Getting Started with Canal Construction Group

In 2010, Human Translation (HT) worked with the Ballang community to form a Canal Construction Group, which would be solely responsible for the construction of irrigation canals leading from the Trav Kod Reservoir.

You will recall that HT finished the reconstruction of the Trav Kod Reservoir with the help of Engineers Without Borders nearly two years ago, and the reservoir has proven to be a great success in storing the water needed for irrigating a second crop of rice.

But getting that water to the rice fields still needed the restoration of the irrigation canal system that had been neglected and destroyed during the civil war. To achieve this, the community needed support, leadership, and direction.

The Canal Construction Group elected Mr Chum Chet, a 34-year old farmer who has been living in Ballang his entire life, as their leader.  In addition, HT has formed the local Cambodian registered NGO called Community Translation Organization (CTO) to localize the development of this and other projects. CTO's staff is primarily Khmer, under the direction of Bun Heng Kat.  Working together, HT/CTO and the Canal Construction Group formed a plan to restore and extend the irrigation canals from the Trav Kod Reservoir to the Balang rice fields.

The First Two Kilometers

Last October HT/CTO was awarded its first grant by the UN's World Food Program. This grant was a Work For Food grant to resurrect and dig the first two kilometers of canal system.  The work was begun (See photos below), and families in the Construction Group were compensated in rice for their labor. All told, a collective comprised of 162 families were involved with this work.

According to Mr Chet, the resulting  rice yields have significantly increased with completion of the first two kilometers of canal. “I now have water for the cattle." he says. "I have dug a pit well and use the water for the other animals, too. Before, during the dry season the wells would be dry.”

Two more kilometers

Subsequently, HT stuck a second agreement with the Cambodian Water Resources Board to build an Water Resources Office at the actual site of the reservoir. In exchange for the land, the Water Resources Board paid to have 2 more kilometers of the canal system dug by machine.  Consequently, by March of 2011, 4 Kilometers of canal construction were now complete.

Two by two by two...

Meanwhile, in December, the UN's World Food Program contracted with HT/CTO to have the villagers hand-dig yet another 2 kilometers of canal.  This work, now begun in March of 2011, will continue until completion with the arrival of the rainy season of this year. Again, villagers will be compensated for their labor with rice.

All told, six kilometers will have been completed, permitting the villagers to begin the next step of a longer-range process: Rice intensification farming.  HT/CTO estimates that rice intensification farming will help to double the crop over the traditional methods used in this area.

To learn more about HT’s Antipoverty Programs, please visit http://humantranslation.org/projects/antipoverty.html. To view a slide show of this on-going project, click any of the photos below.