New rural development program in Khmer communities: Challenges of poverty, livehood and migration

New rural development program in Mekong Delta in general and in Khmer communities in specific has been implemented within the context of “large income gap, rapid economic transition and out-migration” of the people. The paper proposes that 19 current criteria of new rural development areas are unlikely able to ensure that rural society, culture, and communities in the delta will be developed sustainably and distinctively. Accordingly, in order to approach the issues of rural development and comprehend farmers in modern economic context, observations must be interdisciplinary. Data need to be qualitative rather than plain statistic figures because numbers seem to be unable to illuminate the nature as well as the process during which problems in rural areas and of the farmers in Mekong Delta emerged