A farmer Eng Sameth is preparing fish’s feed and talking to ODOV staff about her activities of fish cultivation. She tells that her family raises fish in a pond, the size 10m* 15m long behind her house. She spent 280,000 Khmer Riels ($70) to purchase 30kg of cat fish fingerlings to raise. She feeds her fish two times for a day, in the morning and in the afternoon. When fish are still small, she needs to purchase manufactured feeds and feed her fish for 30 days which it cost 50,000 Khmer Riels ($12.50) to buy manufactured feeds. After 30 days, the fish grow bigger then she can make fish feeds by using her own available local resources such as morning glory, banana stem, rice bran, green aquatic plants, etc. She tells that the fish are now in her pond already over two months of age, and she begins gradually catch the fish for daily household consumption and sell for incomes.
Aunt, Eng Sameth is 59 years old, her husband is Mey Sakhan, 59 years old. They both live in Yeang Toch Village, Chiphoch Commune, Mesang district, Prey Veng province. Their family was poor and they are responsible for their three grant children because the parents of these children migrated due to poor living conditions.
Before participating in ODOV project, living condition of aunt’s family was so difficult. She faced with food shortage almost a whole year. Aunt, Eng Sameth participated in ODOV food security project funded by CFGB-MCC in June 2016. She obtained knowledge and skills on agriculture techniques through participating the training and ongoing technical support provided by ODOV project staff. Aunt, Eng Sameth, applied knowledge that she learned to raise fish and she received successfully. Besides, raised fish, she also grew vegetables and raised chickens to meet household requirements.
“After participating in the project’s activity, my family living condition has changed, like increased knowledge, income, and especially access to family food security. My family has enough food to eat, I have enough fish and vegetables to eat all year round and I earn extra income by selling surplus fish and vegetables I produced” Said by Eng Sameth.
Aunt, Eng Sameth explained that it is easy to raise fish, it takes less time and get quickly results, raising fish cab be harvested within a few months. Regarding the sale of fish, no worry at all, fish is in high demand in the market, easy to sell. Aunt’s fish is sold in front of her house and the villagers come and buy fish at her house and she receives a good price of selling fish. Aunt Eng Sameth gets 15,000 Khmer Riels ($3.75) per kg of fish. Aunt confirmed that through raising fish, her family has enough fish to eat all year around and she also earns profits 1,500,000 Khmer Riels ($375) from selling fish within three months. The money that she makes are used for agriculture productions, purchase households items, paying for social events such as wedding or ceremonies as well as purchase school supplies for grant children.
Lastly, aunt, Eng Sameth expressed her thank you to ODOV and donors CFGB-MCC who provided supports for her family as well as other community people to have a better living conditions. She committed to continue to raise fish and she is happy to share her knowledge with other community.
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