Food Security and Nutrition in Rural Cambodia

• 24-hour dietary recall [ Time Frame: At baseline and 22 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
• Mid-upper arm circumference [ Time Frame: At baseline and 22 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
• Household Food Security Scale [ Time Frame: At baseline and 22 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

The project is a three arm randomized control trial in rural Cambodia designed to evaluate the impact of homestead food production (home gardens) with and without fish ponds versus control on household food security, dietary intake of women and youngest child, biochemical nutritional status of women, and household livelihoods over a 22 month period. Baseline and end line surveys will be conducted that involve questionnaires and a blood sample.

• Behavioral: plant-based Homestead Food Production
  The village model farm will be provided with the necessary inputs to establish their farm including saplings seeds etc.
• Behavioral: Homestead Food Production plus small pond aquaculture
  In the case of the aquaculture arm a pond will be dug if there is not an existing pond and fingerlings and brood stocks will be provided. Hatcheries will be established if there is not one within a reasonable distance of the farms.
• Behavioral: a comparison group
  No intervention.

• Experimental: Homestead Food Production plus small pond aquaculture
  Intervention: Behavioral: Homestead Food Production plus small pond aquaculture
• Active Comparator: plant-based Homestead Food Production
  Intervention: Behavioral: plant-based Homestead Food Production
• Sham Comparator: Control
  Intervention: Behavioral: a comparison group

Inclusion Criteria:

• Must be represented by a woman.
• Must fall within the "poor" category in terms of community wealth rankings.
• Must have access to land (including homestead) for agriculture cultivation.
• Must have sufficient access to labor to undertake the homestead production activities.
• Must have a keen interest in participating in this action.
• Must have a least one child less than five years of age (in 80% of the target households).
• Have suitable land for pond and preferably own a small pond

In addition village model farm owners will:

• Have at least 1,200 square meters of land that can be used to establish the model farm;
• Have some disposable income to invest in the model farm for fencing and land preparation;
• Be productive, open to new ideas and willing to provide assistance to other households in the village;
• Be able and willing to maintain the VMF throughout the year;
• Commit to providing inputs and marketing support to group members at least during the project.

Exclusion Criteria:

• None, only that they don't meet the inclusion criteria