SBR- Content.pmd - INBO

State of the Basin Report - 2003of the poorer rural villages have an agricultural extensionworker. 155 Most rural households do not have access toformal credit facilities, and instead rely on family membersand other informal systems that provide cash and in-kindassistance. If those are not available, they must borrowfrom moneylenders, who charge high interest rates. As aresult, farmers are unable to invest in improved seeds,infrastructure or techniques to enhance their production.The low rate of electrification in rural villages andhouseholds in Cambodia and Lao PDR, further limitsopportunities for agricultural processing and other incomegeneratingactivities.Transport and marketing systems. The road networkin rural areas of Cambodia and Lao PDR is limited, isgenerally in poor condition and throughout the rainy seasonmuch of the network is impassable. In Lao PDR, onethirdof villages and approximately 20 percent of thepopulation are not accessible by truck throughout the year;another 30 percent of villages and households areaccessible only during the dry season. 156 Moreover, themarket systems are incomplete in both countries. InIn many areas of the basinpeople have to travel long distancesto get medical treatmentCambodia, only 14 percent of poor rural villages have a market. 157 In Lao PDR, no rice is marketedin about half the rural villages in the country. 158 The risk of poverty is greater in these regionswhere farmers do not have adequate opportunities to sell agricultural products, nor to engage inthe formal and informal businesses or the wage labour that is usually found in market towns.Education and health services. The incidence of poverty is closely linked with the level of socialdevelopment and access to social services. Most rural villages in Lao PDR have a primary school,although the poor quality of many of these facilities, as well as the lack of trained teachers andadequate learning materials, compromise the quality of the education. 159 In Cambodia, 46 percent ofpoor rural villages have a primary school, but only 5.4 percent have a lower secondary school. 160Net enrolment rates in these poor villages are 44 percent at the primary level and 4 percent at thesecondary level. 161 In addition, only 16 percent of poor rural villages in Cambodia have a clinic. 162The Millennium Development Goals endorsed by all countries in the LMB call for reducing by 50percent the proportion of people living in poverty by 2015. In Cambodia, the government has set atarget of 31 percent for 2005. 163 The Government of Viet Nam is aiming for a poverty rate of 6-10percent in 2010. 1644. ConclusionsDemographic and socio-economic factors – population growth; economic growth, industrialisationand regional economic integration; urbanisation and urban-rural linkages; income growth, inequalityand poverty; and, human resource development – are key driving forces affecting sustainable useand development of water and related natural resources in the LMB. This section briefly summarisessome aspects of these driving forces, the relations between them and trends that should be monitored.In general, data suggest significant variations in socio-economic conditions throughout the LMB thatwill influence policy objectives and resource-use decisions.70