Indigenous communities began installing demo-farms to test and demonstrate new farming techniques as they participate in the Cambodia Sustainable Livelihoods forIndigenous Communities Project carried out by Analyzing Development IssuesCentre.
Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri provinces host 20 villages engaged with the CSLICP program, funded by the People of Japan through the Japan Social Development Fund. Key activities include creating demo-farms, which aid in developing solutions to specific local challenges faced by producers in practical settings.
Demo-farms provide a platform for CSLICP team members to work alongside stakeholders and farmers, to share knowledge and expertise, while also addressing feedback on any limiting factors.
By testing and demonstrating new approaches on demo-farms, CSLICP agronomists can gather data on effectiveness and impact, which can inform future research and adaptive-farming efforts.
These so-called “trial gardens” play a role in adapting to a changing global climate, while enabling indigenous communities to develop farming practices that safeguard their food security and future livelihoods.
Research & Development
Demo-farms are used as research centers to test new farming practices and technologies in local settings. This identifies the best methods that can be adopted by farmers in the community based on existing environmental conditions and any other limiting factors.
Education& Training
Demo-farms focus on informing and training farmers on modern farming techniques, crop management, soil conservation, and other practices. Farmers improve their yields and income, which contributes to financial stability for more households.
SeedDistribution
Demo-farms distribute carefully selected, high-quality seeds that farmers can integrate into their planting agendas. This moves to improve the quality of local crops over time and to increase total yields for medium to small-scale producers.
Introduce Best Practices
Demo-farms showcase tested techniques farmers can integrate into their own agricultural activities, including safeguarding conservation efforts. This helps to create awareness to climate change and encourage adoption of proven prevention practices.
Approximately 40 percent of cultivated soils in Cambodia have a medium to severely degraded condition due to intensive use of equipment for mono-cropping and the use of agro-chemical inputs, which stall the ability to mitigate impacts of climate change, according to the National Council for Sustainable Development.
