Inner Strength:Threat-Free Future for Cambodia

[Cambodia] In Battambang Province, Rokabus Village, we have been providing support for livestock rearing since 2016.

It started with the lending of cattle and goats; in the second year, we began lending chickens and ducks; and in the third year, we lent pigs. The livestock that were returned were then lent to the next households, expanding the rearing households. By October 2023, we had lent to 152 households. Among them, some households had stopped rearing the livestock midway, but 66 households in the village were able to earn income. Other households were yet to generate income, but they can sell the bred livestock after returning them.

And on November 8th, 2023, the village chief, deputy village chief, and the principal of the primary school held a meeting, the first since April. This year, 2023, there was a general election in Cambodia in July, keeping the village leaders busy and making it difficult to schedule meetings. Hence, we felt relieved to finally have an important discussion.

The result of the monitoring survey conducted in August showed that the income from livestock rearing in the village, including the cumulative income from 2017 and the self-consumption of chickens and ducks, amounted to US$59,943, achieving 111.01% of the target. This achievement in income was satisfying for me and brought joy to the village leaders.

Since 2021, Terra Renaissance has been expanding support for livestock rearing using the development and training activity grant from the Wesley Foundation. In 2023, we successfully expanded the breeding and repayment of livestock, completing lending to 13 households.

As we have almost consumed the budget for this fiscal year, I informed the village leaders that we would not be able to provide equipment such as livestock sheds when lending the returned livestock to new villagers. We also discussed what to do if there are no villagers to lend the returned livestock to. In this regard, the village leaders easily decided to sell the livestock and save the money for the village when there were no borrowers.

Although we expected more debate, we were slightly surprised, but we will continue to monitor what happens when the livestock is returned.

On the other hand, it was decided to promote the cultivation of bamboo, which will be used as materials for livestock sheds within the village.

Building livestock sheds is not an easy task, but we know that they can be skillfully constructed by the villagers themselves, given the necessary materials.

Terra Renaissance hopes to bring out the strength of the Cambodian villagers and support them in becoming self-reliant and capable of self-governance.

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