Feeding a nation

For many Cambodian families, rice provides the primary means of making a living and the main staple of every meal. With valuable financial support from Oxfam America, our local partner is teaching farmers how to raise their yields and use those extra profits to improve the quality of everyday life.

It took quite a bit of convincing before Mey Som agreed to be the first Cambodian to try the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in 2000. But in the end, Som relented and, on a small plot of land, planted rice in a way that went against all his experience and instincts.

Following the advice of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (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 says. "Now they reach above my head."

Since Som's experiment, SRI has dramatically improved the lives of more than 80,000 Cambodian farmers. Using fewer seeds, farmers are producing twice the rice they once did.

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.