Lemongrass essential Oil
Tataileu Community Project


Fight against deforestation and poverty
Nestled in the heart of the Cardamom rainforest in western Cambodia, the small community of Tataileu is home to around 250 families whose main activity is banana cultivation. Particularly fertile and sheltered from external pollution, the isolation of this small valley preserves its environment and constitutes both its curse and its blessing. Indeed, the fragility of the banana plantation, transportation, and therefore the profitability of the income from the main valley depend largely on the traffic conditions of the small dirt road that leads to it and the passage or non-passage of means of transport during sensitive periods such as the monsoon. Farmers are therefore always forced to increase their production to compensate for losses due to unreliable logistics and are too often tempted to gain access to the forest area to expand their cultivation area.
A community project
A British community-based NGO since 2000, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) 's primary objective is to raise awareness among farmers about preserving their extraordinary environment. Combining a rational and holistic approach, Bodia and FFI proposed to the Tataileu community that they work together on a project to generate additional income to diversify their activities and avoid crop expansion . The project involves the production and establishment of a reliable supply chain for lemongrass essential oil.
