The Problems and Challenges of Cambodian Rural Economy. Between New Governances and Peasant’s Realities. The Case of Kampong Thom Province

In Cambodia, agriculture and natural resources constitute a corner stone in the production systems of peasant families, who constitute the large majority of the rural population. Hence, in the perspective of an important demographic growth and an increasing marketing of agricultural inputs and outputs, man-made management of ecosystems represent considerable economic, social and environmental challenges to Cambodian peasants.The study precisely focuses on the peasant’s ways to manage rural territories. It rests on a fundamental hypothesis, according to which peasant practices are environmentally sustainable, economically efficient (in terms of creation of added-values) and socially equitable in the distribution of these added-values.A multi-scale analytical framework that integrates different dimensions of natural resources management is established to check out and fine tune this fundamental hypothesis. A first analytical framework, given a priori, covers the entire province of Kampong Thom. The second analytical framework is determined by choice. It covers two communes, selected on the basis of agro-ecological and institutional criteria, which are representative of rural dynamics observed and detailed at the provincial level. The first part shows the intricate links between agro-ecological diversity and peasant’s production systems. It details the social relationships that liven up rural territories and shows how power relationships structure or affect peasant communities. The next part analyses the new choices for collective and individual action for the management of natural resources. It points out the very conflictive nature of previous forms of management and the internal contradictions of the new choices. The potential contribution of commune council in natural resources management is also examined from a legal and organisational point of view.Field works carried out at the level of two communes detail and complete this analysis. First of all, spatial analysis of land use change between 1992 and 2006 shows the growing importance of non-peasant stakeholders in rural development dynamics. The analysis shows that when the development of rural territories can be entirely controlled by peasant’s communities, the dynamics of change are rational and efficient. Peasant’s strategies are characterized by a large diversity of activities, that all have in common the cultivation of rain-fed rice. The access to forest or fisheries resources on public state land is triggered by household’s activities diversification tactics in the dry season. These modes of access and use of natural resources are critically detailed and put in the perspective of the establishment of community fisheries and community forestry schemes.Management of private agricultural land is characterized by the overwhelming importance of rice in the cropping systems. Technical itineraries for rice cultivation implemented by rural households are analyzed and their economic results are evaluated. Different economic rationalities are highlighted in relation to inputs productivity. Elements of productivity, efficiency and profitability are also apprehended in relation with the access to credit and land markets. This analysis allows revisiting the assumed self-regulating role of land markets to ensure the growth of the agricultural sector on the one hand, and the improvement in the access of land for more equity on the other hand. Eventually, the analysis done at the commune level are put into the perspective of new institutional choices for collective and individual action for natural resources management and propose, in fine, operational recommendations to support peasant’s ways to manage natural resources.