Cambodian villagers happy to receive poverty alleviation cows from China

Lim Saroeun, an impoverished resident of Cambodia’s Svay Ampear village, pets cow no. 10 before the distribution ceremony that it was given away in. [Photo provided by the Sichuan Poverty Alleviation and Immigration Bureau Project Center]

On the afternoon of March 24, Pilot Project of Poverty Reduction Cooperation in East Asia China-Cambodia programstaffheld a cow distribution ceremony at the primary school in Svay Ampear village, which is one of the two main villages in Cambodia that is involved with the pilot.

A cow was given to each of 10 beneficiaries, and lots were drawn to determine who would receive each specific animal. The calves that are produced will help them escape from poverty. The cows will eventually be given to other residents of Svay Ampear in subsequent rounds of distribution, and they can learn from the examples that current participants set in the meantime.

Villagers who have enough space to build cowsheds and grow grass for feed can apply to participate in the program, and candidates who are impoverished are given priority during the selection process. Impoverished citizens who have not raised cattle before received the cows during the first round of distribution.

Applicant Lim Saroeun was chosen to participate and took a liking to cow No. 10. He ended up with a different animal but was very happy to participate in the program.

“We feel grateful for the help that the Chinese government has provided,” stated Hout An, deputy village head of Svay Ampear. “We believe that these cows will benefit more of the residents of our village in the future.”

The Pilot Project of Poverty Reduction Cooperation in East Asia launched on Dec. 7, 2016, is jointly managed by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China Agency for International Economic Cooperation and the International Poverty Reduction Center in China, and

is the first village-level China Aid project on poverty reduction.

China has implemented several village-level programs with Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar thus far. Cambodia-China programs are executed by the Sichuan Poverty Alleviation and Immigration Bureau Project Center with the help of the Kingdom of Cambodia’s Ministry of Rural Development Rural Economic Development Department.