More fertile soils bring a better life

Cambodia needs to reinvent its outlook on agriculture as yields on their arable farmland are decreasing. New agricultural technologies are indeed available and might help to improve productivity. Many of these solutions are not sufficiently commercialised to the point that they might reach broad numbers of farmers. The capacities of public agricultural extension services that are supposed to extend new skills are quite limited.

Swisscontact’s Mekong Inclusive Growth and Innovation Programme (MIGIP) aims to tackle these challenges together with various partners.

Why yields are dropping

Plants require CO2 to grow. They filter the greenhouse gas from the air and trap it in the ground where it is stored. If, however, the ground cannot store enough CO2 – as is the case in Cambodia – then soil fertility decreases and with it, productivity as well. The poor soil fertility often leads to more forest being cut down.

Conservation agriculture as a practical solution

Swisscontact wants to help farmers break out of this vicious circle. With the “conservation agriculture” approach, soil fertility improves within a relatively short period. Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a farming system that contributes to the prevention of arable land loss and regenerates degraded soils through the adoption of polyculture, crop rotation, cover crops, and no-till-planting. Through these measures, the earth can regenerate and becomes fertile once again.

The method is not new in Cambodia. Since 2004, the Department of Land Resources Management with the support from CIRAD have been working on innovative cropping systems and practices based on the principles of Conservation Agriculture. These practices have been designed and tested in different agroecosystems of Cambodia. Results from these scientific studies showed that Conservation Agriculture Production Systems improved soil fertility, reduce labor, conserved water and increased yield and income for smallholder farmers. Building upon the much-needed research, Swisscontact joined hands with other partners (CE SAIN/RUA, SIIL/Kansas State University, Department of Engineering, DALRM, CIRAD) to commercialize the adoption process. Swisscontact, through its MIGIP project, utilized its Inclusive Market Approach with a focus on enterprise development, especially in strengthening the accessibility of conservation agriculture technology and inputs such as cover crops and appropriate mechanisation. 

Systemic project approach

Most Cambodian farmers do not own agricultural machinery but rent the requisite services from local agricultural service providers. For 25 dollars a farmer can have a field the size of a football pitch tilled. To spread sustainable agricultural practices, Swisscontact is working with agricultural machinery service providers. The commercialisation of appropriate machinery is a catalyst to ensure the momentum of CA practices adoption. Through cooperation with the farmers' service providers, the new agricultural methods can be sustainably rooted. Swisscontact also works closely with the government and the research institutes so that the practices are adopted at the national level.

“The scaling-up of technologies is only possible if there is an incentive for the actors involved in the process. For farmers to practice no-till planting, these services must reach the farmers. The business model to reach farmers in Cambodia is through tractor service providers. Swisscontact works with importers of tractors and no-till planters and helps them promote to the service providers,” says Rajiv Pradhan, MIGIP Programme Manager.

If many farmers adopt sustainable agriculture, that will prevent deforestation, improve soil fertility, and conserve water usage. On the micro-level as well, this method ensures profitability for farmers. Sustainable agriculture responds to the most pressing social and environmental challenges Cambodia faces.