Daniel Tan

The University of Sydney, Agriculture and Environment, Faculty Member

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Phone: +61286271052
Address: Faculty of Agriculture and Environment
Biomedical Building C81

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Clemens M Grünbühel

Stockholm Environment Institute

Ronnie Vernooy

Ratha Rien

Fiona Scott

University of New England - Australia

B. Farquharson

Keo Kynal

Royal university of agriculture

Chinaza Onwuchekwa-Henry

Rob Cramb

Vu Duc Toan

Samuel Gebreselassie

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Adaptation constraints and prospects for future research priorities in lowland rice-based farming systems: learning experiences from Northwest Cambodia

by Clemens M Grünbühel, Daniel Tan, and Rebecca Cross

Environment, Development, and Sustainability, 2023

Sustainable agricultural development not only addresses global food insecurity but may also allev... more Sustainable agricultural development not only addresses global food insecurity but may also alleviate poverty by enriching the lives of millions of smallholder farmers. Improving the sustainability and profitability of agriculture where smallholders are dominant creates profound impacts because small landholding farmers produce approximately 70-80% of the global food. The need for a thorough understanding of the factors affecting farmers' adoption of agricultural technologies and practices has been identified from extant literature as an important research gap. Responding to the research gap and need, this study examined the challenges that prevent farm households from adopting improved farming practices and/or technologies in Banteay Meanchey and Battambang provinces in Northwest Cambodia. A total of 524 rice producing farm household representatives were randomly selected from a household database maintained by the local government authorities. A mixed methods approach was used in the study including semi-structured interviews followed by in-depth interviews, field observations, and literature review. Farmers were found to be confronted with a range of challenges and concerns, including soil degradation, weeds, diseases, insect pests, high production costs, flooding, droughts, changing rainfall pattern, and unreliable rainfall distribution. The research findings demonstrate that improved crop production practices (e.g., adopting mechanised direct seeding methods of crop establishment, maintaining and improving soil health through crop residue retention, growing cover crops, etc.) and better resource use efficiency (e.g., reducing seeding rates to less than 100 kg/ha, being more strategic in the use of integrated nutrient, weed, and pest management strategies, etc.) can be a starting point for sustainable intensification of rice production. This transition towards intensifying paddy production sustainably may become even more effective through a clear understanding of local contexts, farm household characteristics, available resources, and the farm management practices and constraints. We observed that farmers and their associations have yet to be fully recognised as partners and actors in Cambodia. Instead, they tend to be viewed as beneficiaries and recipients of improved practices and technologies. We, therefore, propose that farmers and their associations be acknowledged and included in a process of co-creation of knowledge-practices. Such partnerships will enable the inclusion of factors (e.g., production costs, production risks, complexity and practicability of implementations, product market and prices, Extended author information available on the last page of the article V. Touch et al. 1 3 etc.) shown to influence farmers' adoption of innovative farming practices and technologies. The original contribution of this article is a real-world account of the constraints and limitations experienced by smallholder rice farmers in Cambodia, which are connected to future research and development priorities in the region.

Daniel Tan

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