Food Security in the Riverine Rural Communities of the Lower Mekong Basin, Cambodia

Abstract

Food security is a major issue in the struggle to attain sustainable development and poverty reduction in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB). In this article, we aim to determine food security situation in the rural riverine communities of the LMB, Cambodia. The degree and frequency of – and local responses to – food shortages and past, current and future trends in employment opportunities are analysed. In our detailed study of the Upper, Middle and Lower stretches along the LMB, we found that: (1) food insecurity exists in all three areas and has been mostly concentrated among the poor over the last decade; (2) there is a close association between food shortages and poverty, but no relationship between food shortages and its consequences; (3) local responses to food insecurity have proven ineffective leaving the villagers to deal with it by simply reducing their food consumption; and, (4) the existing local employment could not ensure food security and sustainable livelihoods of the villagers. The findings suggest that food security should be improved by rural economy and local employment; agriculture and irrigation advancement; social safety nets and community-based projects; and, distinction between chronic and transitory food insecurity in development programmes.

Keywords:

• food security
• employment
• riverine rural community
• agriculture
• Cambodia
• Lower Mekong Basin

Notes on contributors

Serey Sok is a lecturer and researcher at the Research Office, Royal University of Phnom Penh. He just completed his PhD study at the Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University. In recent years, he has actively involved in many social and policy research as well as the United Nations' development projects, including poverty and food security, institutional support, resource management and socio-economic development in the context of the Greater Mekong Sub-region and Tonle Sap Lake of Cambodia. His research is published by Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Journal of Asian Public Policy, Advances in Global Change Research and other international publishers.

Xiaojiang Yu is an associate professor at the Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University. He used to work at the Australian and Chinese government agencies; and Australia's universities. His research includes international development and cooperation, environmental and resource management, energy, ecological conservation, urban and rural studies, and cultural issues in the South Pacific Islands, the Great Mekong Sub-region, South Asia, Australia and China. He published a number of articles in a range of international journals, such as Energy Policy, Environmental Management, International Journal of Environmental Studies, Cities and Cultural Geography.

Koon-Kwai Wong is a professor at the Geography Department, Hong Kong Baptist University. He was a Visiting Research Scientist at the Geography Department of the National Taiwan University at Taipei in 1996. In 2002, he was the inaugurating Asian Studies Visiting Professor (Asian Environment) of the Asian & Asian American Studies Program of Binghamton University – the State University of New York in the USA during the 2002–2003 academic year. His research focuses mainly on people's perceptions and attitudes toward environmental, environmental policy implementation, and more recently on the sustainable use of urban green spaces and green urbanism issues. He conducted empirical studies mainly in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Macau and Germany. His major publications appeared in numerous top-tier international referred journals, including Environment and Planning B & C, Area, Sustainable Development, Environmentalist, Public Administration Review, Asia-Pacific Review, International Journal of Environmental Studies, etc.

Notes

¹The Mekong River, the world's twelfth-longest and Asia's seventh-longest river, flows over a distance of approximately 4500 km (Liu et al., 2009). The Mekong River is divided into two parts: the Upper Mekong Basin which includes China and Myanmar, and the LMB which consists of Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.

²In 2003, Cambodia localized the MDGs and adopted a special ninth Cambodia MDG on demining, unexploded ordnances and victim assistance.

³Section 1 of Article 25 of the declaration states that: ‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control’.

⁴The national poverty line in 2007 was USD$0.61 per person per day: incomes were divided into USD$0.51 for food stuffs and USD$0.10 for non-food items. In the Mekong region, a villager household needed USD$0.58 per day per person: USD$0.48 for food and USD$0.10 for non-food items (CSES, 2007).