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Cambodia Situation
Food security is a cross-cutting issue, and in a country such as Cambodia,
rural poverty and food insecurity are strongly interlinked. In Cambodia most
people depend, to an important extent, on their own capacity to produce food to
meet their needs. They grow crops including their staple food (rice) as well as
other annual and perennial crops, raise livestock, and harvest wild foods from
fisheries and forests for food and income. Despite Cambodia being
self-sufficient in rice at the national level, the country’s rice balance
varies significantly from area to area within the country, as well as from year
to year. Crop agriculture is largely rice-based, with very limited
diversification in many food-insecure areas of the lowland flood plains, while
fish production (a main source of protein) is declining and increasingly under
threat. Many rural households have insufficient land for crop production. Many
rural people also depend on casual low-wage labor or informal-sector
enterprises to make income with which to buy at least part of their food needs,
and the food security of poor rural people can often depend mainly on income
from such activities. Farmers seeking to sell their crops face a poorly
developed road and market infrastructure, limited storage capacity, and high
transaction costs. Net returns from rice production are very low, and the
marketing strategies of households earn little profit. Purchasing power to buy
food is generally very limited in rural areas due to the high incidence of
poverty. Rice shortages (rice gaps for two months or more) at the household
level are frequent and contribute to the indebtedness of rural households,
which in turn leads to chronic food insecurity. High health expenditures erode
the asset base and purchasing power of food-insecure and vulnerable households.
Income and food from common-property resources (forests and fisheries) are
particularly important for the poor, but concessions and environmental
degradation have restricted their access to these resources.
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Cambodia has some of the highest malnutrition rates in Asia, with 44% of
children under five years of age stunted and 15% wasted. Micronutrient
deficiencies such as Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD), Vitamin A Deficiency
(VAD) and Iron Deficiency Anaemia (IDA) are widespread and hamper the full use
of human potential for development. There is limited access to safe water and
proper sanitation. People’s poor health status (resulting from limited access
to quality health services and preventive health) impairs optimal utilisation
of food, while poor quality diet and inadequate feeding and caring practices
further exacerbate the problem.
In recent years, flooding and drought have become more frequent, but emergency
response capacities remain insufficient. The current production system is very
vulnerable to drought due to the lack of diversification and irrigation.
Depletion of productive assets, as a result of indebtedness, leads to chronic
food insecurity. The food needs of permanent vulnerable groups (female-headed
households with children, elderly, disabled, people living with HIV/AIDS) are
not sufficiently addressed as a result of disrupted rural social institutions
and lack of social safety nets. While women in Cambodia play a major role in
all components of food security, whether in food production, marketing,
household income/budgeting or as care takers, their role is negatively impacted
by issues such as high illiteracy rates among women, lack of education and
knowledge, and poor health and nutritional status (e.g. very high maternal
mortality rates and iron-deficiency anaemia prevalence of 65% among pregnant
women).
The elimination of food and nutritional insecurity in Cambodia, and the
attainment of Cambodian Millennium Development Goal 1 to eradicate extreme
poverty and hunger, demands a specific, comprehensive and integrated approach
focusing on all three dimensions of food security: availability, access and use
and utilization. Furthermore, food security and vulnerability need to be
tackled at the national, household and individual level.
Food security and nutrition are at the forefront of discussions among
policy-makers in Cambodia, who are incorporating food security and
nutrition-related goals and objectives in national strategies and frameworks
such as the Cambodia Nutrition Investment Plan (CNIP) 2003-2007, the Cambodia
Millennium Development Goals (CMDGs), the Rectangular Strategy and the upcoming
National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2006-2010. Achievement of seven out
of the eight Millennium Development Goals depends on achieving Food and
Nutrition Security. In late 2004, the Royal Government of Cambodia created a
Technical Working Group on Food Security and Nutrition (TWGFSN) to promote the
“mainstreaming” of food security and nutrition in sectoral policies and
strategies and to support the integration of food security and nutrition in the
decentralized planning process. The role of the TWGFSN is one of coordination
among the RGC and donors.
Important steps are also being taken by the RGC with the support of donors, UN
agencies, non-governmental organisations and research institutions, among
others, to improve access to land, improve and diversify agricultural
production, create income-generating opportunities for rural households,
rehabilitate infrastructure, increase investments in safe water and sanitation,
educate mothers on the importance of appropriate feeding and caring practices,
scale-up micronutrient supplementation and food fortification programs, work
towards health sector reform, establish social safety nets, and encourage the
partcipation of communities in planning and decision-making processes.
FSN-Strategy
Paper developed by the TWG-FSN
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| Cambodia Situation | Cambodia FSN Statistics &
Maps|
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