Case study | CEDAC

–Brief

For three decades Cambodia was ravaged by civil war, genocide and authoritarian regimes. The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) was set up in August 1997 as a national Cambodian NGO, to develop sustainable agriculture and rural development in Cambodia in response to the country's desperate need for national reconstruction. CEDAC was created with initial support from the French non-government organization GRET (Group for Research and Exchange of Technology).

Seven people worked with CEDAC at the beginning, and CEDAC supported farmers in 2 villages in Kandal Province. As of August , 2009, there were 431 people including 162 women working with CEDAC (382 people or 88.63% work as technical staff and another 49 people or 11.37% work as administration/supporting staff), providing direct assistance to about 100,000 families from 3,200 villages, 579 communes and 99 districts in 20 provinces of Cambodia. More than 1,000 students and rural development practitioners have benefited from CEDAC's training and exchange program. More than 100 organizations and agencies (community, national and internal organizations, foreign government agencies and multilateral organizations) have been cooperating with CEDAC during its 9 years of operation. CEDAC publications, especially the Farmer Magazine and Farmer and Nature Booklet series are widely used by farmers and development workers in Cambodia. Currently, CEDAC is considered as the biggest Cambodian Agriculture and Rural Development NGO.

Originally, the activities of the center focused on agriculture research and training. In 2002, CEDAC expanded its field operations, especially for farmer training and extension programs. CEDAC developed a five year plan (2003-2007) aimed at supporting farmers in 1,200 villages. As a result of achieving their plan objectives earlier than expected and the growing demand for their services, CEDAC have recently developed an ambitious strategic plan for 2008-2012. This plan aims at supporting 500,000 farming families or 2.5 million people (around 25% of Cambodia's farming population) to enhance their lives through sustainable farming methods and improved social cooperation and cooperative business practices. The new plan will focus on farmer led agricultural research and extension, community-based natural resources management, cooperative business (community finance and marketing) and the development of participatory local government.

–Vision and mission

CEDAC envisions a Cambodian society where small farming households enjoy good living conditions and strong mutual cooperation, with the right and power to determine their own destiny, as well as playing an important role in supplying healthy food for the whole society.

To achieve this vision CEDAC is committed to working for the improvement of lives of small farmers and other rural poor by enabling them to increase food production and income while ensuring environmental sustainability and maintaining strong social cooperation.

–Focus

• Building the capacity of the producer organization and networks, as well as linking them to market
• Enabling rural communities to have access to information, responsible services and resources for the improvement of family economy and for sustainable rural development
• Improving the living conditions and social status of marginalized, vulnerable and under-represented social groups
• Supporting the development of participatory and environmentally-oriented local government
• Building networks and partnerships which promote the development of ecologically-based family agriculture

–Innovation: Roadmap and framework 2006 to 2010

CEDAC envisions a Cambodian society where small farming households enjoy good living conditions and strong mutual cooperation, with the right and power to determine their own destiny, as well as playing an important role in supplying healthy food for the whole society. To achieve this vision CEDAC is committed to working for the improvement of lives of small farmers and other rural poor by enabling them to increase food production and income while ensuring environmental sustainability and maintaining strong social cooperation.

From 2006 to 2010, CEDAC has committed to implementing the following major activities:

1. Introduce a participatory research and extension strategy called Innovations in Ecological Agriculture and Sustainable Natural Resources Management into approximately 6000 villages in Cambodia (about 50% of total farming villages).
2. Introduce a participatory research and extension strategy called Innovations in Ecological Agriculture and Sustainable Natural Resources Management into approximately 6000 villages in Cambodia (about 50% of total farming villages).
3. Strengthen and expand village-based self-help associations and networks in 5000 villages, with the participation of 200,000 active members.
4. Strengthen the capacity of 100,000 women in farm-household management and enable them to participate in local development through group training and an exchange program.
5. Assist 250,000 rural children and youth to prepare for future employment in rural areas, by ensuring these children have access to primary school education, improved knowledge and skills in sustainable agriculture, and business management and leadership training.
6. Support the development of participatory and environment-oriented local government in 500 communes by strengthening cooperation and interaction between commune councils and farmer organizations, so that they take collective action to address local development issues.
7. Enable 50,000 vulnerable families, especially marginal and landless farmer families, HIV-AIDS affected families and those with disabled members, to better their living standards and self-confidence through acquiring farming skills and knowledge.
8. Support local infrastructure development and community-based resource management in 2,000 villages, with a focus on community ponds, small and medium-scale irrigation schemes, and community-based regulations for the protection of natural resources and the environment.
9. Support 600 village-based producer groups and networks (about 10,000 farming families) to market their organic products to domestic consumers in urban areas.
10. Provide socially-responsible credit services to farmer organizations for investing in the development of ecological agriculture, integration with other agricultural techniques, and business advice support.

Of the above-mentioned major activities, activities 1, 2 and 3 are the key stepping stones for CEDAC's ecological agriculture and community development program. The achievement of objective 1 will enable small farmers to increase food production and income (especially using System of Rice Intensification methods) by effective use of existing resources (please refer to Example 1). Objectives 2 and 3 will organise the rural population so that it can become a force in mobilizing resources for mutual cooperation, assisting other members of the community, and for overall local development. Strong farmer organizations will influence and interact with the government, especially local governments, to take more responsibility for sustainable local economic, social and environmental development.

It seems that CEDAC works within own roadmap and framework as we are now trying to do. It will be great if we can meet some of the directors and learn about their operation to set up scheduled roadmap. We've sent an email to learn more about difficulties and innovation of CEDAC, and we're looking forward to their reply.

–Reference

Cedac. [http://www.cedac.org.kh], retrieved May 5, 2010.