic they could see their profits more than double.
Sitting at a wood table outside her house in Pursat, Tang Eum said she knows what she wants to do with that extra money. A mother and a businesswoman, she would use it to support her family and sell her rice.
"I want to use the money to send my children to school," she said. "And I want to buy a moto to go to the market in town."
]]>The stories that follow testify to the fact that aid can be used effectively—in Africa and beyond. By investing directly in people, by helping them gain access to education, credit, and natural resources, by challenging the policies that perpetuate poverty, Oxfam puts the systems in place that can end poverty. Without this work—and your support—people remain hungry, poor, and lacking meaningful ways to change their lives.
Together, we have the chance to make that change.
]]>