Sun Keo is among the 202 landless and land-poor families who applied for residential and agricultural land through the Land Allocation for Social and Economic Development Project III (LASED III), being executed and implemented by the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery across twelve provinces in Cambodia.

In June 2023, the government issued a sub-decree, approving the MLMUPC's proposal to convert a land area of 322 hectares in Prasnoeb commune, Rolea B’ier district of Kampong Chhnang province, from public State to private State land for LASED III. As per the project implementation manual, each land applicant is entitled to receive a piece of residential land, sized 30m by 40m and one hectare of agricultural land.

Keo, aged 36, expressed immense joy after receiving an invitation to an initial meeting held at Prasnoeb Pagoda in Prasnoeb Commune in June last year.

Facing domestic violence from her husband, Keo made the difficult decision to divorce and live with her five children, aged between 4 months and 14 years. Without a home, they shared a deteriorated house with her elderly mother on a small piece of land in Prasnoeb’s Trapeang Ampil village.

As the poorest family in the village, Keo currently sustains her family by selling firewood. She and her oldes son trek approximately 3 km to a deciduous, where they cut small trees about 5cm in diameter and 3 meters in height. After accumulating 100 logs for a few days, they hire a hand tractor to transport the cut trees from the deciduous to their house. Keo then peels and dries the logs for about a week, cuts them into 40cm lengths, and further dries them until ready for sale. Last, she groups them into batches and each comprise 12 pieces. This arduous process takes about 15 days to produce 200 batches of firewood.

From the sale of these batches, she makes about $25, earning approximately $10 after deducting transportation costs. This constitutes the main income source for her family of seven, including her elderly mother. Occasionally, she receives rice donations from the communal administration and the pagoda.

Ken, taking a deep breath, shared the challenges of her life, stating, “Life is very hard. I don’t have any piece of land to reside or farm. The income from the sales of firewood is not enough to support the family’s expenses. Ten kilograms of milled rice, costing about $6, lasts only four days.”

Last July, her two daughters fell seriously ill, requiring hospitalization. In urgent need of funds, she forced herself to borrow $1,000 from a local bank, with an agreement to repay the loan in installments combined with a high-interest rate of about $50 per month. She still owes about $700 to the bank. “No land makes me miserable,” she said with a sad expression on her face. “I never sleep soundly every night, thinking of my current difficult livelihood and the future of my children.”

Keo dreams of having a home and farmland to live a better life. “If I have land, I will build a house and grow vegetables, rice, plant fruit trees, raise fish and chicken,” she said. “Land is very important, equal to our life.” LASED III is her last hope to help her fight poverty.

"Under the project's land recipient selection criteria, individuals who fully meet all the criteria receive the highest score, indicative of the utmost need, while those who partially meet the criteria receive a lower score.

Keo scored 24, securing the third position on the Social Land Concession Applicant Score List, where the highest possible score is 26 and the lowest is 11. As per the selection criteria, applicants scoring below 18 will not be shortlisted.

Prasnoeb commune is composed of seven villages with a total population of 1,860 families. Among these, 116 families are categorized as the most economically challenged, referred to as 'Poor 1,' while 180 families are considered less affluent, termed 'Poor 2.' According to the applicant list released by the commune administration in August 2023, a total of 556 families, including

151 from the 'Poor 1' and 'Poor 2' categories, applied for land, said Mr. Khuy Khy, the Prasnoeb Commune Chief.

According to the land use planning approved by the Kampong Chhnang Provincial Land Use and Allocation Committee in September 2023, the 322-hectare land was divided into 242 plots for residence and 225 plots for agricultural purpose. Each residential plot sizes 30m by 40m and agricultural plots span one hectare each.

According to the scoring system, only 244 applicants were selected as a priority to receive the land, while 312 applicants were placed on the reserved list. Among the 244 selected applicants, 202 applied for both residential and agricultural land, 4 applied for residential land only, and 38 applied for agricultural land. However, the number of available agricultural plots is limited to 23, requiring all 38 applicants to participate in a lucky draw. Those not selected in the draw will be recorded on a separate reserved list as prioritized reserved applicants. When the project acquires additional land, they will be given priority to receive it first.

Mr. Khy explained that the process of selecting genuine landless and land-poor families was conducted transparently through the Assessment and Scoring Committee, which comprises the commune chief, commune councilor, commune clerk, village leader, village vice-leader, and village elder. Individuals dissatisfied with the selection process can file a complaint using the Grievance and Redress Mechanism Box placed in front of the commune office. Verbal complaints are also accepted.

The development of infrastructure on the site, including land preparation, construction of rural roads, school building, teacher and nurse dormitory, health post, small irrigation system, and water supply system, is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2024. The selected land recipient families can move to settle on the land in the second quarter, Mr. said.