For many farming households in Northwest Cambodia, the most significant change was not simply growing more vegetables, but gaining a trusted source of food, knowledge and support close to home. Text and Images: Panhaleak Chay, Sophea Yous, Saroeut Yong, Chariya Korn, Pherom Song, Caitlin Finlayson, Van Touch & Brian Cook Farming, food and risk For […]
Category: Updates
In Northwest Cambodia, villagers are forming community savings groups to build financial security, reduce debt, and invest in small businesses and household needs. Text & Images: Panhaleak Chay, Chariya Korn, Lita Mom, Pherom Song, Caitlin Finlayson, Van Touch & Brian Cook Financial precarity and constrained livelihood choices The rural communities of Battambang and Pailin rely […]
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Research Outputs 2025
The Next-Gen team have compiled a synthesis of academic and practice outputs. The 2025 research portfolio represents a significant step forward in understanding the complex realities shaping agricultural livelihoods in Northwest Cambodia. Across the analyses presented here, a consistent picture emerges, which builds on earlier outputs and cumulative learning. These insights are the product of […]
Chief of Agronomy (Pailin PDAFF) Sophanara Phan, Senior Project Researcher Panhaleak Chay, and Dr Van Touch reflect on some of the impacts they are seeing as a result of practical training on cassava Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). Cassava is an important cash crop for upland smallholders in Northwest Cambodia, particularly in Battambang Province and Pailin […]
Senior Project Researcher Panhaleak Chay, Dr Van Touch, and research assistants Pherom Song, Sarouet Yong, Sophea Yous, Lita Mom and Chariya Korn reflect on some of the impacts they are seeing as a result of recent financial literacy training. In Northwest Cambodia, smallholder farming households face daily financial pressures that extend far beyond their farms. […]
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Levelling the Field, Lifting Hopes
Hear from the Next-Gen team about how subsidised laser land levelling is transforming rice farmers’ experiences in Northwest Cambodia. In Northwest Cambodia, rice is more than a crop – it is survival. Most smallholder households depend on it for income, yet uneven fields have long undermined their efforts. Uneven land wastes water, reduces fertiliser efficiency, […]
In the upland villages of Northwest Cambodia, the struggle for clean and reliable water has long shaped daily life. Most families have depended on seasonal streams and small ponds that dry up each year. When that happens, water must be bought from truck vendors costing households between 20,000 and 60,000 riel (US$5–15) a week. For […]
Chief of Agronomy (Pailin PDAFF) Sophanara Phan, Senior Project Researcher Panhaleak Chay, and Dr Van Touch reflect on some of the outcomes they have seen as a result of their engagement with farmers focusing on field crop monitoring and record-keeping of farm inputs and practices. Mrs Srey Mom is an upland farmer residing in Ta […]
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Improved Financial Management in Farming
Senior Project Researcher Panhaleak Chay, Chief of Agronomy (Pailin PDAFF) Sophanara Phan and Dr Van Touch reflect on some of the outcomes they have seen as a result of their engagement with farmers focusing on field crop monitoring and record-keeping of farm inputs and practices. Mrs Hiep Sophat is a lowland farmer living in Phnom […]
8 village workshops were held with up to 20 women and men in each of the project location sites throughout December 2023 and January 2024 as part of Activity 4. The workshops were divided into 4 parts: These workshops generated gender disaggregated data about how women and men create livelihoods from diverse paid and unpaid […]