Siem Reap, KH – CKS family is dreaming of owning a home of their own – 31 Aug 2022

The CKS family started as one of the Peaksneng garden shop’s seasonal garden families a few years ago. Father is 55 years old and lives in Peasneng. He has Six children, one of them works in Siem Reap and three are still in school. He works as a farmer on his small piece of land where he grows rice every year. Due to the number of children, he struggles to provide food for them so he has to be open to all opportunities to earn income.

The Peaksneng garden shop assisted him to build a FAITH vegetable garden a few years ago, but due to the need for income he had to move from one place to another to find work and support his children. The catholic church cow bank projects were under Rey when he was a missionary before he became the Peaksneng garden shop manager. Rey lent the family a few cows to take care of from the cow bank, which assisted them to earn a more secure income and send the children to school. The garden was part of a mixture of food and income sources: family vegetable garden, livestock raising, small jobs and more recently cassava growing.

Casava is a significant contributor to the agricultural income of Peasneng in Siem Reap province. The planting, harvesting, processing and export of cassava provides jobs and livelihoods for the people in the village, including Chereap. Cassava is a significant cash crop for farmers especially those living in the Rent-to-Own community. Cassava production in Cambodia has increased substantially since a few years ago. Despite a recent drop in the market, cassava has rapidly grown from an uncommon crop to the second-most popular crop produced here in Peaksneng.

Increased demand for cassava worldwide is expected to lead to technological changes in the cultivation of the root, like using machinery, and also better prices. Today, cassava is grown in the provinces of Pailin, Battambang, Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Kratie. It is planted in May and harvested between November and the end of February each year.

The biggest of the family’s challenges is the weather extremes of very dry season and too much rain during the wet season. The varying market prices of crops is also a challenge. Despite these challenges the father keeps his dream for a home of their own alive.