Category: Cambodia

Agriculture is one of the livelihood projects at the Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia. It is a livelihood skill that could be useful for the children when they leave the Home, either as a means of livelihood for themselves, or as a skill that they might be able to impart to others in their community. Agricultural training is thus, like schoolwork and other duties in the Home, part of the children’s daily activities.

Twelve of the older children have been grouped into twos or threes, with each group being assigned a parcel of land on which they grow about four crops. They are taught how to prepare their own plots, and they are also provided a greenhouse in which to grow their seedlings. The children sell their crops to the Home at a little lower than the market price, and from their earnings they return the capital cost of their crops.

About two months ago, they enjoyed the fruit of their labor, when they had their first harvest of organic tomatoes. Most of the tomatoes were sold to the Home, but one lot was sold to a friend of the Home.

Aside from tending their own plots, the children are help with planting in different areas of the Home. They have been planting a leguminous tree, Madre de Cacao, which has nitrogen-fixing properties and thus will help to fertilize the ground. They have also been planting Moringa for consumption in the Home, because this plant provides many nutrients.

Right now, the children are preparing their plots for a second batch of seedlings.

I visited the Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia again recently to see what new strategies could be applied to significantly improve food sufficiency for the children and staff at the Home. One of these focuses on rice production at two separate lowland parcels with an aggregate area of 0.8 hectare.

The past attempts in growing rice at the Home led to yields that were dismally low because of poor technology, low level of inputs, and inadequate crop-care activities. With an improved system of rice intensification, outputs can be expected to more than meet the daily staple need of all the residents at the Home for a year.

Hybrid rice is highly recommended because of its superior yield compared with that of inbred varieties. However, if it is not available in Cambodia, a local high-yield variety and preferably certified seeds should be used. Instead of the transplanting method of crop establishment, however, direct seeding should be practiced to save on labor requirements. This will also enable the adoption of an annual rice/rice/upland-crop pattern in the area—a pattern of growing an upland crop after two crops of rice, instead of letting the land lie fallow.

Another recommendation is the raising of Pangasius at one of the vacant fishponds. A riverine catfish found in the Mekong River, Pangasius is a fast-growing species that is excellent for fillet, soup, and broiling. It starts life as an omnivore, but after losing its teeth at 6 months it becomes mostly herbivorous. It can, therefore, thrive on kangkong (a semi-aquatic water plant also known as “water spinach”), sweet potato, and duckweed diets. Under ideal conditions, it can reach a length of 4 feet after 18 months. In Cambodia, the fingerlings can be sourced from fishponds in Phnom Penh.

Duck raising is one other option. A start-up involving 100 month-old ducks can supply the egg needs of Home, starting at 20 weeks of age (average of 285 eggs per bird per year). The excess eggs can be hatched into ducklings.

Other recommendations would be to expand the area planted with Moringa, a plant that can provide many nutrients; to plant sugar cane, because the juice is needed for fermenting animal feeds and brewing vermitea (a liquid fertilizer prepared from compost produced by earthworms); and the establishment of an orchard on the 0.75 hectare idle lot.

Apart from schoolwork, the children at the Home are already involved in agricultural and other livelihood projects, so although these options would widen the skills that they can acquire and increase food sufficiency, resource constraints would limit how the recommendations can be implemented. A step-by-step approach is the most realistic.

Earlier this month, Goducate Children’s Home, Cambodia, welcomed 5 new children into the “family”. These children, Nat, Lynn, Kanya, Mon and Nia, come from Battambang, a 12-hour drive away from the Home. They come from very poor homes and have received little education. They came to the Home in hope of a better education and a better life in the future.

The new children were taken for medical check-ups upon arriving at the home to make sure that they are healthy. They are looking forward to joining the rest of the children and to starting school very soon. The children at the Home were excited in having a new “brother” and several “sisters” and have welcomed them warmly. They are getting along very well and enjoy playing with each other. They new children have already even begun to help out with chores around the Home.

We are excited to see the new children grow and learn and are very glad that they are now part of the Goducate family.