The paper finds that rural Cambodians are highly dependent on rice. Rice accounts for between 80 and 84 percent of calorie intake in the three villages, and for between 38 and 50 percent of expenditure on food. In the foreseeable future, rice will continue to be at the centre of food security in Cambodia. But this does not mean that to achieve food security a household has to produce all its own rice. Food security derives from the power to obtain food, whether directly by growing it or indirectly by having something to exchange for it.
Rural poverty and mild to moderate malnutrition are widespread, though the incidence of "extreme" poverty and severe malnutrition are relatively low. Particularly disturbing is the precarious situation of the rural poor. Compared with many other Asian countries, Cambodia has an abundance of land and the benefit of recent land reform. Yet the poor have increasingly limited access to land, and few own animals. To a large extent, they have to rely on their access to common property resources and the sale of their labour. Migration in search of wage work is desperate in some places, with women in particular taking on heavy labour in agriculture and construction in order to repay loans. As well as financing agricultural production, an important purpose of such loans, at high rates of interest, is to deal with health emergencies, which often have catastrophic consequences.
This paper concludes with recommendations for a phased approach to policy implementation for food security. Interventions in credit and health are seen as a short- to medium-term strategy, along with policies supportive of agricultural and rural economic growth. Work on policies for land and common property resources needs to be started immediately, but these will take longer to implement. A prerequisite for an effective food security policy of any kind is the existence of suitable development institutions at the local level—in the form both of government rural development institutions (currently non-existent at this level) and non-governmental organisations (not operating in the areas of highest food insecurity).
ContentsChapter One - Introduction
Economic trends
Food security and poverty
Organisation of the study
Chapter Two - Conceptual framework and methodological notes
The conceptual framework
Methodological approach
An approach to the socio-economic stratification of households
Chapter Three - The status of food security
Rice and food consumption
The extent of poverty
Conclusion
Chapter Four - The structure of income
Levels and sources
Seasonal fluctuations
Income consumption and distribution
Discussion
Chapter Five - The distribution of assets
Asset ownership
Chapter Six - Rice production, prices and marketed surplus
Participation and productivity
Marketed surplus
Chapter Seven - Market participation
The land market
The market for animals
The tenancy market
The labour market
The credit market
Informal credit - a disaggregated view
Conclusion
Chapter Eight - Crisis, adjustments and responses
The structure of crises
Responses to crises
Chapter Nine - Conclusion
Review of findings
Policy implications