August 19
Hi! My name is Khut Khoeun and this is my wife Sun Thorn, our daughter and granddaughter. We live in Ta Ngak village, Preah Sdach District, Prey Veng Cambodia. There are 5 daughters but 3 of them have to work in Phnom Penh City. We have 2 sons, Nak and Somnang.
The only son, Somnang is studying and now in eighth grade in Ta Ngak secondary school. Nak has never been to school because of sickness.
Nowadays, I have a 15m x 12m-bitter gourd garden. I just plant cucumber, long green bean, and lettuce, in which seeds are bought from Mr. Sim Som Oun, an FBA in our commune. Generally, buyers come to collect from our garden but sometimes we take vegetables to the market.
There are 2 fish ponds. The one behind me is 25 m x 10 m. 2 m in depth consists of 2700 fish. I feed them, 2 times a day, bran mixed with water lily or water green from this pond.
I am going to prepare this pond again because it is shallow, and then share half of the fish from other pond. This is mainly for market sales and so we can eat daily. I have some chicken, ducks and 2 cows used for plowing the rice field next to the pond on my right.
I own about 1 hectare of land. I never try planting rice in rows, and this is my first time. I learned from Mr. Sim Som Oun, an FBA in Ta Ngak village. They look very healthy as I can take good care of them when they are so close to my house. I think row-planted rice is a good technique that other farmers should try. From this season on I will apply this method, but first wait and see whether the harvest is good or not.
Water is the main problem for farmers. For me, I really need a new pump because this one is not working properly and is almost broken so we cannot give enough water to our vegetables and rice.
I would have more self-esteem if we had a (irrigation system) pump.
Besides vegetables, rice and livestock, we have banana, mango, and guava trees which we can eat and also sell. My daughter likes to climb guava trees and eat until she fills her stomach.
My father also has palm trees that we can make into sugar palm. Sometimes my sisters in Phnom Penh send us money.
