Update on Chanthy Chhil

Update on Chanthy Chhil
Entrepreneur: Chanthy Chhil
Location: Ta Khmao district, Cambodia
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=16520

This entrepreneur is funded by a Kiva loan administered by Maxima Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. here in Cambodia. Chanthy lives in a fertile farming area about fifteen kilometers south of Phnom Penh. His loan is being paid off on schedule.

Chanthy, age 38, actually has been raising pigs for six years, a bit longer than was noted in his business description. He used some of the funds from this loan to buy adult pigs for breeding and the balance to buy pig feed. Chanthy and his wife have four children, three of whom study in the village school. He supports the five of them in addition to his mother who lives in an adjacent, small dwelling.

The most recent purchase of pigs has not worked out very well. Three of the breeder adults turned out to be diseased and had to be slaughtered. While this was not a total loss as he received the normal per-kilogram price for the pork, the pigs did not survive to fulfill his longer-term goal of raising pigs for resale.

The stilt shed where he raises the animals sits behind his house on the banks of a small river that empties into the much larger Tonle Bassac (river) to the east. The concrete floors of the pens were swept clean and the pink pigs, if such a thing is possible, looked happy. I can only assume Chanthy is doing a good job. He certainly seemed proud (see photo).

Even rural Cambodia is not immune from the complicating headaches of inflation. Chanthy says the cost of pig feed has gone up by more than 20% in the past three years. Due to the burgeoning Cambodian economy, however, the cost of pork has gone up by 30%, hence his enthusiasm to pursue porcine husbandry.

In the future, he wants to continue to grow his business and, ultimately, save enough to buy some land so he can build a house. His mother owns the property where they live currently.

Posted by Darin Greyerbiehl from Ta Khmao district, Cambodia
Nov 21, 2007