A Recovery Response to Horticulture Farmers’ Crisis During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The pandemic has had a serious impact on Cambodian farming and horticulture. In various sectors, the market is coming under pressure; food production and internal markets for the entire food chain have fluctuated during this crisis.

During the April lockdown people were asked to stay indoors, a few big and small markets were shut down and transport was restricted. This caused issues in the supply of fresh vegetables, though these were quickly resolved through special permits for food and transport companies. The logistic arrangements had been extremely challenging for farmers to bring their produce to market, and they could not sell their harvested vegetables due to a lack of transport and stifled market access.

Consumers were afraid to go shopping for fear of contracting the virus, causing demand in provincial towns to drop considerably. Business activities were heavily restricted, and so farmers could not sell their produce. Some farmers consequently lost their entire vegetable harvest while others were forced to sell their vegetables at greatly reduced price, resulting in an economic loss.

With the Covid-19 now having spread to the provinces, consumer confidence continues to plummet, causing a deeper contraction in demand. The recent lockdowns in border provinces aggravate this, and a continued drop in tourist arrivals into the country has caused further contraction in local markets, most noticeably in Siem Reap province. Producers in Siem Reap and Battambang provinces have survived by been sending vegetables to other provinces, but this surplus supply has displaced local producers in the receiving provinces.

The Government of Cambodia has responded to the impacts caused by covid-19 by implementing various interventions to help stimulate agricultural recovery, support the greatest affected households through cash transfers, and prioritized a country-wide vaccination drive.

During this time, SNV and the General Directorate of Agriculture (GDA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), in coordination with PDAFF, have been providing farmers with recovery assistance through cash coupons for horticultural inputs. Small scale farmers producing for the market who want to restart commercial production are eligible for a subsidy to support the cost of inputs.

The Government of Cambodia has responded to the impacts caused by covid-19 by implementing various interventions to help stimulate agricultural recovery, support the greatest affected households through cash transfers, and prioritized a country-wide vaccination drive.

During this time, SNV and the General Directorate of Agriculture (GDA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), in coordination with PDAFF, have been providing farmers with recovery assistance through cash coupons for horticultural inputs. Small scale farmers producing for the market who want to restart commercial production are eligible for a subsidy to support the cost of inputs. This project made this activity possible with fund support of Swiss Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Around 300 farmers, identified as those who were severely affected in four target provinces (Kratie, Stung Treng, Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey) have been receiving cash coupons that have been distributed to the farmers between June and July, 2021. The farmers could exchange their coupons at participating local suppliers for items such as vegetable seeds, trellis net, fertilizer, plastic mulching, compost, drip irrigation lines, as well as many other items.

“I had already raised the bed layout and planned to get an additional loan for plastic mulching from a local private supplier but it was always a hesitation to whether or not I should get the loan, especially during this unstable situation. But I was happy when hearing that CHAIN would help us,” said Pich Sam Eng, a 58-year-old farmer living in Ou Russey village, Oddor Meachey.

He continued, “In July, I received a cash coupon valued 100 USD. With this coupon, I got four sets of plastic mulching and some fertilizers for my three-hectare vegetable farm.”

The farming recovery intervention provides support for farmers to re-establish their farm production to ensure a regular supply of vegetables to markets and to provide short-term income. The intervention also supports partners in the delivery of post-disaster services to farmers and farmer groups with additional short-term manpower.

The CHAIN team and PDAFF officers identified a list of (semi)commercial small scale farmers who have suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting country lockdown by classifying them into three categories: “totally lost” (over 250 USD loss), “some lost” (between 125 USD – 249 USD loss), and very little lost” (less than 125 USD loss).

Coupons were issued to farmers who displayed commitment to setting up their farms. Coupons with a value of 100 USD were given to each of the “totally lost” farmers while coupons with a value of 50 USD and 25 USD were given to “some lost” and “very little lost” respectively. The farmers used the coupons to cash in with any identified agricultural input supplier or lead farmer, each of which had been vetted using a competitive price comparison to ensure the provision of input package and materials at a fair price.

“This 100 USD coupon fund means a lot to me; it is more than I expected,” said Mrs. Reum Rim, 50, living in Kompot village, Rohas commune, Roveang district, Preah Vihear province. “With this coupon, I could buy many things, including fertilizers, vegetable seeds, plastic net, plastic mulching. I would thank CHAIN and all partners, and I hope they will continue their support on this vegetable production as we farmers need more support.”

CHAIN works indirectly with semi-commercial vegetable production groups through the PDAFF and market actors in order to establish market system changes in the targeted provinces. As a direct result of CHAIN support, both semi-commercial and commercial farmers can start recovering their farms, and will grow vegetables based on projected market demand and company order plans to avoid the surplus supply in the peak season of vegetable production.

Though farmers have already suffered a lot throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the CHAIN team hopes that the rainy season will bring enough water to survive the dry season, but not so much that they suffer from flooding (particularly high risk provinces situated along the river). In preparation, however, some farmers have been supported by CHAIN with on-farm ponds for water storage or bore-holes and pumps, in anticipation of possible water shortages in the dry season.