Voucher Skills Training Program: Fish Raising in Rural Cambodia
Mr. Hor Sitha and his wife are committed to training. First he took a course in fruit farming from an NGO and his mangos will go to market this year. Sitha wishes he had a way of bring the mangos to market a month later because all the other farmers will bring them at the same time and the price will be lower. He is looking for a course in food processing so that he can really begin to earn from that training experience.
Then Sitha found a course in vegetable growing. His cucumbers and long beans are a good income base and have introduced him to the realities of the village markets where his wife is now “Head of Sales”
Last year his Commune Council was selected for VSTP and among the many training options they identified for improving family income, fish raising seemed and unusual choice. Although dried fish were a part of the local diet, being some distance from a river, fresh fish were not well understood. But Sitha saw a market opportunity and with his fruit and vegetables giving some income, he, unlike most local farmers, could afford to take a risk.
He signed up for the course and the trainer found by the local MOLVT-PTC was an enthusiastic fish person. He not only showed them how to raise complimentary varieties of fish, but came to individual farms to make sure his “graduates” were applying what they had learned. He did his training outdoors, so the number of unofficial trainees well exceeded the 25 registrants. Ponds were dug around the commune and the number of unofficial fish raisers causes smiles by those who feel they…beat the system.
Sitha is 42 years old, lives in Riessei II Village, Moung Ruessei Commune, Moung Ruessei District, and completed grade 7, He does not count as one of the youth originally targeted by the VSTP but he is teaching his children to be fish farmers and they now have a solid future occupation too.
It takes 8 months to raise the fish in Sitha’s ponds and only 4 months have now passed. But his grin when he talks about how well he will do in another 4 months…with an estimated 1700 fish at a kilo each …and his pride at the 2 new ponds to which he has just added small fish… is a good forecast of how an enterprising farmer/entrepreneur can use VSTP to build a future.
Now Sitha want as to know how to process the fish to preserve it for sale in the Provincial capital. The PTC does not yet know where to find trainers in post harvest work, but the opportunity is clearly there.
Mr. Hor Sitha and his wife are committed to training. First he took a course in fruit farming from an NGO and his mangos will go to market this year. Sitha wishes he had a way of bring the mangos to market a month later because all the other farmers will bring them at the same time and the price will be lower. He is looking for a course in food processing so that he can really begin to earn from that training experience.
Then Sitha found a course in vegetable growing. His cucumbers and long beans are a good income base and have introduced him to the realities of the village markets where his wife is now “Head of Sales”
Last year his Commune Council was selected for VSTP and among the many training options they identified for improving family income, fish raising seemed and unusual choice. Although dried fish were a part of the local diet, being some distance from a river, fresh fish were not well understood. But Sitha saw a market opportunity and with his fruit and vegetables giving some income, he, unlike most local farmers, could afford to take a risk.
He signed up for the course and the trainer found by the local MOLVT-PTC was an enthusiastic fish person. He not only showed them how to raise complimentary varieties of fish, but came to individual farms to make sure his “graduates” were applying what they had learned. He did his training outdoors, so the number of unofficial trainees well exceeded the 25 registrants. Ponds were dug around the commune and the number of unofficial fish raisers causes smiles by those who feel they…beat the system.
Sitha is 42 years old, lives in Riessei II Village, Moung Ruessei Commune, Moung Ruessei District, and completed grade 7, He does not count as one of the youth originally targeted by the VSTP but he is teaching his children to be fish farmers and they now have a solid future occupation too.
It takes 8 months to raise the fish in Sitha’s ponds and only 4 months have now passed. But his grin when he talks about how well he will do in another 4 months…with an estimated 1700 fish at a kilo each …and his pride at the 2 new ponds to which he has just added small fish… is a good forecast of how an enterprising farmer/entrepreneur can use VSTP to build a future.
Now Sitha want as to know how to process the fish to preserve it for sale in the Provincial capital. The PTC does not yet know where to find trainers in post harvest work, but the opportunity is clearly there.
0 comments:
Post a Comment