Cambodia

Cambodia: An Overview

In Cambodia, farming and agriculture is the largest source of employment, yet agricultural production is impacted due to climate variability (flooding and drought) and smallholder livestock farming is often affected by infectious disease.

Compounding these local challenges is limited veterinary care and community animal health workers available to treat animals and reduce disease transmission.

Women and girls are responsible for the majority of unpaid domestic and care work in households and communities, restricting their ability to participate in paid work, education, and training opportunities.

Why We Are Here

Timber harvesting, as well as clear-cutting for agriculture, has led to the third highest deforestation rate in the world which has destroyed habitats and disrupted the balance of delicate tropical soils. Limited rice production and other income-generating opportunities have created out-migration of youth and men to work in the industrial and construction sectors. 

Working with farming groups, agroecology is a strong component of the work VWB/VSF volunteers undertake in Cambodia. 

This includes training activities with farming cooperatives with a focus on climate-smart farming and an overarching goal to increase crop yields to combat food insecurity in the region.

VETS Partners in Cambodia

VETS Partners in Cambodia: Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (AVSF)

AVSF Cambodia (Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières AVSF) is part of an international coalition of locally-ran NGOs that has an overarching focus to increase agriculture education, health, animal health and welfare.

AVSF has operated in Cambodia since 1991, providing technical support to the Chamkar Dong Royal University of Agriculture.

Since 1998, AVSF in Cambodia has focused its activities on animal husbandry and improving food security for rural farm families, while also promoting agroecology and natural resource preservation.

AVSF also offers services relevant to smallholder families, such: reparation of small irrigation systems, creation of village rice banks, market gardening production, creation of small shops, small-scale processing, and the spreading of agroecological techniques.