Sithirith, M.; Sao, S.; de Silva, S.; Kong, H. Food System Governance in the Cambodian Mekong Delta: Food Production, Food Security, Migration, and Indebtedness. Water2024, 16, 1942.
Sithirith, M.; Sao, S.; de Silva, S.; Kong, H. Food System Governance in the Cambodian Mekong Delta: Food Production, Food Security, Migration, and Indebtedness. Water 2024, 16, 1942.
Sithirith, M.; Sao, S.; de Silva, S.; Kong, H. Food System Governance in the Cambodian Mekong Delta: Food Production, Food Security, Migration, and Indebtedness. Water2024, 16, 1942.
Sithirith, M.; Sao, S.; de Silva, S.; Kong, H. Food System Governance in the Cambodian Mekong Delta: Food Production, Food Security, Migration, and Indebtedness. Water 2024, 16, 1942.
Abstract
Cambodia is a predominantly agrarian society, with a majority of the population residing in rural areas and relying on agriculture for food and income. The primary sources of food for the Khmer society are rice and fish. However, the country faces vulnerabilities due to climate change, natural disasters, impacts of hydropower and infrastructure development, and land grabs, which disrupt food sources and the livelihoods of local communities. Since 2015, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has been actively promoting rice production for export, resulting in increased rice farming seasons and annual rice production. Despite these efforts, a significant portion of the population still experiences food insecurity. Therefore, this study aims to explore the reasons why food security issues persist despite the government program to increase rice production. The study involves a review of existing literature and an examination of food security in three provinces in the Cambodian Mekong Delta. It concludes that, on the one hand, the increased rice production has increased food availability, but access to and utilization of food have been challenged by indebtedness, increased cost of production and migration, and on the other hand, the rights to foods have been challenged by land crabs, water conflicts, and lack of sectoral integrations of food systems; and compounded by climate change and environmental degradation, which all contribute to food security.
Keywords
rice farming; fishery; water use; climate change; migration; indebtedness
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
