109. Document No. STAT/FOOD/10 “Food Security in Cambodia: Identification of Vulnerable Localities” was presented by Mr. Neou Ratana.
110. The Experts were apprised about the food security issues in Cambodia. Rice production fluctuated mainly due to erratic rainfall which resulted in food insecurity. The poverty score composite index based on 27 indicators was used to identify vulnerable localities. Rice accounted for some 84 percent of annual foodcrop production, 91 percent of the cropped area and provided 68 percent of total energy requirement. It was grown mainly in the Center Mekong Basin and Delta and the Tonle Sap Plain.
111. The following five different rice systems were practised in Cambodia, three in the wet season and two in the dry season, namely: low-land rainfed rice; deep water and floating rainfed rice; rainfed upland rice; dry season flood recession rice with supplementary irrigation; and dry season lowland irrigated rice.
112. It was reported that lowland rainfed rice was the main rice crop and cultivated during the wet May-December season. Main categories of rice were distinguished by their different maturation periods, i.e. early, medium and late maturing varieties. The November-May dry-season crop, accounting for 10 percent of total planted area and close to 18 percent of output, took advantage of the flood receding waters and used supplementary irrigation at a later stage. Dry-season paddy area had increased by 30 percent in the period 1994-98. However, the planted area was dependent on the annual rainfall and the Mekong floods and, consequently, on the water levels of irrigation reservoirs. As a result, rice production fluctuated significantly with fluctuations in rainfall, in recent years.
113. The Experts were apprised that other foodcrops were grown on about 10 percent of the total harvested area. Kampong Cham province was the main producer of soybean, maize, vegetables, mungbean, groundnut, and sesame, accounting for 40 percent of non-rice cultivated area.
114. The Experts were also informed that the rice balance for 1998 indicated a small surplus of 29 000 tonnes compared to a surplus of 104 000 tonnes estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) for 1997. The surplus was much reduced despite a sizeable percent increase in production between 1997 and 1998. The main reason was that a higher population figure based on the population census conducted in March 1998 was used in the calculation of rice consumption.
115. While income from rice farming was most often the key income earning activity for rural households, 26 percent of the people stated non-rice sources as their primary source of income. Even among the primary rice farming households, there were wide variations in terms of dependency on rice. Based on land cover types, agricultural statistics and socio-economic survey data, five specific food economy zones had been identified in Cambodia, namely: Lowland rain-fed, Scrub, Forest, Riverine, and Urban/Market, as well as some mixed zones. By defining food economy zones, factors such as drought, deforestation and poorly developed water resources were more precisely identified in terms of their impact on food security. Two of these zones, lowland rain-fed and scrub/degraded forest had been primarily targeted by WFP for rehabilitation activities to assist communities to solve problems of chronic or recurrent food insecurity.
116. The targeting process was centered on three groups of beneficiaries: (a) people in chronically food insecure communes and special population groups in the Protracted Emergency Target areas; (b) social sector beneficiaries; and (c) people affected by short-term emergencies. To assess the food aid needs of chronically food insecure people in 1999, an initial list of 470 communes was complied by WFP in consultation with concerned Government Offices and NGOs. These were then filtered through a selection process based on two composite indices. One was an analysis of the Poverty Score Index for each of these communes and the other was whether the communes belonged to a high priority district.
117. Using the above two composite indices, 170 communes out of the original 470 had been initially selected for WFP food assistance in the 1999 programme year. These were the chronically or recurrently food insecure communes.
118. The Protracted Emergency Target communes were selected on the basis of six criteria: 1) loss of assets; 2) man-made events causing an involuntary change in livelihood strategy; 3) high-risk coping strategies; 4) poor security within the last 12 months; 5) socially isolated from services and neighboring communes/villages; and 6) inadequate income. The target populations within these areas were returnees, long or short-term internally displaced persons (IDPs), or recently resettled communes usually within the old civil conflict zones.
119. It was mentioned that WFP food assistance to social sector beneficiaries would have improved the nutrition and quality of life of the most vulnerable people at critical times, promoting self-reliance as strategic focus. The target group for activities would include tuberculosis patients, illiterate women, street children, amputees at prosthesis centres, members of poor families receiving training through NGOs and the Ministry of Women's Affairs, and lone elderly people.
120. WFP had an extensive field presence and coordinated with the National Committee for Disaster Management, the Emergency Response Group comprising UN agencies, NGOs and the Cambodian Red Cross to react immediately to assist victims of short-term emergencies.
121. The Experts noted that rice paddy ratio of 62% used for converting paddy production into rice was too low and needed to be re-examined.
122. The Experts observed that the small size of crop cutting plot used could result in over estimation of yield. It was recommended that sampling errors of yield estimate be calculated in order to determine the appropriate number of crop cuts required for estimating yield with given accuracy.
123. The Experts noted that the per capita figure used for estimating rice consumption was high. In the absence of household surveys, figures for other countries with similar consumption pattern should be used for estimating consumption.
124. It was recommended that FAO continue to assist in improving agricultural statistics in countries where agricultural statistics system was weak, and to field crop/food assessment missions as and when necessary
