Jesuit-Initiated Farming Communities Open Office To Facilitate Services

Posted: 29th November 2007

ANG SNOUL, Cambodia (UCAN) -- For more than a decade, Jesuit Service Cambodia (JSC) has been empowering poor farmers by helping them set up village associations that provide funds for their economic development.

These Farmers Solidarity Associations are at the core of the JSC ministry in Ang Snoul district, about 25 kilometers west of Phnom Penh.

Started in 1993, these associations now number 178, according to Long Sophal, the JRS community development project assistant in the district. He spoke with UCA News on Nov. 15 at the opening of an office building to serve the communities.

Sophal explained how the associations are established. JSC initially provides loans to farmers in a village at a low interest rate of 3 percent. One-third of the interest goes into a community fund, from which association members can draw further loans for farming or to start small businesses.

The associations, which choose their own leaders, also set up rice and cow "banks." This allows community members to also "borrow" rice and cows, and repay in kind, Sophal said.

Khong Navy, who was chosen to represent the Farmers Solidarity Associations at the Nov. 15 opening ceremony, told the more than 100 people present that the office, which has a computer and a printer, cost about US$14,500 to set up. More than 90 percent of this amount came from the 178 farmer groups, while JSC contributed the rest.

Soun Theary, a villager who attended the ceremony, told UCA News the new office will make it easier for poor local people to get support.

Navy recalled that before the JSC initiative, "our lives were very difficult and we depended on outside help," referring to gifts and donations. The JSC project succeeded in transforming village communities, she told UCA News, because it did not "just give us money, but ideas to develop ourselves."

She also noted that some villagers have even used the community fund to improve main village roads that were difficult to navigate in the rainy season. Though the villagers are not "rich," she said, they now have more comfortable houses to live in and economic activity is growing.

According to the JSC website, a JSC support team encourages the Farmers Solidarity Associations in Ang Snoul to build unity, solidarity, responsibility and confidence. Each association is expected to help develop its village and improve villagers' livelihood through income-generating projects such as raising pigs and producing sugar palm, it says.

Article Source: UCAN