From right, Chan Nhep, Soy Sarin, Khun Saran and Nget Ngorn weed a bed of eucalyptus seedlings in Takeo province, Cambodia. The workers manage an MCC-supported forestry association that benefits subsistence farmers. (Photo by Larry Groff) MCC-supported forestry project benefits Cambodian farmers
Tim Shenk MCC is supporting a community forestry association in Cambodia in a project to plant 250,000 trees this year. Subsistence farmers in Takeo province, southern Cambodia, are raising trees to provide lumber and firewood for their households and to earn an income by supplying a paper factory. Takeo Community Forestry Association, an MCC partner organization, is selling hundreds of thousands of eucalyptus and acacia tree seedlings to local farmers for several cents apiece. Kek Phat, a 75-year-old rice and vegetable farmer, recently harvested 3,000 trees that he planted with the help of the association a decade ago. Phat and his wife Yeay Tek have raised seven children, six of whom are married and have left home. To pay for their children's weddings, Phat and Tek sold a third of their 7-acre farm. Phat sold their trees to a Vietnamese paper factory for about $635 Cdn., or $575 U.S., after taxes. He used some of the proceeds to buy back the land he and his wife sold. The couple also purchased a cow, a bicycle, clothes, food and household supplies. They saved more than enough to replant 3,000 trees. "The trees helped me a lot during the last 10 years," Phat says. "I thank MCC and the association that created this project to support the poor." MCC helped form Takeo Community Forestry Association in 1994 and provides about $9,000 Cdn., or $8,000 U.S., each year to pay the association's staff. The association manages a 1,200-acre community forest that local farmers log and replant. About one-fifth of the forest is maintained as a protected area. |
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