More generally, there was a view that the nature of the seasonal flooding was changing as a result of bigger and more irregular river floods, which they blamed on
43 Village interviews 15/3/05. These ponds which are dug by villagers to provide crucial dry season water storage are dotted throughout the countryside. They may be on household land or large communal ponds.
44 Mak Sithirith, "Fishing for Lives: Conflicts and Struggles between Communities and Fishing Lots in Kompong Chhnang Province," (Phnom Penh: NGO Forum on Cambodia, 2000).
45 Village interviews 15/3/05; This was reiterated in other village interviews 27/3/05 and 21/4/05. One survey found that of respondents claiming decreased availability of resources over the past 10 years, 77 per cent put this down to over-exploitation while only 7 per cent suggested population growth. Ramamurthy, Boreak, and Ronnås, "Cambodia 1999-2000:
Land, Labour and Rural Livelihood in Focus," 48-50.
46 Adapted from: Evans, Patrick T, Melisa Marschke, and Kiran Paudyal. "Flood Forests, Fish and Fishing Villages: Tonle Sap, Cambodia." Tagbilaran City: Asia Forest Network, 2004.
logging in the mountain forests where the Sangke River rises. They also explained the loss of some fish species and lower quantities of others as due to the environmental changes and their impacts on spawning, including the changing river flows and the clearing of forests within the Tonle Sap flood zone. Fish populations, they said, were depleted by illegal fishing, the use of indiscriminate methods and out of season fishing which reduced breeding stocks. Modern fishing gear was also considered to be too efficient and to be “catching everything”, leading also to decreased stocks. A village head complained that the people felt they were left out of deliberations about the future of fishing. He was concerned, too, that the fish were being left out of consideration. The large and the small fish, he said, needed to be treated differently to protect them. Some types were already lost completely, while others were becoming rare. He spoke of the different species which had disappeared and the need to remind the younger generations of what could happen if there was no protection.47
Clearly, access to this important resource is being affected by a combination of climate and environmental factors, as well as human agency such as forest clearing and over-fishing. Illegal methods are also being used to access the depleted resource. These include out of season river fishing by the method of tree branches placed in the river and netting, which was to be seen all along the lower reaches of the Sangke River in the dry season. Much of the illegal fishing, it was said, was done under the auspices of the military and “powerful people” who paid police and fisheries officials to turn a blind eye to their activities, or to silence those who protested.48
Villagers also asserted that they were being unlawfully excluded from areas claimed by fishing lot holders.49 Around the Tonle Sap these lots are licensed to private
47 Village interview 15/3/05.
48 Village interviews 15/3/05; and 21/4/05. It was claimed that soldiers were supported by wealthy people to do the illegal fishing. The wealthy provided the capital to buy branches to put in the river. “Only the high ranking and wealthy can do that kind of fishing. Only they can pay the police and fisheries officials.”
49 Village interviews 21/4/05. The exclusion from fishing lots was not a new phenomenon.
Already in the 1920s under the French colonial administration, villagers were excluded from flooded forest areas around the Tonle Sap by regulations which banned forest clearing and designated fishing lots which were auctioned to private businessmen. The regulations also imposed limitations on fishing seasons as well as restrictions on fishing tackle. The restrictions impacted on the villagers’ needs and they began to fish illegally. Delvert had already noted in the late 1950’s that due to rapid population growth and a fall in fish yields, the level of illegal fishing had become ‘alarming’ Delvert, Le Paysan Cambodgien, 163.
businessmen by auction, and many disputes arise from this system which excludes villagers from access to a traditional resource. As well as such exclusion and reduced fish stocks, any fish that the people do catch must be sold direct to a licensed businessman who sets the price unilaterally. Villagers incur a 4 per cent penalty described as a “tax” if the fish is sold to other than the licensee. However, although the villagers would prefer to sell direct to the licensee, they lack means of transport and must therefore sell to middlemen who come to the village to buy the available fish.
Illegal fishing was clearly a major issue and has led to violence not only in this part of Battambang, but in other areas as well.50 It also creates significant economic pressures on families due to loss of sustenance and income.51 However, the major problem for the villagers is not necessarily the loss of access and income but the risk they face in attempting to assert their rights, and in attempting to prevent illegal activities. The law is clear on their rights and those of lot owners (whether these are fair and equitable is another matter). Human security is thus affected by the management of the resource by those legally responsible – department officials, police, the courts and local commune representatives – who determine whether villagers’ rights to peaceful and sustainable access to these resources are upheld.
However, fisheries officials are reluctant to visit the villages; police and fisheries officials may be in the service of powerful people; disputes do not get to court and commune council involvement in the resolution of problems may be hampered by councillors’ political associations with powerful people. In very large part, the threat to livelihood and human security is thus in consequence of responsible government agencies failing to intervene and uphold the law. It becomes an issue of governance, not only of the fishing sector, but also of the military, police, justice and other responsible departments and the commune councils. In this situation it falls to the NGOs to provide whatever protection and support they can to help villagers to claim their rights.52
50 Village interviews 21/4/05. See also Mak Sithirith, "Fishing Conflict in Battambang,"
(Phnom Penh: NGO Forum on Cambodia, 2000); Mak Sithirith, "Fishing for Lives: Conflicts and Struggles between Communities and Fishing Lots in Kompong Chhnang Province."
51 Village observation 27/3/05. American Friends Service Committee, "Crossing Borders, Crossing Norms: Vulnerability and Coping in Battambang Province," (Phnom Penh: The Socio-Cultural Vulnerability and Coping Strategies (SCVCS) Research Project, 2000), 7.
52 Village interviews 21/4/05. A committee had been set up to try to address these issues with the authorities with the help of NGOs.
NGOs such as KAWP, Village Support Group, Aphivat Strey and the Fisheries Action Coalition Team (FACT) were all working to protect the people’s lawful access to fishery resources. They were particular active in promoting and, as the need arose, facilitating contact with the relevant government officials and extension services. This was done as far as possible in consultation with the commune councils. I observed several meetings where villagers, commune councillors and NGOs discussed issues of concern. People in the fishing villages were generally keen to have training on fisheries protection and to establish agreements with the councils on what could and could not be done.53 One group requested KAWP to arrange for an official from the Fisheries Department to come to the village. The villagers could not make the request alone as it would be necessary to fund a meeting and provide a per diem for the official, since poor pay and a genuine deficit in resources for local extension activities is compensated by rent taking. It is not clear to what extent the shortfall in resources and limited active engagement of officers is due to higher level mismanagement and their lack of commitment to departmental policies and programmes. Thus, the question of how serious senior provincial fisheries and police department heads are about eliminating illegal fishing, or whether they are they part of it as rumoured, remains open. So, too, the question of where the commune council loyalties lay and to what extent they may be intimidated by other powerful people. In the final analysis, however, it is unlikely that commune councils can manage their responsibilities for law and order and the protection of villagers’ fishing rights without line department support and cooperation.
What is important is that the problem of access to fishing resources and illegal fishing has demonstrated that from a human security perspective, villagers must find a way to address not only problems of access but, at the same time, the broader social issues of rights and how these are to be protected by local and line department governance.
In my discussion with fishing villagers, land matters were not raised as major concerns other than as passing references to expropriations by powerful persons and the military.54 There was recognition of the existence of landlessness in the villages
53 Village interviews 15/3/05; and 21/4/05.
54 Village interviews 15/3/05; and 7/4/05. This is not surprising as land ownership and access are sensitive matters impacting directly on peoples’ lives and relations with others. I did not pursue the matter as there are statistics on landholdings in the region and the general
and of the livelihood difficulties which resulted from small, inadequate holdings.
These villages had limited wet season rice land and many had depended formerly on harvesting floating rice and, more important for cash income, harvesting jute which, in the past, had been important to the local economy as the local jute factory had provided both income for suppliers as well as employment for others.55 Although some jute is still sold to a Thai businessman (at low prices), the factory closure has impacted heavily on those formerly dependent on jute harvesting for a significant part of their annual income.56 Access to the jute resource remains, but the markets for it has been radically reduced.
Water shortages and limited market access
While the extensive flooding of the countryside and the expansion of the Tonle Sap in the wet season provided the base for rice production and a generous fish resource, the dry season left the countryside parched and barren except for the few crops made possible by accessible water supply. Some in the fishing villages complained that in the dry season, “there is not enough land or water. The poorest have to follow the water [i.e. the receding flood] for fish” while others try alternatives such as cash cropping. However, only small amounts of dry rice, peanuts, maize, green beans, watermelon, tomato and other crops could be produced because of water shortage and lack of basic techniques. There were concerns, too, at the low market prices offered for these crops (in part due to quality) and competition from both Thai and Vietnamese produce. The local view was that “the government stifles local production in favour of imports on which they can collect taxes and import duties.
Even manure is being trucked in … and Vietnamese take produce to Thailand, put a
“made in Thailand” stamp on it, and re-import it at a higher price. The government doesn’t care.”57 Nevertheless, considerable effort was being made by many villagers
proposition that many households could not survive solely on agricultural activities was evident. Not only land size, but also factors such as skill levels, access to physical and capital resources, and household size could all affect survivability on available land. These issues emerge in the rice producing villages.
55 Village interviews 15/3/05. I was told the local floating rice variety was no longer available having been lost since the Pol Pot period, and that the depth and rapid fluctuations in the flood in the area prevented the growing of available floating rice types from other regions.
56 Village interviews 25/3/05; and 15/3/05. Discussions with KAWP and VSG. The Battambang jute factory closed amid rumours of scandals and corruption in 1994. Proposals to re-open it since have all failed. This is due in part to the lack of demand resulting from the use of plastics rather than hessian for rice and other grain bags.
57 Discussion with NGOs.
to create income from gardens. Despite this, it was a struggle and with very limited government agricultural extension services or assistance with market access, and no alternative agribusiness approach, there was marginal if any economic benefit.
Again the people looked to the NGOs either for direct assistance or to invite (and pay for) government extension workers to give training in the villages.58
These same issues were prevalent in the rice-growing villages in communes such as Bay Damran, located further up the Sangke River beyond the range of the Tonle Sap flood, where wet season rice was the major income source and there was less involvement in fishing.59 There, the people were particularly concerned that dry season income was curtailed, even for many of those who had land and wanted to plant dry season crops, by the lack of water for rice fields and gardens. One complained that there had been no rain in three years and that although he used to get 20 sacks per hectare before, now his yield was down to 8-10 sacks. “Farmers need nothing but water,” he said.60 There had been no rain, ponds had dried up (partly due to illegal fishing in some areas), and there were not enough pumps to use available water. Low prices for vegetable and fruit produce and lack of capital and knowledge of techniques for vegetable production were common complaints.
Villagers felt they needed more help with techniques and marketing of various crops as businessmen came to buy organically grown crops, such as jasmine rice, but they could not always supply it.61
In these parts there was much more concern about the area of land owned by families and its future availability.62 People here all knew of cases where small and
58 Village interviews 25/3/05. My view of a training day was not very positive as it was all classroom presentation and not demonstration in the field which would have been more appropriate. Nevertheless critical questions were asked, particularly about marketing which was not the real subject of the training (which was about how to pick and prepare vegetables for transport to market).
59 Village discussions 21-22/3/05. Fish is nevertheless important and is caught by villagers in the ricefields and flooded areas (including flooded forest).
60 Village interviews 21/3/05. 2005 was a serious drought year and the WFP was providing emergency food aid, especially in Pursat province.
61 Village interviews 21/3/05. The businessmen, I was told, could tell by the taste if chemicals had been used.
62 Village discussions 5/4/05; 7/4/05; and 10/4/05. See also American Friends Service Committee, "Crossing Borders." In some areas land holding patterns vary greatly. In neighbouring villages in Bansay Treng commune in Battambang it was reported that 54 per cent of families did not hold land for cultivation in one resource poor village while in a neighbouring village only 18 per cent of families lacked land. In another village, 10 non- residents owned between 60 and 100 hectares each. Other land holding was reasonably high at up to 3 hectares per family.
unprofitable land holdings had meant that loans could not be repaid and villagers had sold up to rich landowners and left. Many still depended on access to the commons in the off-season but resources there were increasingly scarce. Overall, the community seemed most concerned about was the lack of long term opportunities for dry season crops and for off farm income generation and employment – especially for the young who would be unlikely to have access to adequate land in their home villages and who, therefore, faced limited prospects of raising their own families in the future.
In both fishing and rice growing villages visited, there was a common concern with the human security issues of basic food production and of producing a surplus or other income to meet household income requirements. The non-availability of off- farm employment was also a major issue. There was little support, other than from Seila and the NGOs, as the people tried the best they could to make off-farm income to meet their family needs. Hence, it was not uncommon to find a girl of school age selling soup on the side of a dusty road under a makeshift shelter, another minding a neighbour’s cows, or school age boys searching for labouring work—all missing important schooling to help their families. In difficult times, it was common practice for children to be taken out of school to help the family, and the children themselves considered it their duty to do this while regretting the loss of education and future prospects. Another response to these economic insecurities is labour migration.
Push migration to access survival income
Many rural Cambodians are forced to search for supplementary livelihood incomes outside their normal village context, migrating to find work as labourers in Thailand or at the border, in Battambang or elsewhere in Cambodia, especially during the dry season.63 Thailand is a strong lure since labour rates are four times higher than Cambodia’s one US dollar per day. Landlessness and poverty have been identified as the reasons for labour migration to work in Thailand, at salt works in Kompot (which includes child labour), in fishing industries on the Tonle Sap or in expanding industries in the cities.64 In every commune I visited, villagers and officials
63 This issue arose in all village discussions. Ibid., 7; and Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI), "Moving Out of Poverty," 111.
64 Chan Sophal and So Sovannarith, "Cross-Border Migration Hit by Asian Crisis," Cambodia Development Review 3, no. 1 (1999): 1-4; Steve Gourley, "Child Labour, Migration and Salt
expressed disquiet at the lack of jobs, especially for young people. These, they complained, went to Thailand where they were vulnerable to exploitation and at high risk of returning with drug addictions, sickness (HIV/AIDS), and where girls sometimes became sex workers.
Research has confirmed that the reasons for migrating are “overwhelmingly economic.” 65 It was reported that in one Battambang village up to 40 per cent of women between 20 and 40 years of age had left at some stage for work on the border or in Thailand.66 However, migration is often illegal and migrants can suffer at the hands of unscrupulous employers with long hours and relatively poor pay and conditions. They risk being cheated or beset by the police or gangs for payment on return. Many are exposed to drugs and HIV/AIDS.67 The impact can be severe on innocent children who lose parents and are left with grandparents. One young boy told me his father had died of AIDS and that his mother had gone to Pailin leaving him with his grandparents. The mother came back each month, if she could, to see him. He wanted to be a doctor, but did not think he would have the chance. He was lonely without his mother.68 The long-term future of such children is particularly insecure if they lack support, and the education which will allow them to have genuine options for their future livelihoods.
A survey of migration—both internal and external—identified it as “a survival strategy for large sections of the population.” Desbarats and Sik Boreak’s study shows that migration was mainly “for landlessness and poverty reasons.” Rural- rural migration was 57 per cent; rural-urban 21 per cent; urban-urban 14 per cent and urban-rural migration 8 per cent. Those who migrate include youth and young adults
Production," Cambodia Development Review 5, no. 1 (201): 9-11; Sarthi Acharya, "Poverty Reduction in Cambodia – Some Reflections," Cambodia Development Review 5, no. 2 (2001): 4-7; Chea Huot and Sok Hach, "The Cambodian Garment Industry," Cambodia Development Review 5, no. 3 (2001); and Suzanna Stout Banwell, "Vendors' Voices,"
Cambodia Development Review 5, no. 3 (2001): 9-11.
65 So Sovannarith, "International Migration: Some Issues in Cambodia," Cambodia Development Review 5, no. 1 (2001): 5-9.
66 American Friends Service Committee, "Crossing Borders," 14. See also Chan Sophal and So Sovannarith who detail “long range” migration to Bangkok and other locations for work in the construction industry, manufacturing and food processing, and on fishing boats, while
“short range” migrants are involved mainly in agricultural activities such as rice harvesting, vegetable and fruit picking. Chan Sophal and So Sovannarith, "Cross-Border Migration Hit by Asian Crisis," 14.
67 So Sovannarith, "International Migration," 5-9; Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI), "Moving Out of Poverty," 113.
68 Village interview 15/3/05.