Update On Rohimas Lors

Update on Rohimas Lors
Entrepreneur: Rohimas LORS
Location: Muk Kampoul district, Cambodia
Amount Repaid: $600.00 of $600.00
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=12137

This entrepreneur is funded by a Kiva loan administered by Maxima Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. here in Cambodia. Rohimas lives in a small village along the Mekong River about twenty kilometers north of Phnom Penh. Her loan is being paid off on schedule.

Rohimas and her husband used the funds from this loan to buy a boat a motor (They did not buy nets as stated in their business description.) Of Rohimas and her husband’s seven children, one fishes with the father and one studies English and Chinese in Phnom Penh.

Rohimas’ husband does all of his fishing in the Mekong, which forms the rear border of their yard. In addition to the one son who fishes, they employ six workers during the season which runs from January through March. The workers get paid between (US) $2.50 and $3.75 per day. They fish using large, small-meshed nets. (See photo of stacked net behind Rohimas and her husband.) A typical net is 150 meters long and 45 meters deep. They take two boats out into the river, float parallel and start to feed the net into the water in between. When the net is fully extended, the current bends it into a huge “C” shape. They leave it there for about two hours before closing the ends together and hauling it in.

Like other fisherpersons in this area, Rohimas and her husband expressed concern that the catch from the Mekong has been diminishing every year for many years. Many people attribute the decline to using nets with mesh that is too small thereby catching even the “fry” or baby fish not allowing them to mature. The authorities have recently banned these nets but the affect has yet to be seen. Many fishermen, including Rohimas' husband, believe that decreased rainfall and a shorter rainy season have limited the habitat for fish to reproduce. This most recent rainy season has continued a trend of less rain and shorter monsoon season for Cambodia.

Fish the world over is one of the cheapest sources of protein. Cambodians, blessed with very rich fresh water lakes and rivers, get more than sixty percent of their protein from fish. The crown jewel of this water system is the Tonle Sap (see link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonle_Sap), Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake. During the rainy season overflow from the Mekong River, which is connected to the Tonle Sap, floods the fields and forests of central Cambodia increasing the size of the lake by more than five times. This provides a perfect breeding ground for fish.

Lower fish yield is the most significant (but not their only) problem. Rohimas said they have to pay the usual $50 “tax” to the authorities who patrol the river. Government officials are paid very little in Cambodia so they have developed “systems” to supplement their incomes. We’re told that virtually no business of any size is exempt from the various levies. Her husband also expressed concern about the cost of gasoline which is rising very quickly. He is not sure he can pass along the increased cost to their customers.

Mainly due to the lower fish catches, Rohimas said she’d like to start selling fruit in the market (as well as fish) to supplement their income. Even in the best of times, they said it’s difficult to survive for a year with income from a three or four-month fishing season.

Posted by Darin Greyerbiehl from Muk Kampoul district, Cambodia
Dec 4, 2007