Livelihoods and Assets in Rural Cambodia Ms. Jennifer Holden Writer/Editor Domrei Research and Consulting Raffles Hotel Le Royale Oct 5 th, 2011

Background Approximately 80% of the population live in rural areas and 71% rely on agriculture as their main source of income (World Bank, 2007). Two types of land: Village land and Farmland Land often inherited.

Village Land 97% households owned village land 89% of poorest households owned village land

Village Land findings Majority owned 1 plot (89%) Median amount of land – 800 square metres (40 by 20 metre plot) Village land ownership very static between IE surveys. 3% households had less land at follow up. Main reason for loss of land = give to family members

Farmland 87% owned farmland 64% of poorest households owned farmland

Farmland findings Farmland ownership relatively static. 7% owned less at follow up than baseline. Median Farmland size 0.7 hectares. Farmland size positively related to wealth. Better off group owned twice as much as poorest group (1 and 0.4 hectares)

Landlessness Landlessness very rare in our sample. 2% owned neither village land nor farmland. 8% of poorest households landless. Third of landless households owned a business.

Animal Ownership 89% of households owned an animal: 82% poultry, 68% livestock 32% pigs.

Businesses

Key findings at a glance.. Rural Cambodian families use a variety of strategies to generate income. Farming and animal raising are almost universal and small business ownership is quite common. The vast majority of households in the survey owned both village land and farmland. Landlessness was rare for our sample, even amongst the poorest households. In addition, almost a third of landless households owned a business. Animal ownership was very common in our sample with 89% owning at least one farm animal. Almost a third of all households had a small business, showing that income diversification is common in rural Cambodia.