Impact Wanderers
Adventures that Matter
Adventures that Matter
Project name: Organikh, Svay Chek, Cambodia
Project type: Volunteering on an organic/ permaculture farm; measuring impact
Duration: Two weeks, February-March 2018
It is the dry season around here and it is very hot – 35+ degrees Celsius in the shade. And yet, Olivier and Darin, their two boys Sovann and Arun, with the help of Darin’s brother Vanny and his wife Kea and the volunteer community, manage to grow tomatoes, passion fruits, aubergines, and many other fruits and vegetables.
In 2014, Olivier & Darin started Organikh Farm in Svay Chek (“Mango Banana” in Khmer) in the middle of rice paddy fields, with the objective of demonstrating that not only a more environmentally-friendly agriculture is possible but it could also lead to a more stable income, in a country where agriculture was destroyed by the war and rebuilt around monoculture.
3 years on, they grow 150+ kinds of plants and food crop, by following the principles of permaculture on a one hectare plot. This includes not only organic agriculture and agro-forestry, but also eco-construction and education. They sell products from the farm and are developing eco-tourism activities (see their very first bungalow here).
The farm functions as a semi-closed loop system in terms of resource use. All sorts of waste are collected for compost (kitchen, toilet, garden, etc) and wastewater is re-used or treated using natural methods. Mud and water come from a pond at the back of the farm and an underground well, these components are used to build bricks and plaster, when mixed with rice husk. Electricity comes from five solar panels, enough to power the pump for the well, and to store in batteries for lights and electric appliances.
When Olivier and Darin started the project, there were only five trees on their land. From the day they started, other trees started to grow naturally from endemic seeds as the family did not till the soil and planted additional ones.
Over a total of one hectare, approximately 30% is now planted and productive. The objective is to increase this percentage to 50%. The remainder of the space is used for living, pathways, football and volleyball fields and the pond.
The target is to plant as many different species as possible, including some that are said to be “impossible” to grow under the Cambodian weather – often in the extremes. Too dry and hot between December and April, then rainy and prone to flooding from June to September.
Over the last years, because of El Nino, the dry season extended a lot, leading to water shortages in the region. During the rainy season, over-exploited and compacted soils do not absorb water, leading to flooding, sometimes destroying young rice seedlings. (This happens when the soil is damaged.)
Crop plants are combined with smaller trees, to create shade, protect from the wind and maintain soil fertility, as well as produce fruits, wood and support climbing species. Close to the kitchen, the family grows aromatic herbs and crops.
Last year, the farm produced and sold around:
The family welcomes volunteers to help on a variety of tasks that varies depending on the season and needs. We usually started to work at around 8.30 (though some of us would pick up the flowers at 7am just before breakfast), took a break at around 11.30 and started again at 3pm until 5 or 6pm to avoid the lunchtime heat.
During our 2 week-stay there, we:
Olivier and Darin have just started to measure their social, econ and env impact in tangible terms. We brainstormed together with other volunteer’s ways to measure it - in a realistic way, as it should not take too much time or resources. We believe this would help the family better communicate to potential partners, clients, volunteers and people that want to reproduce the project.
How did we proceed? We identified indicators and ways to present them. The idea is to show:
... from an environmental, social and economic perspective. We use the same classification as Organikh in their communication, that is "earth care", "people care" and "fair share".
See the table below for potential indicators.
Quantity of raw materials purchased, per type (rice husk, ashes, wood, palms, etc)
Quantity of raw materials from own land or acquired for free, per type (organic waste, earth, etc)
Productivity: quantity of products produced (split between fruits, veggies and rice) per hectare and in total
Biodiversity: # of flora species
Carbon sequestration: kg of carbon sequestered
Education/ awareness raising:
# of students & farmers reached;
# of volunteers & tourists (that now know about the project),
# of followers on social networks
Yearly spend in the local economy (& # of families from whom materials are purchased)
Yearly spend in salaries and social contribution (& # of full-time employees)
Yearly revenue from sales of products.
Earth Care
People Care
Fair Share
Resource use
Net impact
Beyond the impact of the entire farm, is our own personal impact overall positive or negative?
First, one could argue that we are doing the work that locals could do. The truth is that at this stage of the project, volunteers are themselves a financing source, as they contribute to meals and often buy some of the products. There is therefore no opportunity cost in terms of local employment, in our view.
In the future, this farm aims at becoming self-sustaining - it already directly supports two families - and also to develop a permaculture education program as well as a seed-exchange program for local farmers. In addition, the family supports the local community by buying food and resources, as well as encouraging volunteers to spend money locally.
In terms of positive impact, it appears very difficult to measure our direct impact as individual volunteers (other than the number of hours worked), given the wide variety of tasks performed. If we had been planting trees all day, we could have established a direct link between our action and the result, and said: “we planted that many trees that will grow and sequester that much carbon”.
One potential solution to this issue is to consider the full impact the farm over a year (measured using the suggested indicators above) and apportion it to individual volunteers based on their contribution to the total hours worked. For example, let’s say that the farm helps remove from the atmosphere 1 tonne of carbon dioxide a year, through the growth of biomass. Say that we worked 1% of the total hours worked on the farm that year. Therefore, we could consider that we contributed to 1% of that 1 tonne of carbon dioxide removal.
Food for thought…
In any case, working on the farm was an amazing human experience, which inspired us and got us believe that another way of living is possible. People from different background, countries, age and interests working together for a common goal – and believe us, building a garden bed on a dry soil under a 35 degree sun is not easy, but so rewarding. We made many friends there with whom we travelled after, in Cambodia, to Thailand and beyond. We hope to be back!
