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The Bunong people are subsistence farmers, meaning everything they need traditionally comes from the forest and fields. Forest protection and conserving natural resources are essential to their survival. Can you come up with solutions to build on cultural practices and improve food security in Pu Ngaol?
Overview
Overview
Most Bunong families practise swidden (shifting cultivation) as their main form of agriculture. Forest is cleared and burned to establish agricultural land which is cultivated with rice, intercropped with a wide variety of vegetables, before moving on to another area to allow the first to recover, and eventually returning to the original farm site. In the past, new forest area would have been cut but is now restricted under protected area legislation.
Food is expensive in this province, especially fruit, partly because the supply does not meet the demand. Locally grown and made produce in Pu Ngaol, and the surrounding villages, are small scale. Produce is sold at the local Toul village markets and the main Senmonorom town market. One or two households buy the produce from all others in the village who then sell to larger market buyers, who then will potentially export to Vietnam.
Rice is farmed mostly for subsistence in Pu Ngaol village with some selling locally within the village for income. Land sizes range from: 20 m2 (smallest), 5,000 m2 (medium and most common), and 10,000 m2 (largest and less common). The most common method for Indigenous farmers is rice grown in water where land is dammed to collect and retain water from the wet season. Modern methods have been modified to grow forms of rice that need less water. Families generally grow rice together on the same area of land whether they own it or not, each with their own plot, and will help each other manage it. Farms in the surrounding area of Pu Ngaol village are organic and use no pesticides or fertilisers.
Livestock on farms include cows, buffalos, pigs, ducks and chickens. Beef is expensive so most people don’t eat it, so cows and buffalo are primarily kept for their milk. Chicken, fish and pork is more affordable, and 1 kg of meat will last a family around three days, but are less frequent in peoples diets depending on how much the family can afford to buy. Livestock are free to roam during the dry season. Bamboo fencing will either be put around farms or livestock will be kept in pens during the wet season, to avoid damage to crops. Buffalo are often confined to the forest areas as they will eat the shoots in rice paddies.
Current situation
Current situation
The majority of meals include a large serving of rice approximately 250 g (steamed rice, rice noodles, and rice porridge) for each family member accompanied by one to a few dishes of food. Fresh vegetables (pumpkin, waterlily, watermelon, ridged gourd, eggplant, etc.), herbs, prahok (salted and fermented fish paste) and spices like lemongrass, galangal, and turmeric are also commonly used to enhance the flavours of dishes. The cuisine often incorporates a balance of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter flavours. Fruits like mangoes, bananas, papaya and corn are popular for snacking or as desserts.
Fish are abundant in the Ou Te River and will often be included in meals (in soups or fermented fish by bacteria with salt, which can last for years in an airtight container), caught with a fish trap or a fixed line. The traps are made of bamboo and fishing nets. Community members will direct fish towards the trap and multiple people will carry the net across a few metres to enclose the fish. A fixed line consists of a hook on a common fishing line, attached to a rod made of bamboo fixed into the ground and left overnight. Insects, worms, frogs and small fish are all common forms of bait.
Everyone’s livelihoods in Pu Ngaol depends on agriculture, especially rice farming as well as vegetable and fruit gardens and farms, for household use or to sell in small amounts. Forest vegetable leaves, and tubers such as mushrooms, bamboo shoots, are very important in the diet of the Bunong people in Pu Ngaol. Bamboo is also used in soups. Explore the interactive for the types of vegetables and fruit trees in Pu Ngaol.
Most people in Pu Ngaol work as labourers for income on other people’s rice farms but may also have a field of their own to harvest rice for their own families. Generally, rice grown over one season consisting of 25-30 bags on average per family is not enough for subsistence. There is only one harvest a year and one rice season (during the wet season) which puts significant pressure and risk on each harvest to be successful and be able to provide for the following year’s household food. Each house in Pu Ngaol village makes their own rice wine, kept in ceramic containers, which is common across Cambodia, however, it can be dangerous if not made correctly.
The effects of the climate changing are already being experienced in Cambodia, including more severe weather patterns. Changing rainfall patterns affect smallholder farmers the most, and the effects can be devastating when they struggle to secure diversified income and food streams. Large volumes of rain can submerge rice plants for too long can cause it to spoil, while having too little rain can also affect crop growth.
RELEVANT CASE STUDIES
RELEVANT CASE STUDIES
Take a look at the following case studies for more information and ideas. As you explore this area and the perspectives from the case studies, consider how food interconnects with other challenges identified by the community:
Amnus Nhoeb (Community Member, Pu Ngaol), Chen Saitevy (Community Member, Pu Ngaol), Mreal Sao (Community Member, Pu Ngaol) Nhean Nhroeun (Deputy Village Chief, Pu Ngaol) and Nheang Heng (Community Member, Pu Ngaol) share their experience of preparing and maintaining their farms throughout the year.
Phalla Mey (Head of Eastern Plains Landscape, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)) describes the various programmes to support sustainable livelihoods in Pu Ngaol.
Pin Prak (Technology Development Manager, Engineers Without Borders Australia Cambodia Team) highlights the impact of the climate emergency on crop yields.
Projects
Projects
1. Food Distribution
1. Food Distribution
Explore the different ways that food is distributed to local and town markets in the interactive. Market sellers buy from Pu Ngaol farmers for a low price but sell for a high price, with local farmers usually missing out on profits. Motorbikes can typically only transport limited payloads. Limited transport connections and keeping produce fresh on journeys to bigger town markets are a challenge. What ideas can you come up with for affordable and efficient distribution, cleaning, storage and cooling of food in the region?
2. Efficient food production
2. Efficient food production
Food, especially fruit and beef, is expensive. Rice production is time consuming and labour intensive, as farmers often use their hands to pull out the rice plants. Some have a sickle to harvest while some hire rice ploughs (also known as a walking tractor) which are expensive. A walking tractor can be bought at the town market for 826,000 riel (around $2000 USD). What ideas can you come up with to improve the productivity, resilience and efficiency of agriculture in Pu Ngaol?
3. Sustainable food supply
3. Sustainable food supply
Economic land concessions (in which the government grants huge areas of public land to private companies) threatens the Bunong peoples way of life. Agriculture also has close links with and dictates the flow-on effects to each households’ access to education, health, nutrition, gender equality and more. What ideas can you come up with to build on climate resilient local agriculture and cultural practices?
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