Located in Southeast Asia with land and water access to important markets in Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia has emerged in recent years from decades of civil strife and economic stagnation to become a developing ASEAN economy. The 2008 Population Census stated total population as 13.4 million with a growth rate of 1.54 per year (FAO). According to the Cambodia Socioeconomic Survey, the poverty rate decreased from 47 percent in 2003 to 30 percent in 2007; the Cambodian government’s Commune Database estimates the 2010 poverty rate at 25.8 percent (WFP and UNICEF). Although Cambodia’s recent strong economic growth was impacted by the global economic downturn in 2008-09, the economy recovered in 2010 and 2011 with 6 percent GDP growth. The GDP is expected to grow 6.5 percent annually in 2012 and 2013 (World Bank). Despite this progress, rural poverty remains a serious challenge, with approximately 80 percent of the country’s population living in rural areas (FAO). Indochina tours Cambodia
Rice is the staple food for the majority of Cambodia's population. Important secondary food crops include maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, beans, vegetables, and fruit (FAO). An estimated 71 percent of the population depends primarily on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods; while agricultural growth has been steadily improving, it is hampered by low productivity, vulnerability to weather events such as flooding and drought, poor storage and irrigation practices, and a lack of adequate infrastructure (FAO and WFP). Flooding in 2011 highlighted these challenges for poor households, causing widespread crop damage, abnormally high domestic food prices (particularly for rice), and household displacement. It is estimated that at least 60,000 households were made food insecure by the floods (WFP). Travel to Cambodia
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Cambodian farmers planting rice. 2004. Photo: Brad Collis[/caption]Food and Economy
Food in Daily Life. The staples are rice and fish. Traditionally, a home meal is served on a mat on the floor or with the diners seated together on a raised bamboo platform. Meals are eaten in shifts according to status, with adult males and guests eating first and food preparers last. Breakfast typically consists of rice porridge or rice noodles. Lunch and dinner may be a combination of a spiced broth with fish or meat and vegetables, fish, fresh vegetables eaten with a fish-based paste, and stir-fried vegetables with chopped meat. A strong-smelling fermented fish paste called prâhok is the quintessential flavoring of Khmer food. Fruit is savored, and its display is considered a mark of abundance. It often is given as a gift. Teuk tnaot, a liquid tapped from sugar palms and drunk in various degrees of fermentation, generally is not taken with meals.
The tradition of Khmer cuisine in restaurants is undeveloped, and restaurants typically serve what is regarded as Chinese food. There are no food taboos, although devout Buddhists refrain from alcohol. Monks also cannot eat after noon and are enjoined to eat whatever they are given without making special requests.
Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. During festivals, elaborate and painstakingly seasoned dishes are prepared, such as curries, spiced fish sauces, complex stir fries, and a variety of sweets. At a temple festival, each family brings dishes that are ritually presented to the monks. After the monks have eaten, the remaining food is eaten by the lay community.
Basic Economy. The basis of the economy continues to be rice agriculture, and much of the population farms at a subsistence level, linked by a relatively undeveloped market system for rice, fruits, and vegetables, and using the riel for currency. Rice farmers are vulnerable to market fluctuations and to drought and insect infestation. State-owned rubber plantations dating back to the colonial period have remained a peripheral part of the economy.
Land Tenure and Property. Radical attempts to communalize property during the DK period and more modest attempts to encourage collective agriculture under PRK met with strong cultural resistance. Cambodians have a strong sense of personal property shared within the domestic unit. Constitutionally, the PRK recognized only three kinds of economic organization: state, cooperative, and family. Only after 1989, with the conscious shift to a market economy, did corporate enterprises and foreign investment become legal.
Commercial Activities. Cambodian artisans are known for silk and cotton weaving, silver work, silver and gold jewelry, and basketry. Handmade pottery is sold from oxcarts that travel from city to city. Straw mats made by hand at local workshops are available in markets; they also are made for personal use. In rural areas, plows, machetes,
A young Cambodian monk burning incense. Monkhood offers a means to education for boys in Cambodia.
looms, fish traps, and winnowing trays are often made for personal use, although imported factory-made products now are used more often.
Tourism is an important part of the economy, but it was hindered by fear of political unrest during most of the 1990s. It increased dramatically in 1999 and 2000.
Major Industries. Industry is undeveloped. State-owned sawmills, soap and cigarette factories, and small workshops for the construction of aluminum products, together with larger state-owned textile and rubber tire factories, have been privatized, and new breweries and cement factories have opened. After 1994, foreign-owned garment factories began to appear, employing mostly female laborers at extremely low wages. The economic role of those factories has expanded rapidly.
Trade. The government lacks effective controls over cross-border trade. In the 1980s, resistance groups near the Thai border financed their activities by trading in gems and timber. Illegal timber exports to Thailand and Vietnam are uncontrolled, and the country is rapidly becoming deforested. Illegal sales of rice to Thailand and Vietnam are also considerable and in 1998 resulted in domestic shortfalls. Besides rice and wood products, Cambodia exports fish products, cement, brewery products, and handicrafts to nearby Asian countries. The garment industry is linked to markets in the United States and the European Union.
Beach Scene, Tropics, Pacific ocean[/caption]