The Saving Group (Buddha Community) project in two villages in Battambang Province is a combined micro-loan and mutual aid association established with funds from the emergency assistance provided during the 2019 floods, and began in 2022.
Currently, four cooperatives are in operation, one in Preypreal Village and three in Tagnen village, and we have continued our inspection and monitoring of the progress of these cooperatives since last year.
We asked to the Local trainer Mr. Toeun to audit the February 2023 financial meeting of each group of the association and to follow up regularly to ensure the smooth operation of the second session of the 2023 fiscal year, and he reported that the first year's financial results were successfully completed and the second session started.
Although the rainy season came late and there was not much rainfall in Cambodia in general this year, the rice is expected to grow well and to be good harvest (The harvest season is expected January to February 2024.)
At the time of our visit, the rainy season was just near finishing, there was still considerable water in the farming areas. The roads were flooded and muddy in some places, and making it difficult to reach the village, but we finally got there.
Unfortunately, we were unable to visit Kompong Spue and Kompong Chunang provinces due to the traffic jam by water festival held throughout Cambodia, so we visited only Battambang province this time.
Project Status
<Preypreal Village, Battambang Province>
32 participants at the beginning of the program → 55 participants now in the second phase of the program with new applicants.
Small loans had be repaid in February 2023, and they have 39 beneficiaries ($3,400) in the second term
The loans were mainly used to pay for fertilizers, insecticides, and cultivation necessary for rice cultivation, as well as for transporting rice, corn, and other grains.
Savings amount is approximately $1,600 and interest of $300 for the period of 10 months by 55 members this term.
The committee's officers kept good books and managed the funds well, and the operation seemed to be running smoothly.
However, as the number of participating members has increased, the number of those who wish to borrow has also increased, but due to limited resources, it has been difficult to provide loans. In order to overcome this challenge and further develop the union, they need additional capital of $1,200-$1,400 , and they asked for financial support if possible.
Rice cultivation is still waiting for the harvest season in January or February next year, and many villagers are hired to harvest corn for additional income during this time. The daily wage ranges from 25,000 to 40,000 Riel.
In addition to this, they also grow their own corn on their own surplus land in the fields, which they sell for $130-140 per ton.
As for rice cultivation, the land has no irrigation facilities and is dependent on rainfall during the rainy season, so only one crop season per year is possible, they said so.
The new rice warehouse in the village, which was requested last year, had a magnificent rice warehouse built on the land of the rice bank leader's house with donations from CEP and funds from the villagers.
<Tangen Village, Battambang Province>
Group 1: 25 beneficiaries in 2nd term, 25 saving (reserve)
Original $2,300 + $50 in savings = $2,350 total
Group 2: 35 beneficiaries in 2nd term, 31saving (reserve)
Original $2,200 + $56.25 in savings = $2,250 total
Group 3: 15 beneficiaries in 2nd term, 15 saving (reserve)
Original $1,200 + $55 in savings = $1,255 total
As in the previous year, the loan was used for fertilizer, insecticides, and cultivation, but this year there were many snakes and they destroyed the fields. As a countermeasure, they sprayed insecticide, which is effective against snakes, not once but four or five times, and the cost for this was so high that they could not save as much as they had expected.
I explained that saving as much as possible every month, even in small amounts, would be helpful in the event of an emergency, and I told them again to encourage them to save.
As for the rice bank, a new leader and board members will elected at the end of this year to restructure the management and operational structure, which had been a concern since last year, and a meeting will be held in December to reorganize.
Ms. Shida, who was also present at the meeting, advised that it would be better to first restore the original source of seed and start from there, and then incorporate it into the saving group.
The saving groups (Buddha Cooperative) in two villages in Battambang Province are now in their second year of meeting, and we are relieved to report that they have managed to settle their accounts and repay their loans in February 2023 without any problems.
We were able to confirm that the group is running smoothly, as the unity of the participating members has become stronger and the committee officers seem to be doing their bookkeeping and financial management properly.
I think it was a good thing that we asked Mr. Toeun, our trainer last year, to extend his contract for one year to further establish the program and to continue his guidance and monitoring.
Compared to Preypreal village, where the members are highly motivated and the number of participants is increasing and spreading, Tangen village is a little less active and the number of members is shrinking.
It is a bit what I'm worried about, but I hope they can manage to keep it running.
Both villages requested an additional capital.
In Preypreal Village, where operations are on track and member morale is high, it would be effective to increase capital in order to further increase the number of members and promote development, but in Tangen Village, where activities are stagnant, it is unknown whether capital increase now will be effectively utilized. So Ms. Shida commented that it is too early to make a capital increase in Tangen, and we decided to make a decision based on the future trends.
Some villagers in Preypreal have begun to experiment with poultry farming, which has been helpful in terms of self-sufficiency within the rearing families, but it seems that they have not been able to increase the number of poultry reared to the point where it can lead to business.
It was also mentioned that during the first half of the rainy season, when there was little rainfall, the water from Buddha's Pond 1 was very useful for the villagers' livelihood.
According to Ms. Sida's explanation of the effectiveness of saving, although banking and remittance systems are expanding even in rural areas in Cambodia, many people in rural areas still do not have surplus funds to deposit in banks, and even if they do have some, many do not know how to open bank accounts and other procedures.
Therefore, she said that the autonomous saving system in the village would be useful to make villagers aware of and get into the habit of saving, and furthermore, it would make them to be relieved as it could serve as a mutual aid association in the event of illness, funeral, disaster, or any other unexpected state of affairs.
Now that the program has been established to some extent and the management and operation of each group has stabilized, the next step is to enhance the reserve fund and pool as much funds as possible in case of natural disasters or emergencies to stabilize the community.
And the goal is to go one step further to promote local self-reliance and development by making more effective use of the loans to not only pay for rice cultivation but also to encourage the establishment of local industries such as poultry and vegetable farming.
This time, we distributed vegetable seeds to them in the hope that this would be an opportunity to raise awareness of this issue.
We told them that we would like them to start with what they can do little by little, such as actually raising vegetables and selling them at the market if they are able to harvest even a small amount, or expanding the poultry farming that is already being done in Preypreal village.
We will continue to monitor the program over the next year and beyond, including the possibility of next year's capital increase.
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