Farming Co-operatives in Cambodia

New forms of cooperation and community organization can be encouraged in order to defend the interests of small producers and preserve local

ecosystems from destruction. Laudato Si’ #180

There are many people in Cambodia who live from day to day with very little food or money.

A farming co-operative is a group of people who work together and share things like

machines and seeds. This increases the food security of the entire village.

Why are farming co-operatives so important?Small farmers struggle to have enough seed, fertilizers and machinery if they work alone.

Having a co-operative means all the resources of the villagers are pooled.

Trapeang Chres Village is a co-operative with a rice milling machine. It was given to them by Caritas.

Having the machine means that farmers can separate the husks from the rice grains with little effort.

They estimate that having the rice milling machine saves them

about $13,000 a year.

They no longer have to pay someone else to ‘mill’ the rice.

The spirit of co-operatives is about the common good:

the good of each and everyperson.

Two years ago a widow called Mrs Sok Lane came to Trapeang Chres village

with her two children.

She had no land and asked for somewhere to

grow rice.

The co-operative gave her seed and showed her how to grow her own food.

Mr Em, the chairman of the co-op, shared his water with her so now she can grow food all year round.

Mrs Sok’s husband died over thirty years ago so she has been

on her own caring for her sons for a long time.

The Cambodian government doesn’t pay benefits to those who

are widowed or without work.

What might have happened to Mrs Sok Lane if the co-operative

hadn’t helped her?

Caritas continues to give money to help village co-operatives like this one.

‘…replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing … a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what God’s world needs.’

Laudato Si’ #9

How do farming co-operatives reflect the values in this statement from Pope Francis?

Photo credits: Murray Shearer (Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand)