RICE SCIENCE

• Research Paper • Previous Articles    

Survey of Rice Cropping Systems in Kampong Chhnang Province, Cambodia

  1. 1Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, #17, Street 306, P.O. Box 81, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; 2Provincial Department of Agriculture (PDA) Kampong Chhnang, Sangkat Ksam, Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia; *Present address: The Herbals Joint Stock Company, 8th Floor, BAC A Building, No. 9, Dao Duy Anh Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi, Vietnam
  • Revised:2012-12-31 Online:2013-03-28 Published:2013-01-30
  • Contact: Volker KLEINHENZ (v.kleinhenz@gmail.com)
  • Supported by:

    The authors thank the members of councils, villages and the farm households of the communes of Anhchanh Rung, Khon Rang, Kampong Preah Kokir, Melum, Dar, Kampong Hau, Pou, Samraong Saen, Trangel, Ampil Tuek, Chouk Sa, Kampong Tralach, Peani and Thma Edth in Kampong Chhnang Province, Cambodia who actively supported our survey visits and provided invaluable input on which this paper is based. We thank the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for financial support (Loan No. 2376 CAM/Grant No. 0092 CAM). We also thank Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) for their funding of project personnel and the Management of the Tonle Sap Lowlands Rural Development Project (TS-LRDP) for their support.

Abstract:

Although Cambodia might have achieved self-sufficiency and an exported surplus in rice production, its rice-based farming systems are widely associated with low productivity, low farmer income and rural poverty. The study is based on a questionnaire village survey in 14 communes containing 97 villages of Kampong Chhnang Province from March to June, 2011. It analyzes the prevailing rice-based cropping systems and evaluates options for their improvement. Differences in cropping systems depend on the distance from the Tonle Sap water bodies. At distances greater than 10 km, transplanted wet-season rice cropping system with low productivity of about 1.6 t/hm2 prevails. This deficiency can be primarily attributed to soils with high coarse sand fractions and low pH ( 4.0). Farmers predominantly cultivate dry-season recession rice between January and April. Seventy-nine percent of the area is sown directly and harvested by combines. Adoption ratio of commercial rice seeds is 59% and yields average 3.2 t/hm2. Introduction of the second dry-season rice between April and July may double annual yields in this rice cropping system. Besides upgrading other cultivation technologies, using seeds from commercial sources will improve yield and rice quality. Along with rice, farmers grow non-rice crops at different intensities ranging from single annual crops to intensive sequences at low yields.

Key words: rice cropping system, socioeconomic indicator, on-farm activity, rice production