SUSTAINABLE RICE FISH INTEGRATION
|
Project Property |
|
|
|
 |
About the Project
The Sustainable Rice Fish Integration (SRFI)
Project has been carefully designed to respond to poverty
reduction needs in Cambodia. The project will form the basis of a
partnership between Prek Leap National School of Agriculture
(PNSA) and the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial
University (MI). PNSA is a national college within the Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) mandated to provide
extension training curriculum in agriculture and fisheries. A
cornerstone of MI’s 40-year history is its community-based
training of nontraditional learners, a model that has been
successfully applied to development initiatives in Africa and
Southeast Asia.
The purpose of the project is to enhance the extension training
capacity of Prek Leap National School of Agriculture (PNSA) to
respond to the training needs of rural farmers, a capability it
currently does not have. Through the project, PNSA will develop
standardized short course curriculum in integrated rice fish
agriculture. In addition, government agriculture/fisheries
extension officers will be cross-trained by PNSA in integrating
rice crops and fishponds. Through a series of training-of-trainer
courses, extension officers will then deliver hands-on skills
training to farmers. In turn, extension officers will train a
select number of farmers in Takeo
Province to be mentors to other farmers. Men dominate fish
culture, decision-making and training activities.8 Women dominate
rice and household labour activities (i.e. rice planting, weeding,
harvest, collecting water), are lower paid labour (53%9), and have
not received training in fisheries.10 Therefore, gender equality
is a cross-cutting theme that will integrate with strategies such
as mentoring, gender specific training, and modified time/place
scheduling. PNSA will act as facilitators in these processes,
which will provide them with valuable field experience and promote
awareness of the PNSA’s capabilities. Cambodia’s National
Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) clearly states that reliable
sources of rice and fish are critical for food security among its
people. Many of RGC’s priorities are echoed in national action
plans and donor country reports such as JICA and FAO. The
Department of Agriculture and Department of Fisheries’s strategic
action plans point to extension training as a key to
diversification and increased production. Integrated agriculture,
extension services and gender sensitivity are interlinked and
mutually dependent components of this project. The project’s goal
encompasses several CIDA priorities: (a) Cambodia is one of
Canada’s 25 development partners; (b) poverty alleviation i.e.
improved livelihoods by enabling people to provide for themselves;
(c) gender equality – women and men will benefit equally from
training, and (d) environment – the presence of fish promotes
pesticide-free farming and makes rice field ecosystems more
balanced. Project results will contribute to Cambodia reaching the
MDG to reduce poverty by 2015. The project also meets CCPP
objectives by focusing on institutional capacity development at
PNSA.