Huts of the poor villagers in Village No. 6 (Photo: Ouk Sav Bory/RFA)
Holes can be seen in the thatched roof of houses located in Village No. 6. (Photo: Ouk Sav Bory/RFA)03 May 2006
By Ouk Sav Bory
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media
The authority and a number of villagers in Khsam commune, Kampong Chhnang district, Kampong Chhnang province, are requesting for the government intervention to resolve farmland problem they lack in order for them to earn a living.
Seung Hel, first deputy commune chief, said that Khsam commune is located close to Kampong Chhnang city. His commune consists of 8 villages with 1,390 families but have very little farmland. The rainy season rice field counts about 88 hectares, and the dry season rice field is about 23 hectares, everywhere else, the land is filled with gravel or is inundated.
Very few of the villagers in the commune are farming because of the lack of cultivable land. In 1979, farmland was only distributed to those who can provide labor, children and those who cannot contribute labor did not receive any cultivable land. Those who can provide labor receive 0.3 to 0.4 hectare each.
Seung Hel added that later on, the 1994 returnees (from refugee camp in Thailand) did not receive any land either. Those who don’t have cultivable land had to work making clay pots and clay kitchen utensils, some are selling them to earn a living, while others had to seek firewood [to sell], harvest grazing grass, harvest wild vegetables to sell to earn some money to buy daily food.
Seung Hel said: “50% are poor among the 5,000 inhabitants.”
He said that there are 3 villages in the commune which is permanently out of food because of the lack of cultivable land. They are Village No. 4, No. 6, and No. 8. They earn enough in a day just to survive that day. He added: “In our Khsam commune, there are three poor villages: they are Village No. 6, No. 8, and No. 4. These are the poorest villages. The other villages are OK.”
Meeting with villagers form Village No. 6, women in the villages told us in tears the hardship they have to suffer in order to survive.
Heum Neum is an old women living in a thatched roof house, the roof has holes in it and leaks during rains. The house floor is made out of bamboo, and her house is located next to another similar hut. She said that she was one of the returnee in 1994, and she had lived in Village No. 6 for more than 10-year already.
Heum Neum said: “I returned back to the country, I did not receive any farmland or land to build a house. I am just surviving right now. I can only count on my own labor to earn a living. I am very miserable. I look for firewood to sell to feed my children. Each day, I can gather about 2 bunches of firewood, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Each firewood bunch sells for 500 riels, for a total of 1,000 riels ($0.25) enough to buy 1 kilo of rice to feed my children. I don’t have time to take a break, the day I stop working, there is nothing to eat, I have to keep on working all the time. What I earn in day is only enough to survive a day. I look for firewood, or I go to collect grass and put them in bunches for sale. Each bunch of grass earn me 100 to 150 riels (2.5 to 4 pennies). I am doing anything, I am doing everything I can to earn a living.”
Lim Chet is a widow with 4 children. She said that she did not receive any cultivable land. She said: “Right now, I go to look for fire wood [to sell]. Each morning I can gather one bunch of firewood to sell and buy some uncooked rice so I can make rice porridge for my children in the evening. In the morning I cook rice, but in the evening we only have rice porridge. But now that I am really sick and cannot work, I have to depend on my parents. When they have something to eat, they gave us some, but when they don’t, me and my children go to bed hungry. Each day, I survive on food other people give me, sometime, they would call my children to fetch the food. Some other time, I eat in the morning and go hungry in the evening. I still have am infant-daughter in charge, and I don’t have milk for her at all. My kid is underweight, she is now one year old. I was sick because I had C-section at her birth. My husband took off when I was still pregnant with my daughter.”
Koam Y, a widow with 7 children, said that she came to live in the village in 1979. She said that she did not receive any cultivable land because when she came in 1979, she was still too young and could not provide any labor. Her mother received 0.15 hectare, but after her wedding, she left her mother. Her husband was a soldier, he was handicapped, and he later died. However, she did not receive any pension money [from the government for her husband’s service] at all. Nowadays, she survives by picking and collecting wild vegetables and firewood. She has to walk 2 kilometers from her home for each trip.
Koam Y said: “I don’t own a house, there are holes in the roof of my place. I don’t have farm land, my younger brother-in-law let me live on his land. The roof is leaky and I don’t have money to repair the thatched roof because I am poor, I have seven young children under my charge.”
Meas Phalla, chief of Village No. 6, told us that the village counts 125 families. Among those, 45 families are very poor and 20 families are starving. The village counts 9 hectares of farmland and a small area of dry season rice field, but that it cannot be cultivated.
The commune and village authority said: “We never saw our representative MPs They overlook us, those who live near the city are richer. The government see and develop urban areas more so than us here. Look at the roads which are built everywhere there. We are demanding that the government helps us solve our living condition here also, and that it brings in development so we have enough to eat.”
Eng Chhay Eang, the vice-president of the national authority for land dispute resolution, said that his department is only in charge of land dispute, and he does not have the authority to divide and give out lands to those who lack farmland.
He said that farmland is lacking in every province. He will push the government to resolve this issue quickly if it wants to reduce poverty in the countryside.
He also requested that: “land which has been cleared of landmines is also part of farmland, therefore it can be divided and given to the farmers. However, these plots should be given in priority to those who really have no land, they should not be given to those who already have land already.”
Long Sa Ngeam, a Kampong Chhnang district official, told us by phone that the district does not have land to distribute to the farmers either. He promised to study the problem of lacking farmland with the village authorities in order to resolve this issue transparently.
Seung Hel, first deputy commune chief, said that Khsam commune is located close to Kampong Chhnang city. His commune consists of 8 villages with 1,390 families but have very little farmland. The rainy season rice field counts about 88 hectares, and the dry season rice field is about 23 hectares, everywhere else, the land is filled with gravel or is inundated.
Very few of the villagers in the commune are farming because of the lack of cultivable land. In 1979, farmland was only distributed to those who can provide labor, children and those who cannot contribute labor did not receive any cultivable land. Those who can provide labor receive 0.3 to 0.4 hectare each.
Seung Hel added that later on, the 1994 returnees (from refugee camp in Thailand) did not receive any land either. Those who don’t have cultivable land had to work making clay pots and clay kitchen utensils, some are selling them to earn a living, while others had to seek firewood [to sell], harvest grazing grass, harvest wild vegetables to sell to earn some money to buy daily food.
Seung Hel said: “50% are poor among the 5,000 inhabitants.”
He said that there are 3 villages in the commune which is permanently out of food because of the lack of cultivable land. They are Village No. 4, No. 6, and No. 8. They earn enough in a day just to survive that day. He added: “In our Khsam commune, there are three poor villages: they are Village No. 6, No. 8, and No. 4. These are the poorest villages. The other villages are OK.”
Meeting with villagers form Village No. 6, women in the villages told us in tears the hardship they have to suffer in order to survive.
Heum Neum is an old women living in a thatched roof house, the roof has holes in it and leaks during rains. The house floor is made out of bamboo, and her house is located next to another similar hut. She said that she was one of the returnee in 1994, and she had lived in Village No. 6 for more than 10-year already.
Heum Neum said: “I returned back to the country, I did not receive any farmland or land to build a house. I am just surviving right now. I can only count on my own labor to earn a living. I am very miserable. I look for firewood to sell to feed my children. Each day, I can gather about 2 bunches of firewood, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Each firewood bunch sells for 500 riels, for a total of 1,000 riels ($0.25) enough to buy 1 kilo of rice to feed my children. I don’t have time to take a break, the day I stop working, there is nothing to eat, I have to keep on working all the time. What I earn in day is only enough to survive a day. I look for firewood, or I go to collect grass and put them in bunches for sale. Each bunch of grass earn me 100 to 150 riels (2.5 to 4 pennies). I am doing anything, I am doing everything I can to earn a living.”
Lim Chet is a widow with 4 children. She said that she did not receive any cultivable land. She said: “Right now, I go to look for fire wood [to sell]. Each morning I can gather one bunch of firewood to sell and buy some uncooked rice so I can make rice porridge for my children in the evening. In the morning I cook rice, but in the evening we only have rice porridge. But now that I am really sick and cannot work, I have to depend on my parents. When they have something to eat, they gave us some, but when they don’t, me and my children go to bed hungry. Each day, I survive on food other people give me, sometime, they would call my children to fetch the food. Some other time, I eat in the morning and go hungry in the evening. I still have am infant-daughter in charge, and I don’t have milk for her at all. My kid is underweight, she is now one year old. I was sick because I had C-section at her birth. My husband took off when I was still pregnant with my daughter.”
Koam Y, a widow with 7 children, said that she came to live in the village in 1979. She said that she did not receive any cultivable land because when she came in 1979, she was still too young and could not provide any labor. Her mother received 0.15 hectare, but after her wedding, she left her mother. Her husband was a soldier, he was handicapped, and he later died. However, she did not receive any pension money [from the government for her husband’s service] at all. Nowadays, she survives by picking and collecting wild vegetables and firewood. She has to walk 2 kilometers from her home for each trip.
Koam Y said: “I don’t own a house, there are holes in the roof of my place. I don’t have farm land, my younger brother-in-law let me live on his land. The roof is leaky and I don’t have money to repair the thatched roof because I am poor, I have seven young children under my charge.”
Meas Phalla, chief of Village No. 6, told us that the village counts 125 families. Among those, 45 families are very poor and 20 families are starving. The village counts 9 hectares of farmland and a small area of dry season rice field, but that it cannot be cultivated.
The commune and village authority said: “We never saw our representative MPs They overlook us, those who live near the city are richer. The government see and develop urban areas more so than us here. Look at the roads which are built everywhere there. We are demanding that the government helps us solve our living condition here also, and that it brings in development so we have enough to eat.”
Eng Chhay Eang, the vice-president of the national authority for land dispute resolution, said that his department is only in charge of land dispute, and he does not have the authority to divide and give out lands to those who lack farmland.
He said that farmland is lacking in every province. He will push the government to resolve this issue quickly if it wants to reduce poverty in the countryside.
He also requested that: “land which has been cleared of landmines is also part of farmland, therefore it can be divided and given to the farmers. However, these plots should be given in priority to those who really have no land, they should not be given to those who already have land already.”
Long Sa Ngeam, a Kampong Chhnang district official, told us by phone that the district does not have land to distribute to the farmers either. He promised to study the problem of lacking farmland with the village authorities in order to resolve this issue transparently.
2 comments:
Forget about a Ma Cent, he would not do any thing for poor khmer.
How about you, the King?
Are you a Hundo? thinking that us all are monkeys? Only your family are human?
Those mokeys had help your father back to throne and gave it to you! Give something back, be a buddhish as your claimed!
Dont just give title to the commi, the Viet Chet-Roy can do that without you.
I heard that hun sen, or his government have to give the king sihamuary 5 million dollars a years, just to sit there and shut up!..what about the poor innocents, just eat kdeill chak.. thats enough!! hehehe ..shallow brain!
Post a Comment