In developing countries, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are helping to increase the efficiency, productivity and sustainability of smallscale farms, providing up-to-date information on prices, access to credit and training, and the ability to interact with other farmers.
From an agricultural make-over television programme, to the use of video, radio and mobile phones, we focus on a number of initiatives that are using ICTs to provide farmers in developing countries with the information they need to be productive and profitable in an increasingly challenging sector.
Read more from New Agriculturist.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Strengthening rural development with ICT
The International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) believes that people need access to information and communication to improve their lives, particularly in developing countries. "Farmers, workers and entrepreneurs can use information and communication technology (ICT) to access market information, improve quality and productivity and strengthen business skills and employment opportunities," states IICD's regional manager for West Africa, François Laureys. Over the past five years, IICD has been working with its partners to evaluate their projects to learn lessons about the effective use of ICT to boost rural economic development.
Read this article in detail from New Agriculturist.
Read this article in detail from New Agriculturist.
Promoting ICTs for farmer
In Bangladesh, availability of timely and appropriate information is a big
challenge due to an inefficient extension system. Farmers lack access to
relevant and timely information, knowledge about new technologies, skills,
practices, ways to collaborate with the market and resources to overcome these
limitations. As a result, smallholders are vulnerable to crop related diseases,
suffer productivity constraints and fail to take advantage of potential farming
opportunities. Poor awareness and lack of understanding of the benefits of
information services among farmers are also challenges.
To address these issues, the Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID), in collaboration with Katalyst (a multi donor development initiative) and Grameen Phone (a leading telecom operator), launched the e-Krishok initiative in 2008. e-Krishok aims to bridge the information gap that exists in the agriculture sector and build awareness and capacity of farmers to use ICT-enabled information and advisory services. BIID is also working to demonstrate the potential of the existing mobile network to reach the last mile and connect smallscale farmers with e-Krishok services.
Read this article in detail from New Agriculturist:
To address these issues, the Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID), in collaboration with Katalyst (a multi donor development initiative) and Grameen Phone (a leading telecom operator), launched the e-Krishok initiative in 2008. e-Krishok aims to bridge the information gap that exists in the agriculture sector and build awareness and capacity of farmers to use ICT-enabled information and advisory services. BIID is also working to demonstrate the potential of the existing mobile network to reach the last mile and connect smallscale farmers with e-Krishok services.
Read this article in detail from New Agriculturist:
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Cambodian rice expert produces ‘more with less’
When he introduced his novel rice production method to Cambodian farmers more than a decade ago, Yang Saing Koma had to battle skeptics who laughed at his idea. How could less irrigation and shallower planting result in higher yield?
But Koma, founder of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture(Cedac), only had to tap one brave farmer to get his program going.
Today, his System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is an official rice production method endorsed by the Cambodian government, credited for doubling the country’s total rice output in the last decade.
And while other Asian nations, the Philippines included, still depend on rice imports, the country of almost 15 million is looking to expand its market internationally as grains constantly grow by Koma’s design.
“For the first time, no farmer wanted to do it. It was very strange for them. But you just select one who has the courage,” Koma said laughing, recalling how he started his program.
“I just wanted to do something good for the country. I feel that I have done something, it’s very important. Of course, there are still many things to do. But I am very happy with what we’ve done so far. I think we’re very proud,” he added.
Unfamiliar but effective
Koma, an agronomist educated in the prestigious University of Leipzig in Germany, is among this year’s recipients of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, recognized for his unshakable will to push for a method that at first got laughs and criticism from traditional farmers.
The 46-year-old son of a teacher-farmer was selected as one of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay laureates, chosen for his “creative fusion of practical science and collective will that has inspired and enabled vast numbers of farmers in Cambodia to become empowered and productive contributors to their country’s economic growth.”
It’s an unexpected accolade for the soft-spoken Koma, who said his work in the last 15 years had been dedicated to empowering Cambodian farmers through an unfamiliar yet more effective method to grow rice.
“I didn’t expect to get an award. I just want to do something for the farmer, not do something for the award. The award is a plus. It’s more for the farmer and everyone involved in the work for rice farmers,” Koma said.
The rice production method also won for Koma in 2005 an award from SEED, a United Nations-led global initiative that recognizes outstanding sustainable entrepreneurship practices around the world.
Only one seedling
The SRI method is quite simple in principle but great in intent: “producing more with less.”
Traditional rice farming, Koma said, involved planting several seedlings deep in the ground “very close to each other” and filling the hole with a lot of water. The plots are fed with fertilizer to promote growth.
But Koma’s method, which he improved from a technique first practiced in the island country of Madagascar, follows an almost opposite procedure.
“You go for planting only one seedling very shallow, bigger spacing, less water, more compost. The result, you get a very high yield,” he said.
Less water is better
It shifts the farmer’s “typical mind-set,” the agronomist said. “Before, a farmer [thought] you need a lot of water … Actually, the rice grain is an aquatic plant. It just needs water, but actually, less water is better.”
“At first, a lot of farmers were laughing, a lot of them critical, because it was different from what they had seen for years. But they saw it was good, then it spread, they realized, Oooh … So you change their mind-set completely,” Koma said.
He first introduced SRI to 28 “reluctant” farmers in 2000, three years after he founded Cedac, now Cambodia’s top agricultural and rural development nongovernment organization.
“First, I discussed the idea, the principle of why too much water is a problem, why less water is better, why one seedling is better. The farmers, they understood, but they never tried it. But with the program, one said, ‘OK, I’ll try it.’ From the first farmer you get more and more farmers interested,” he said.
Total yield
Today, some 140,000 farmer families are implementing SRI in 21 Cambodian provinces, helping boost total yield from 3.82 million tons in 2002 to 7.97 million tons in 2010.
Several organizations have spun off Cedac’s success. In 2003, the organization established the Farmer and Nature Net, a cooperative-type network of farmers’ associations and individual members that aims to promote sustainable agriculture and encourage women to get involved in farming.
The organization currently has $8 million in savings.
Spreading the word
Koma also initiated the Cedac Enterprise for Development, which “links farmers directly to the market.” The social enterprise now runs 13 shops that sell locally produced organic stock, bringing goods from some 5,000 farmers directly to consumers.
His gains in the last decade mark a journey that Koma set out to do soon after the fall in 1979 of the violent Khmer Rouge, a regime that uprooted his family from rural Takeo province and forced them to move to Phnom Penh.
He said he simply wanted to see his country grow, and he saw the opportunity in land.
“I saw that my country is poor and I [was looking at] how to build my country. I felt it was better to start with agriculture,” Koma said.
Koma aims to spread SRI to all of Cambodia’s farmers, who make up roughly 66 percent of the country’s total population.
He has also traveled around Southeast Asia in the hopes of promoting the rice production method, from Thailand and Laos to Vietnam and Burma (Myanmar).
But Koma, founder of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture(Cedac), only had to tap one brave farmer to get his program going.
 |
| Yang Saing Koma |
And while other Asian nations, the Philippines included, still depend on rice imports, the country of almost 15 million is looking to expand its market internationally as grains constantly grow by Koma’s design.
“For the first time, no farmer wanted to do it. It was very strange for them. But you just select one who has the courage,” Koma said laughing, recalling how he started his program.
“I just wanted to do something good for the country. I feel that I have done something, it’s very important. Of course, there are still many things to do. But I am very happy with what we’ve done so far. I think we’re very proud,” he added.
Unfamiliar but effective
Koma, an agronomist educated in the prestigious University of Leipzig in Germany, is among this year’s recipients of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, recognized for his unshakable will to push for a method that at first got laughs and criticism from traditional farmers.
The 46-year-old son of a teacher-farmer was selected as one of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay laureates, chosen for his “creative fusion of practical science and collective will that has inspired and enabled vast numbers of farmers in Cambodia to become empowered and productive contributors to their country’s economic growth.”
It’s an unexpected accolade for the soft-spoken Koma, who said his work in the last 15 years had been dedicated to empowering Cambodian farmers through an unfamiliar yet more effective method to grow rice.
“I didn’t expect to get an award. I just want to do something for the farmer, not do something for the award. The award is a plus. It’s more for the farmer and everyone involved in the work for rice farmers,” Koma said.
The rice production method also won for Koma in 2005 an award from SEED, a United Nations-led global initiative that recognizes outstanding sustainable entrepreneurship practices around the world.
Only one seedling
The SRI method is quite simple in principle but great in intent: “producing more with less.”
Traditional rice farming, Koma said, involved planting several seedlings deep in the ground “very close to each other” and filling the hole with a lot of water. The plots are fed with fertilizer to promote growth.
But Koma’s method, which he improved from a technique first practiced in the island country of Madagascar, follows an almost opposite procedure.
“You go for planting only one seedling very shallow, bigger spacing, less water, more compost. The result, you get a very high yield,” he said.
Less water is better
It shifts the farmer’s “typical mind-set,” the agronomist said. “Before, a farmer [thought] you need a lot of water … Actually, the rice grain is an aquatic plant. It just needs water, but actually, less water is better.”
“At first, a lot of farmers were laughing, a lot of them critical, because it was different from what they had seen for years. But they saw it was good, then it spread, they realized, Oooh … So you change their mind-set completely,” Koma said.
He first introduced SRI to 28 “reluctant” farmers in 2000, three years after he founded Cedac, now Cambodia’s top agricultural and rural development nongovernment organization.
“First, I discussed the idea, the principle of why too much water is a problem, why less water is better, why one seedling is better. The farmers, they understood, but they never tried it. But with the program, one said, ‘OK, I’ll try it.’ From the first farmer you get more and more farmers interested,” he said.
Total yield
Today, some 140,000 farmer families are implementing SRI in 21 Cambodian provinces, helping boost total yield from 3.82 million tons in 2002 to 7.97 million tons in 2010.
Several organizations have spun off Cedac’s success. In 2003, the organization established the Farmer and Nature Net, a cooperative-type network of farmers’ associations and individual members that aims to promote sustainable agriculture and encourage women to get involved in farming.
The organization currently has $8 million in savings.
Spreading the word
Koma also initiated the Cedac Enterprise for Development, which “links farmers directly to the market.” The social enterprise now runs 13 shops that sell locally produced organic stock, bringing goods from some 5,000 farmers directly to consumers.
His gains in the last decade mark a journey that Koma set out to do soon after the fall in 1979 of the violent Khmer Rouge, a regime that uprooted his family from rural Takeo province and forced them to move to Phnom Penh.
He said he simply wanted to see his country grow, and he saw the opportunity in land.
“I saw that my country is poor and I [was looking at] how to build my country. I felt it was better to start with agriculture,” Koma said.
Koma aims to spread SRI to all of Cambodia’s farmers, who make up roughly 66 percent of the country’s total population.
He has also traveled around Southeast Asia in the hopes of promoting the rice production method, from Thailand and Laos to Vietnam and Burma (Myanmar).
Friday, August 31, 2012
2012 Ramon Magsaysay Awards: Agronomist empowers farmers in Cambodia
MANILA, Philippines - Cambodian Yang Saing Koma was a young boy when his family was forced by the communist Khmer Rouge to flee their home province for Phnom Penh.
Like the rest of Cambodians, Koma witnessed the brutality and oppression under the four-year Khmer Rouge regime, during which 1.7 million people were killed or died as a result of torture, disease outbreak and starvation.
Koma fortunately survived the regime and used his experience to work on a lifetime goal to lift his people from the ruins of a brutal regime.
Although he saw his people as broken and hopeless, Koma was optimistic that his country would rise again as a nation and he would, in his own little way, contribute to Cambodia’s recovery.
He knew his country had natural resources – vast tracts of land – and from there he could help his people improve their lives through innovations in farming.
After all, 66 percent of Cambodians are reliant on rice farming and 80 percent of the population are in the rural areas.
Koma thought improvements should take place in the rice farming sector.
In 1995, Koma went to Germany on a scholarship where he specialized in agriculture and earned a doctorate at the University of Leipzig.
Koma returned to Cambodia to share what he learned. He worked for foreign development organizations but his heart was intent on establishing an organization that will help and make farmers sustainable.
Koma then established and founded the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC), making sustainable agriculture his centerpiece in 1997.
Together with a lean team and French non-government organization, Koma worked hard to make CEDAC an independent and self-sustaining organization.
Fifteen years after CEDAC was established, it is now one of the largest agricultural and rural development NGOs in Cambodia, helping thousands of farmers improve their lives.
CEDAC’s success lies with the introduction of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), an ecologically sustainable approach to rice production.
“SRI is based on a simple system of plant, water and soil management, and is suitable to Cambodia’s dominant pattern of smallholder farms.”
Koma introduced SRI in year 2000 to 28 reluctant farmers. Today, Koma has been promoting SRI to more than 100,000 rice farmers, registering a 61 percent increase in rice yields, even as it decreased the amount of seeds and chemical fertilizers used while increasing the use of organic fertilizers by 85 percent.
In 2005, the Cambodian government officially endorsed SRI as a rice production strategy.
Today, 15 years after it was established, CEDAC is now able to support 140,000 farmer families in 21 provinces. Between 2002 and 2010, Cambodia’s rice production rose from 3.82 million tons to 6. 97 million tons, and CEDAC’s work has been largely credited as the driving force behind this increase.
Koma also established the Farmer and Nature Net (FNN), an independent network of 1,402 farmer associations with around 40,000 members who share farming knowledge among themselves.
Today, the associations under the FNN have been able to mobilize savings of more than $8 million, with an average monthly increase of five percent.
In founding CEDAC, Koma’s goal was to allow farmers to discover for themselves a better way of doing things.
“Cambodians need to take responsibility for their own destiny. The challenge lies in building people. We have to believe in ourselves, we have to believe in our ideas. Everything is interrelated. A simple thing can have a lot of influence in the system. If more people grow, society will grow,” Koma said.
In electing Yang Saing Koma to receive the 2012 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his “creative fusion of practical science and collective will that has inspired and enabled vast members of farmers in Cambodia to become more empowered and productive contributors to their country’s economic growth.”
Source: The Philippine Star
 |
| Yang Saing Koma |
Koma fortunately survived the regime and used his experience to work on a lifetime goal to lift his people from the ruins of a brutal regime.
Although he saw his people as broken and hopeless, Koma was optimistic that his country would rise again as a nation and he would, in his own little way, contribute to Cambodia’s recovery.
He knew his country had natural resources – vast tracts of land – and from there he could help his people improve their lives through innovations in farming.
After all, 66 percent of Cambodians are reliant on rice farming and 80 percent of the population are in the rural areas.
Koma thought improvements should take place in the rice farming sector.
In 1995, Koma went to Germany on a scholarship where he specialized in agriculture and earned a doctorate at the University of Leipzig.
Koma returned to Cambodia to share what he learned. He worked for foreign development organizations but his heart was intent on establishing an organization that will help and make farmers sustainable.
Koma then established and founded the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC), making sustainable agriculture his centerpiece in 1997.
Together with a lean team and French non-government organization, Koma worked hard to make CEDAC an independent and self-sustaining organization.
Fifteen years after CEDAC was established, it is now one of the largest agricultural and rural development NGOs in Cambodia, helping thousands of farmers improve their lives.
CEDAC’s success lies with the introduction of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), an ecologically sustainable approach to rice production.
“SRI is based on a simple system of plant, water and soil management, and is suitable to Cambodia’s dominant pattern of smallholder farms.”
Koma introduced SRI in year 2000 to 28 reluctant farmers. Today, Koma has been promoting SRI to more than 100,000 rice farmers, registering a 61 percent increase in rice yields, even as it decreased the amount of seeds and chemical fertilizers used while increasing the use of organic fertilizers by 85 percent.
In 2005, the Cambodian government officially endorsed SRI as a rice production strategy.
Today, 15 years after it was established, CEDAC is now able to support 140,000 farmer families in 21 provinces. Between 2002 and 2010, Cambodia’s rice production rose from 3.82 million tons to 6. 97 million tons, and CEDAC’s work has been largely credited as the driving force behind this increase.
Koma also established the Farmer and Nature Net (FNN), an independent network of 1,402 farmer associations with around 40,000 members who share farming knowledge among themselves.
Today, the associations under the FNN have been able to mobilize savings of more than $8 million, with an average monthly increase of five percent.
In founding CEDAC, Koma’s goal was to allow farmers to discover for themselves a better way of doing things.
“Cambodians need to take responsibility for their own destiny. The challenge lies in building people. We have to believe in ourselves, we have to believe in our ideas. Everything is interrelated. A simple thing can have a lot of influence in the system. If more people grow, society will grow,” Koma said.
In electing Yang Saing Koma to receive the 2012 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his “creative fusion of practical science and collective will that has inspired and enabled vast members of farmers in Cambodia to become more empowered and productive contributors to their country’s economic growth.”
Source: The Philippine Star
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Indonesia, Cambodia Fix Rice Deal
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| កសិករខ្មែរដកសំណាបនៅក្នុង ស្រែនៅខេត្តកណ្ដាល។ |
Gita Wirjawan, Indonesia’s trade minister, and Cham Prasidh, the Cambodian minister of commerce, signed a nonbinding agreement on Tuesday. The deal allows Indonesia to import rice each year from 2012 through 2016 up to the specified cap. The import cap could be increased if needed.
Gita said that Indonesia will benefit from a more stabilized rice price and secure supply, as it would have various sources from which it can import. As a result, Indonesian companies must capitalize on this by investing more in Cambodia, thus improving more trade between both countries.
“It is our goal to not only exchange trade with trade, but also trade with investment,” Gita said. “Other countries have made success stories by investing in Cambodia. We can do the same.”
Cham Prasidh said that he would like to see Indonesian companies invest in Cambodia’s agricultural sector to help it turn its surplus of paddies into rice.
“We need Indonesian companies to come,” he said. “They can invest in processing rice. Later on, they can export rice to Indonesia.
“Cambodia is open. They can set up companies to sell fertilizer and seeds.”
Cham Prasidh also encouraged Indonesia to benefit from cheaper rice storage in the country.
Officials of Galuh Prabu Trijaya, an Indonesian trading company operating in Cambodia, welcomed the signing.
The deal will help it secure its $1 billion deal of rice processing machinery, which is imported from Indonesia, over the next five years.
“This agreement will spur rice production here,” said Mohamad Helmi, a business development director of Galuh.
The firm has been supplying fertilizer for 1.2 million farmers, covering 1.2 million hectares of land in Cambodia.
Helmi is confident that Galuh can double its deal in the next few years.
“We can supply this country fertilizer, machinery and processing machines,” he said. “That’s a big plus.”
Tan Tze Hao, an Indonesian commodities trader, recently set up a company called Padi Tonle, because he was looking for an opportunity to sell rice out of Cambodia.
“We found out not so long ago that Cambodia has stabilized,” he said. “We want to try our best here. In the long run we would like to acquire a rice field as well.”
Indonesia’s exports to Cambodia last year were worth about $220 million. That is a small fraction of the $12.3 billion in total trade that Cambodia did last year.
ទន្ទឹមគ្នានឹងពេលដែលប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូណេស៊ីកំពុងព្យាយាមជំរុញ ដំណើរការពាណិជ្ជកម្ម និងវិនិយោគទុននៅកម្ពុជានោះ កាលពីថ្ងៃអង្គារ ប្រទេសនេះបានចុះហត្ថលេខាលើកិច្ចព្រមព្រៀងមួយដើម្បីនាំអង្ករ ចូលប្រទេសរបស់ខ្លួនពីប្រទេសកម្ពុជាចំនួន១០០.០០០ (មួយសែន) តោនក្នុងមួយឆ្នាំ។
រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងពាណិជ្ជកម្មប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូណេស៊ី លោក ហ្គីតា វីចាវ៉ាន់ (Gita Wirjawan) និងលោក ចម ប្រសិទ្ធ រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងពាណិជ្ជកម្មខ្មែរ បានចុះហត្ថលេខាលើកិច្ចព្រមព្រៀងមួយកាលពីថ្ងៃអង្គារ។ កិច្ចព្រមព្រៀងនេះអនុញ្ញាតឲ្យប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូណេស៊ីនាំចូលអង្ករជារៀង រាល់ឆ្នាំចាប់តាំងពីឆ្នាំ២០១២ ដល់ឆ្នាំ២០១៦ រហូតដល់មានការកំណត់ជាក់លាក់។ ការកំណត់នាំចូលនេះ អាចត្រូវបង្កើនបរិមាណ ប្រសិនបើ ចាំបាច់។
លោក ហ្គីតាបាននិយាយថា ប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូណេស៊ីនឹងទទួលបានផលចំណេញពីតម្លៃអង្ករថេរ និងធានាការផ្គត់ផ្គង់ ដោយសារប្រទេសនេះមានប្រភពផ្សេងៗដែលខ្លួនអាចនាំអង្ករចូល។ ជាលទ្ធផល ក្រុមហ៊ុននានារបស់ប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូណេស៊ីត្រូវតែឆ្លៀតឱកាសរកប្រាក់ ចំណេញដោយដាក់ទុនរកស៊ីនៅប្រទេសកម្ពុជា គឺត្រូវលើកកម្ពស់ពាណិជ្ជកម្មរវាងប្រទេសទាំងពីរឲ្យកាន់តែ ប្រសើរ។
លោកហ្គីតាបាននិយាយទៀតថា "គោលបំណងរបស់យើង មិនមែនគ្រាន់តែផ្លាស់ប្ដូរពាណិជ្ជកម្មនិងពាណិជ្ជកម្មនោះទេ ប៉ុន្តែថែមទាំងធ្វើពាណិជ្ជដោយបោះទុនវិនិយោគថែមទៀតផង។ ប្រទេសផ្សេងៗបានដាក់ទុនរកស៊ីនៅប្រទេសកម្ពុជាយ៉ាងកាក់កបនៅ កម្ពុជា។ យើងអាចធ្វើបានដូចគ្នា"។
លោក ចម ប្រសិទ្ធ បាននិយាយថា លោក ចង់ឃើញក្រុមហ៊ុននានារបស់ប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូណេស៊ីដាក់ទុនរកស៊ីក្នុង វិស័យកសិកម្មនៅកម្ពុជា ដើម្បីជួយប្រទេសនេះប្រែក្លាយវាលស្រែទៅជាអង្ករ។
លោកនិយាយថា "យើងចង់ឲ្យប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូណេស៊ីមករកស៊ីនៅកម្ពុជា។ ក្រុមហ៊ុនទាំងនោះអាចដាក់ទុនលើការកែច្នៃអង្ករ (កិនស្រូវ) ហើយនាំចេញអង្ករទៅប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូណេស៊ី។
"ប្រទេសកម្ពុជាបើកទ្វារស្វាគមន៍ជានិច្ច។ ក្រុមទាំងនោះអាចបើកក្រុមហ៊ុនលក់ជី និងពូជស្រូវ។
លោក ចម ប្រសិទ្ធក៏បានលើកទឹកចិត្តប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូណេស៊ីឲ្យទទួលបានផលចំណេញពី ការរក្សា ឬស្តុកអង្ករក្នុងតម្លៃថោកនៅក្នុងប្រទេសកម្ពុជាដែរ។
មន្ត្រីមកពីក្រុមហ៊ុន ហ្គាលូ ប្រាប៊ូ ទ្រីចាយ៉ា ដែលជាក្រុមហ៊ុនពាណិជ្ជកម្មឥណ្ឌូណេស៊ី ហើយកំពុងដំណើរការក្រុមហ៊ុននៅក្នុងប្រទេសកម្ពុជា បានស្វាគមន៍ចំពោះការចុះហត្ថលេខាលើកិច្ចព្រមព្រៀងនោះ។
កិច្ចព្រមព្រៀងនេះនឹងជួយក្រុមហ៊ុននេះធានាបានកិច្ចព្រមព្រៀង នាំចូលម៉ាស៊ីនកិនស្រូវតម្លៃមួយពាន់លានដុល្លារពីប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូណេ ស៊ី ក្នុងរយៈពេលប្រាំឆ្នាំខាងមុខ។
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Police Shut Down Cambodia’s First PETA Protest
(PETA ACTIVISM) CAMBODIA — Police broke up PETA’s first protest in Cambodia on Monday, saying the activists who were sitting outside KFC had disturbed public order with their strange behavior. A local onlooker claimed Cambodians don’t have much knowledge on animal rights and are mostly concerned with the chemicals that may be in their food. These protestors were taken to the local police station, but hopefully PETA can find other ways to educate Cambodians about animal welfare. Read on for more information. — Global Animal
Via AFP:
PHNOM PENH — Baffled police broke up animal rights group PETA's first protest in Cambodia Monday, saying activists who sat in a cage outside a KFC outlet had disturbed "public order" with their "strange" actions.
The two foreign campaigners from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the protest in the capital Phnom Penh was meant to raise awareness of the alleged cruel treatment of chickens by the fast food chain, which has 10 restaurants in the country.
Preap Borei, a deputy police chief of the capital's Daun Penh district, said the duo were asked to stop their protest because it "affected public order" and were briefly taken in for questioning before being let go.
"We wanted to know the reason for the protest because it's strange. In Cambodia, no one wants to be caged, but they got into the cage by themselves," he told AFP.
One of the protesters, PETA Asia director Jason Baker, said the lives of the poultry went from "shell to hell".
"Most people don't realise the chickens' beaks are cut off, that they are crammed into spaces so small they can't spread their wings," he told AFP from inside the coop, shortly before he and his colleague were escorted to a local police station.
The short-lived stunt, a novelty in a country where animal welfare issues get little attention, attracted several dozen curious onlookers.
"We don't have much knowledge about animal rights. Mainly we're concerned about chemicals in animals that can affect our own health," KFC customer Khuon Daroeurn said.
The 32-year-old travel agency employee added that PETA's protest was likely too small to have much impact. "I don't think many people will think about it," she said.
Benjamin Jerome, general manager of Cambodia's KFC restaurants, said KFC got its chicken from "reliable" US suppliers who met "international standards". He said he did not believe the animals were subject to cruelty.
Via AFP:
PHNOM PENH — Baffled police broke up animal rights group PETA's first protest in Cambodia Monday, saying activists who sat in a cage outside a KFC outlet had disturbed "public order" with their "strange" actions.
The two foreign campaigners from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the protest in the capital Phnom Penh was meant to raise awareness of the alleged cruel treatment of chickens by the fast food chain, which has 10 restaurants in the country.
Preap Borei, a deputy police chief of the capital's Daun Penh district, said the duo were asked to stop their protest because it "affected public order" and were briefly taken in for questioning before being let go.
"We wanted to know the reason for the protest because it's strange. In Cambodia, no one wants to be caged, but they got into the cage by themselves," he told AFP.
One of the protesters, PETA Asia director Jason Baker, said the lives of the poultry went from "shell to hell".
"Most people don't realise the chickens' beaks are cut off, that they are crammed into spaces so small they can't spread their wings," he told AFP from inside the coop, shortly before he and his colleague were escorted to a local police station.
The short-lived stunt, a novelty in a country where animal welfare issues get little attention, attracted several dozen curious onlookers.
"We don't have much knowledge about animal rights. Mainly we're concerned about chemicals in animals that can affect our own health," KFC customer Khuon Daroeurn said.
The 32-year-old travel agency employee added that PETA's protest was likely too small to have much impact. "I don't think many people will think about it," she said.
Benjamin Jerome, general manager of Cambodia's KFC restaurants, said KFC got its chicken from "reliable" US suppliers who met "international standards". He said he did not believe the animals were subject to cruelty.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Land of gold and dollars
What do you think about the following proverb:
Don't think you learn to become officials, don't hate land that lead to become poor; you must learn to become farmer who will become rich and prosperity in future.
(កុំគិតរៀនចង់ធ្វើមន្ត្រី ស្អប់ខ្ពើមដីនាំឲ្យក្រ ត្រូវរៀនធ្វើកសិករ ទើបមានទ្រព្យតទៅអនាគត។)
Don't think you learn to become officials, don't hate land that lead to become poor; you must learn to become farmer who will become rich and prosperity in future.
(កុំគិតរៀនចង់ធ្វើមន្ត្រី ស្អប់ខ្ពើមដីនាំឲ្យក្រ ត្រូវរៀនធ្វើកសិករ ទើបមានទ្រព្យតទៅអនាគត។)
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