Integrated Phase Classification

Cambodia is a fragile state emerging from decades of civil conflict and economic stagnation. It is a least developed, low-income food deficit country. According to recent Cambodia Demographic Health Survey 2005, between the years 2000 and 2005, Cambodia has experienced significant progress in reducing the direct outcomes of food insecurity among children in terms of reducing the very high levels of malnutrition and mortality rates in children under 5 years of age.

However, in Cambodia as in many other countries of the world, Food Security has not yet been fully achieved for all Cambodian people at all times. Too many Cambodians still suffer from hunger and malnutrition for some or most of the time. In other words they are suffering "Food Insecurity".

In 2007, WFP worked with FAO and other counterparts to conduct study of Integrated Food Security and Humanitarian Phase Classification (IPC), which is a approach developed by the Somalia Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU), for classifying current and expected food security into five phases:

• Generally food secure
• Chronically food insecure
• Acute food and livelihood crisis
• Humanitarian emergency
• Famine/humanitarian catastrophe

The IPC is not an assessment method per se. It integrates information and analyses from diverse sources to classify food security according to reference outcomes that are drawn from recognized international standards (e.g. on nutrition).

According to the IPC study, Cambodia is classified as chronically food insecure except for the provinces of Bat Dambang and Phnom Penh.

Population estimates indicate that about 4.6 million individuals live below the poverty line in Cambodia. They can be classified in majority as chronically food insecure. About 2.6 million living in extreme poverty are likely to face food deprivation. Using the poverty line, population estimates indicate there are more chronically food insecure people in the plains region, but the degree of food insecurity is more intense in the plateau region. Overall, the food security situation of the concerned population has worsened over the last three years because of persistent drought (WFP, Integrated Food Security and Humanitarian Phase Classification: Pilot in Cambodia, 2007).

VAM Analysis - methodology

A commonly accepted definition of food security is “Food Security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (World Food Summit, 1996).

The three main dimensions underlying this definition are adequacy of food (effective supply), ample access to food (the ability of an individual to acquire sufficient food) and reliability of both supply and access (equity of food distribution). This also means that the number of factors that can impact food security is very vast and dynamic. Some of these factors include:

• Household demographics

• Migration

• Housing and facilities

• Household assets and access to credit

• Agriculture

• Income / livelihood activities

• Expenditure

• Food consumption / dietary diversity

• Shocks and coping strategies

• Maternal health and nutrition

• Child health and nutrition

• HIV / AIDS

Thus a study of Cambodia’s food security entails the data collection, study and analysis of a wide range of indicators.

Availability/Accessibility

Food availability and access in Cambodia are predominantly driven by weather-dependent rice production. Although the country has recently become rice-surplus, access to rice at the household level has fluctuated because of unstable rainfall patterns. Since 2003, several southern provinces have been severely affected by consecutive years of drought, resulting in production shortfalls. In the meantime, due to trade restrictions and transaction costs, markets have failed to stabilize food prices, despite dynamic cross-border imports and some surplus production in provinces in the Tonle Sap basin and in the plains.

This situation has a negative impact on livelihoods, including the adoption of negative coping strategies to meet food requirements, such as increased seasonal migration, child work, withdrawal of students from school, debt, deforestation and sale of livestock and land.

A combination of factors - inadequate economic opportunities in rural areas, limited access to land for small farmers, mine/unexploded ordinance contamination, land grabbing, low yields, poor infrastructure and increasing food prices over the last years - has further reduced poor households' access to food. The current trend of drought, mostly in the southern and eastern provinces, could increase the vulnerability of households to food insecurity unless adequate safety-net programmes are implemented.

Food Consumption and Dietary Diversity

Household food consumption accounts for about two-thirds of the total expenditures (especially in rural areas), indicating the subsistence nature of livelihoods. In general, the diet is largely rice-based in rural areas, indicating potential risks for protein and micronutrient deficiencies and poor nutrition status.

Education

Although Cambodia has made considerable progress in expanding basic education in recent years, high drop-out and low retention rates and an acute shortage of trained teachers, especially in remote rural areas, remain major concerns.

The problems that hamper increased education enrolment are multifaceted. Poverty is naturally the biggest obstacle to the education of children particularly in rural areas. The children of the poor are deprived of their opportunities for schooling because they are needed for household chores or income earning jobs to support the families and their young siblings.

The UNDP Human Development Report for 2007 while noting that the Cambodian government has made considerable progress over the 6 year period 1998 - 2004 warns that “real achievements in education remain elusive”. If Cambodia is to meet its Millennium Development Goal Target than the progress achieved in the first decade of 200s needs to be maintained and increased.

Health, Nutrition and Food Utilization

The 2005 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS) indicates that remarkable improvements have occurred in the health and nutrition status of the population since the 2000 survey. The report states that infant mortality rates (IMR) declined from 95 to 66 deaths for every 1,000 live births and under-five deaths (U5MR) declined from 124 to 83 for every 1,000 live births. This represents a decrease of over 30 percent. However, one in every 12 Cambodian children dies before reaching age 5. Maternal mortality is 472 deaths per 100,000 live births.

Despite the progress made, the health status of the Cambodian people is still among the lowest in the region.

The report notes that the nutritional status of children has improved in the past five years. Currently, 37 percent of children are stunted, 36 percent are underweight and 7 percent are wasted, compared with 45 percent stunted, 45 percent underweight and 15 percent wasted in 2000. Stunting/underweight and wasting are most common in Pousat and least common in Phnom Penh. The data also show that stunting is apparent even among children less than 6 months of age (6 percent). Stunting increases with the age of the child. In general, children with uneducated mothers and those living in the poorest households are most likely to be malnourished. Poor diet diversity with 65 percent of calories provided by cereals potentially results in micronutrient deficiencies such as anaemia and vitamin A deficiency.

Vulnerability

Vulnerability can be defined as the exposure and sensitivity to livelihood shocks and risks. Vulnerability can be lessened by 1) reducing exposure to risks of shocks that affect many people (e.g., frequent droughts) or shocks that affect individuals or households (e.g., the death of the household head) and 2) increasing the household’s ability to manage shocks. However, chronically food-insecure households often are not resilient to shocks and are continuously vulnerable.