![\"\"](\"https:\/\/capitalcambodia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Page-7-Bottom.jpg\")
Silk worms to finished products<\/strong><\/p>\n There are some 290 families growing mulberry trees in the area today. Since the programme\u2019s inception, 42,000 trees have been grown, according to the foundation. The figure is significant given that Takeo has been affected by severe droughts since the 2000s.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the land in Takeo is idle. Mulberry plantations are water intensive. You actually need a pond to irrigate the plants,\u201d says Shahril.<\/p>\n While mulberry trees can be traced back to the Angkor empire, where kraing, books of literature stored in pagodas, were produced from tree barks, contemporary Cambodian farmers have not taken to growing them commercially after the Khmer Rouge era nearly eradicated the trees. Most have little or no experience of planting or tending to them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe industry experienced a very difficult period in the 1970s when it was effectively halted, killing off various aspects of the weaving industry,\u201d Shahril says.<\/p>\n Mulberry trees have a gestation period of five to six months when nothing happens, and an income is not earned during that period.<\/p>\n The programme provides seeds and saplings to the farmers, and instructions on how to care for the trees.<\/p>\n The foundation believes there\u2019s much room for growth in the industry if it is revitalised.<\/p>\n \u201cThe silk produced today is only 10 percent of the figures of the 1970s,\u201d Shahril says.<\/p>\n A unique aspect of the programme is that graduates of the six months training program have an option to bring home their looms where they can earn an income without sacrificing their domestic life.<\/p>\n The average income that can be earned is around $120, according to the foundation, adding that the wooden looms cost between $500 and $600.<\/p>\n Bittersweet experience<\/strong><\/p>\n Last week, the faces of the volunteers were sunburned from digging in the garden behind the training centre. Foundation representatives arrived from overseas to inspect their plans and progress. Perhaps the more lasting impact will be in the lives of the ASEAN volunteers.<\/p>\n \u201cMy experience has been bittersweet. The bitter side comes from going out of my comfort zone. I am a city person who is used to a life of shops, convenience and quality,\u201d Farhan waxes poetic.\u201cTakeo became a test of our spiritual strength. As in many things in life, tests come in different forms.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTakeo will forever be a guru of many lessons. To which, we foresee will help us vastly in the mysterious future.\u201d<\/p>\n Donald Jae Lee<\/em> The Maybank Foundation and ASEAN Foundation volunteers touched down in Takeo province earlier this month, in a particular parched, sun-drenched area at the foot of Phnom Chisor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[30,49,133,156,157],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/capitalcambodia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/asdqe33.jpg\" "\\"Maybank")
\nBusiness Writer, Capital Cambodia<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"