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Improving women's lives in Cambodia through fish on farms

 

In Cambodia, rural diets typically lack protein and micronutrients, leading to high rates of stunting in children and anemia in women.

Since 1998, Helen Keller International (HKI) has supported women in homestead-level production of nutrient-rich fruits, vegetables, and animal source foods. In 2012, rearing of small and large fish in household ponds was added to the approach, with small fish providing families with key nutrients and large fish providing both food and potential income.

In assessing the impact of these strategies, HKI and the University of British Columbia discovered that families with fishponds were harvesting an average of 2 kg of small fish and 6 kg of large fish per month and reporting much higher fish consumption than other households.

Those with vegetable gardens (with or without fishponds) harvested and consumed more than double the quantity of vegetables compared to non-participating control group households, and 75% of women practising homestead food production reported having money they could spend at their own discretion, compared to just 20% in non-participating households.

Read the story of change: Improving women's lives in Cambodia through fish on farms​ (PDF, 1.27 MB)

This document is part of a Stories of Change series that shares some of the emerging gender outcomes from research supported in Asia by the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund.