Community Agriculture Development Project (CADP)

To solve the problems of deforestation and poaching in the heart of the Southern Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia, Wildlife Alliance is helping formerly landless, slash-and-burn subsistence farmers develop permanent agriculture so they no longer need to destroy the forest and hunt wildlife for survival.

A farmer at Sovanna Baitong (CADP) sowing seeds before the afternoon rains.

In the course of implementing Wildlife Alliance's South West Elephant Corridor project, rangers identified three communities where hunting and logging were at its worst -- Talam, Chi Phat and Chay Araing, which together had contributed to nearly 100 square kilometers of forest clearing over the course of just a few years. This massive destruction took place in the middle of the pristine Cardamom Mountains. Cambodian government officials witnessed this anarchic deforestation and asked Wildlife Alliance to help find a solution.

Children from Sovanna Baitong pose for a team shot before the football game.

The aim of Wildlife Alliance's Community Agriculture Development Project (CADP) is to reverse the thirty year cycle of poverty and natural resource destruction that started when the Khmer Rouge confiscated farmers' plowing equipment. By giving plows and seeds back to these farmers, CADP's goal is to help them return to permanent rice cultivation and abandon slash-and-burn practices. The project, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, directly helps poor rural Cambodian families by creating a plan for sustainable permanent agriculture. Engaging local communities, Wildlife Alliance facilitated local group participatory land use planning as a tool to arrive at the CADP plan and with the Cambodian Ministries of Land Management and Agriculture is helping to allocate land titles to landless families and helping local farmers and communities balance their agricultural activities with the need to protect their valuable natural resources.

A CADP teacher helping out a student with his Khmer alphabet during class at Sovanna Baitong's local school house.

The result of this Community Agriculture Development Project is the creation of a newly, legally recognized commune called Sovanna Baitong (or "Golden Green" in English). In Sovanna Baitong, families have access to agricultural training and technologies including drip irrigation, plows, and high-yield organic seeds. Through market analysis coordinated with Cambodian agencies, they are provided with training to grow crops that will increase their income at markets in Southwest Cambodia, while meeting their own food security needs with rice and vegetable production. Their children have access to schooling and healthcare, and their families have the chance to achieve a better future in harmony with the environment around them. Equally importantly, the farmers have legally recognized land tenure over their fields and crops - ensuring that they will be able to protect them and pass them along to future generations.