From Empty Hands to a Future: Yorn Thy’s New Life on Social Land

At Yorn Thy’s home in Prasnoeb Commune of Kampong Chhnang province, the signs of a new beginning are visible all around him. His blue-roofed house stands on land that was once an uncertain future, surrounded by young trees, a small vegetable-growing area and a net house where rows of green vegetables are being cultivated. Chickens are raised for sale, and the land around the house is gradually becoming a productive family vegetable garden.

For Yorn Thy, this scene would have been difficult to imagine less than two years ago.

Before receiving a Social Land Concession (SLC) under the Land Allocation for Social and Economic Development Project Phase III (LASED III), Yorn Thy and his family had no land of their own, no permanent home and no stable source of income. He recalled his former situation that he had “nothing to his name”—nothing but empty hands. His family struggled from day to day, and he most often had to migrate elsewhere for work, leaving his wife and children behind.

Today, about a year and a half after moving to the SLC site, his circumstances have changed considerably. He has a home, land on which to build a livelihood, regular income from vegetables and chickens, and more time to live with and care for his family.

“Living here makes me extremely happy because I have never had this much time to live together with my family,” Yorn Thy said during a recent interview.

Taking the first step

Yorn Thy was well known as the first family among the 249 families who requested to move to the Prasnoeb Commune Social Land Concession. He moved to the site on December 23, 2024, ahead of the scheduled settlement period and built a temporary shelter for his family.

He made such a decision because he had little to lose and much to gain.

Back in his previous village, the family was living on someone else’s land and had no place to establish a livelihood. Yorn Thy decided to move first, determined to cultivate the land and find a way to support his family.

Only a few months later, his determination was already producing encouraging results, giving Yorn Thy renewed hope for the future.

On his residential plot, he planted morning glory, chili peppers, lemongrass, herbs, ivy gourd, and cucumbers. Some of the vegetables were already being sold to visitors and to other land-recipient families who came to prepare their land and see the new settlement. At that time, he was already thinking beyond the first harvest—planning to grow mung beans and rice on his agricultural land during the rainy season and vegetables during the dry season.

It was a modest beginning, but it represented something he had not had before: land that he could call his own and the freedom to decide how to use it.

From a temporary shelter to a home

Eight months after moving to the site, Yorn Thy stated that his living conditions were already much better than before. Vegetable farming had become an occupation and a source of cash income, although sales varied from day to day. A single harvest could bring in as much as 30,000 riel in a day.

At that stage, he was already looking ahead. He planned to produce Chinese cabbage and other vegetable seedlings for sale to other residents, turning his experience of growing vegetables into another potential source of income.

His optimism was grounded in the security of having his own land.

“I am very happy. Happy because we have a place to work, a real place to live, we have land to run a livelihood for our family, and whatever we want to do, we can, because it is our own land,” he said.

“The transformation of his living conditions—from a temporary shelter built in late 2024 to a new blue-roofed house surrounded by vegetables and fruit trees—represents more than a change in housing; it reflects his gradual journey from uncertainty to stability.”

A livelihood that keeps growing

Today, Yorn Thy has moved beyond simply cultivating vegetables for his own household. He now earns a regular income from a combination of vegetable production and chicken raising.

He estimates that he can earn at least 300,000 riel per month from these activities, excluding extra daily income of a few hundred thousand. While the income remains modest, its regularity has made an important difference to his family.

The change has also affected how he spends his time.

In the past, unstable income forced him to seek work elsewhere and live far from his wife and children. Now, because he can earn an income from his own land, he no longer needs to migrate for work. He has more time with his family and can take his children to school—something the family had previously struggled to afford.

For Yorn Thy, this is one of the most important outcomes of having land.

The SLC has given him not only a place to live and cultivate crops, but also an opportunity to remain close to his family while earning a living.

From beneficiary to become a leader

Given his diligence and strong commitment, Yorn Thy was selected as Chairperson of a 10-member Safe Vegetable Committee overseeing vegetable production in 10 net houses established as a pilot initiative supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).

Following the success of the pilot, MAFF supported the establishment of the Prasnoeb Ponleu Thmey Modern Agricultural Cooperative. An additional 100 net houses were established and managed by the existing committee led by Yorn Thy. As of now, 48 new members have joined the cooperative.

This represents another important step in Yorn Thy’s journey. The man who initially moved to the site alone to find a way to support his own family is now helping organize and support a wider group of fellow residents engaged in agricultural production.

A future he can finally see

Perhaps the most significant change in Yorn Thy’s life is not measured in riel, house or vegetable harvests. It is measured in his outlook.

Before receiving the land from the project, he said he had no hope for the future. He did not know what tomorrow would bring because he had no land, no house and no stable income.

Now, he can imagine what his future might look like.

“I never imagined that I would one day have a house as big as the one I have today,” he said.

To ease the challenges faced by land-recipient families as they settle on their new land, the project provided essential start-up support, including solar lanterns, tents, 1,000-liter water containers, water filter buckets, mats, mosquito nets and blankets, rice, basic house-building materials, chickens, and vegetable seeds.

Yorn Thy said the support provided to his family has given them a strong foundation to begin building a new life. The next step, he said, is to work hard and make productive use of the resources they have received.

“I will work hard to make this land provided by the government productive and fruitful. I will not let the government down.”

His plans are practical and closely connected to the resources he now has. He hopes to establish a small coffee and noodle business for his wife and daughter on part of their residential land. He also plans to expand chicken raising on his agricultural land to increase household income. Under the project, he received a residential plot measuring 30m × 40m and one hectare of agricultural land.

These plans are modest, but they reflect a fundamental change: Yorn Thy is no longer simply trying to survive from one day to the next. He is planning for the years ahead.

From Landless to a Hopeful Future

Yorn Thy’s journey over roughly a year and a half illustrates how access to land, combined with settlement assistance, agricultural inputs, housing support and opportunities to develop livelihood skills, can provide a foundation for landless and land-poor families to build more secure lives.

When he first arrived at the Prasnoeb SLC site, he had a temporary shelter and a determination to make the land productive. Today, he has a permanent home, productive vegetable plots, chickens, a regular source of income, greater time with his family, and a leadership role in a growing agricultural cooperative.

The transformation did not happen overnight. It began with two plots of land and a decision to start working.

Yorn Thy’s story shows that for a landless family, having land can mean far more than having a place to live. It can mean having a place to work, a reason to stay together, and the confidence to imagine a better future.

For a man who once described himself as having nothing but empty hands, the land has given him something he says he had lost before: hope.

“I can now see a future for my family,” Yorn Thy said. “Our living conditions will continue to improve, and our lives will once again have hope and light.”