Asia | Smith Center for International Sustainable Agriculture

Our work in Southeast Asia grew from early partnerships on several projects in Cambodia. From efforts in sustainable intensification to agro-ecological services provided by cave-roosting bats, UTIA researchers have been frequenting Cambodia since early 2016. UTIA-Cambodia partnerships originally expanded from a collaboration with the Pennsylvania State University on a four-year USAID project supported by the Feed the Future Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (SIIL).

Since then, partnerships and research activities in Cambodia and across Southeast Asia have been expanding. UTIA is now implementing a five-year (2023-2028) cooperative agreement from USAID through the Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program. The Smith Center is the lead partner for the “Agricultural Leaders of Tomorrow” (ALOFT) regional F2F program in three core countries: Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. F2F provides technical assistance from U.S. volunteers to farmers and agricultural groups in foreign countries to promote sustainable improvements in food security and agricultural production, processing, and marketing.

Current Projects

The Smith Center is the lead partner for the “Agricultural Leaders of Tomorrow” (ALOFT) regional Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program for Southeast Asia. F2F provides technical assistance from U.S. volunteers to farmers and agricultural groups in foreign countries to promote sustainable improvements in food security and agricultural production, processing, and marketing.

Farmer-to-Farmer: ALOFT

The Scaling Suitable Sustainable Technologies (S3) project brought three sustainable intensification technologies to scale: vegetable grafting, cover/relay crops and wild gardens. S3-Cambodia project scaled these technologies to farmers in Cambodia through various pathways, including school systems and the private sector. These technologies include vegetable grafting and the marketing of grafted plants, post-rice secondary cropping and seed production and wild food plant gardens in schools and as private nurseries.

S3 – Cambodia

Past Projects

Overview

This project examined the effectiveness of three native tree species in creating a physical, living barrier to prevent cows from foraging on rice paddy cover crops, a common challenge encountered in Cambodian rice-based systems. The project also integrates cattle nutrition components through the help of cattle extension specialist, Jason Smith, assistant professor in the Department of Animal Science (Co-PI), as these tree species can serve as supplementary forage for livestock, contributing to their rice straw-based diet.

Project Dates

June 2017 – September 2019

Funding

Feed the Future Livestock Innovation Lab through the University of Florida

Implementing Partners

Royal University of Agriculture and University of Battambang

Impacts

Living fence species, such as Leucaena leucocephala, can produce 2.5kg of fresh weight per week per 100 trees during the Cambodian dry season.
This biomass volume is sufficient to supplement cattle diets so that a smallholder can sustain a small percentage weight gain in cows throughout the dry season
Land tenure, physical access to paddy lands, and the gendered nature of these farming systems, remain challenges for realizing private benefit on paddy lands culturally considered public in the dry season.

Overview

This project empowered women and improved nutrition by promoting women’s participation in the value chains for horticultural crops and rice produced through sustainable intensification practices.

Project Dates

December 2015 – March 2020

Funding

USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification; subaward through The Pennsylvania State University.

Implementing Partners

Royal University of Agriculture and University of Battambang

Impacts

Identified and promoted adoption of gender-sensitive sustainable intensification technologies and practices.
Identified and fostered enabling conditions for women to fully participate in sustainable intensification practices.
Farmers adopted gender and ecologically sensitive sustainable intensification production practices through green manure cover cropping strategies, water-saving techniques,vegetable grafting and a focus on underutilized species.

Overview

In partnership with Pennsylvania State University, a UTIA delegation traveled to Cambodia to examine how the pressure of the increase in mining activities on the bat population impact the natural pest control of the agricultural systems, as these predator-prey relationships have not been clearly identified among these species of bats and pests. Bats provide essential agro-ecological services to agricultural systems by helping to control pests and providing guano, bat droppings, which can be used as fertilizer.

Overview

Our Farmer-to-Farmer project provides technical assistance from highly-skilled U.S. volunteers to Cambodian farmers and agricultural groups to promote sustainable improvements in food security and agricultural production, processing and marketing in Cambodia. The project draws on a “toolkit” of interventions, including improving soil health, managing water resources, improving access to germplasm, promoting integrated pest management and promoting integrated systems for crop and livestock production. We recruit Cambodian host-organizations to support both Cambodian and American F2F volunteers to provide hands-on training around these intervention areas. F2F volunteers exchange technical assistance with these communities to address specific needs identified by hosts. We also work with extension and education providers to strengthen their capacity to promote agricultural innovations in their networks.

Project Dates

January 2020 – September 2023

PARTNERS

Center of Excellence on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Nutrition (CE SAIN)

FUNDING

United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Partners of the Americas and Farmer-to-Farmer Agriculture Volunteer Opportunity Project (AVOP) Small Grants Program

IMPACTS

Organized 41 short-term exchanges between F2F volunteers and Cambodian host-communities
Supported 10 Cambodian host-organizations to improve their agricultural production and capacity, including universities, NGOs and agricultural cooperatives