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.
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.