Kamchai Mear Figures:

Kamchai Mear district is one of 12 districts of Prey Veng Province, about 140Km long from Phnom Penh. Kamchai Mear was covered on 35 182.50ha land, 23 478.10 ha of farming land with 84 161 population included 44 248 women and density of Kamchai Mear is about 239p/km2.

Kamchai Mear has it own capital in Chor 3 village, Kranhoung Commune. The total population of these three communes is 39 541 included 20 988 women, covered on 11 078ha land which have 8 904.45ha. Smoung Cheung Commune is composed of 17 villages, 15 842 population (8 385 women), covered on 4 240ha land (3 441.52ha farm land), and have town located in Pean Pleung village; Smoung Tbaung Commune is composed of 20 villages, 12 157 population (2 424 women), covered on 4 165ha land (3 040.93ha farm land) and have town in Prey Towm Village; and Kranhoung Commune composed of 19 villages, 11 542 population (8 385 women), covered on 2 673ha land (2 422ha farm land), and have town in Kamchai Mear village.

The iREACH Project covers the following communes in the Kamchai Mear District of Prey Veng Province – Smoung Tbaung, Smoung Cheung and Kranhoung - although some services, such as community radio and possibly low cost telephony, may also extend into parts of adjacent communes. The town of Kamchay Mear (the district capital, located in Kranhoung) lies about forty-five kilometres east of the Provincial capital of Prey Veng, over an hour by car due to the largely unpaved roads. The Kamchay Mear District as a whole had a population of about 80,000 in 2003 spread among eight communes and about 42 villages, of whom about half are covered by the pilot. About 70% of those in the District between the ages of six and fourteen attend school, and over half the population is under 18 years of age.

Kamchay Mear district is primarily agricultural. About 90% of the population relies mainly on rice farming for family income, but they also have subsidiary crops, fishing, sugar palm production and some small local businesses. Parts of the district are prone to flooding, but drought is a major concern and hardship for the villagers in the dry months.

All three communes are recorded on a composite poverty index as below the national average. Adult literacy is about 80%, about 74% for women; there is no electricity apart from battery generators; and no paved roads. About 15% of farms have a motorcycle, two thirds a bicycle, and under a third possesses a television. All have a radio set, mainly AM/FM; and reportedly about 10% of families have a mobile telephone.

Unique to the area is the presence of the main campus of MVU, one of only ten public universities in Cambodia and the only one located entirely in rural areas and specializing in rural development. The Seila Programme (Partnership for Local Governance, a major national programme to support local government) is active there, though based in Prey Veng, and a number of NGOs are also present, such as PNKS (Light of Hope) involved in agriculture and small enterprise, and PRASAC, a broad based agricultural development programme.