Wildlife-friendly farmers, village chiefs and the village market network members in 12 villages in Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces have undergone training and pest and nutrient management for their rice paddy.
The USAID Greening Prey Lang Project provided a grant to Sansom Mlup Prey (SMP) to provide the training to wildlife-friendly farmers of IBIS rice and others.
“The objectives of the training were to introduce the importance of maintaining soil fertility for growing good quality rice; provide an understanding of nutrients and their function in growing rice and the symptoms of nutrient loss in rice crops; and share simple methods to control rice pests, disease, and predators,” the Greening Prey Lang Project said in a press release on December 31.
The Greening Prey Lang Project press release added that the training will help all IBIS rice members be able to apply these methods to their fields to improve their control of pests and nutrients without using chemical inputs.
The organisation noted that IBIS rice farmers have a zero poaching, deforestation, pesticide, and chemical fertilizer agreement with SMP.
To help farmers become more resilient to climate change impacts, the IBIS rice program supports farmers by providing training to increase the quality of their rice and improve rice yields.
When there is an increase in the number of community members engaged in the wildlife-friendly IBIS rice farming programme, studies have shown that endangered wildlife and their habitats are better protected, and community livelihoods are improved, the USAID project's press statement explains.
