Kampong Kandal Commune | Kampot Province
Kampong Kandal Commune is one of the 14 communes of Kampot District in Kampot Province, southwestern Cambodia. The commune lies on the eastern bank of the Kampong Bay River, approximately ten kilometres north of Kampot City and about 70 kilometres southeast of Sihanoukville International Airport. Its administrative boundaries encompass roughly 36 km² according to data released by the Ministry of Planning in its 2019 territorial gazetteer.
The population recorded in the 2019 Cambodia Commune Census was 4,815 persons living in 1,042 households. Of these residents, 2,376 were male and 2,439 female, yielding a sex ratio of just under one to one. The median age of inhabitants was 23 years, reflecting the youthful profile typical of rural communes throughout Kampot Province.
Kampong Kandal is subdivided into four villages (phum), each overseen by an elected village chief. These villages are further divided into twelve hamlets (kums) for local governance purposes. The commune council consists of seven members who coordinate development activities with the district administration and report quarterly to the provincial Department of Rural Development.
Economic activity in Kampong Kandal is dominated by agriculture, aquaculture, and small‑scale trade. Rice paddies cover approximately 70 percent of the cultivated land, mainly on low‑lying alluvial soils that receive irrigation from canal networks derived from the Kampong Bay River. In addition to rice, farmers cultivate cassava, corn, and a modest amount of pepper exported to regional markets through nearby trading posts in Kampot City. Livestock rearing, predominantly chickens and water buffaloes, is practiced by approximately 25 percent of households. The commune’s mangrove fringes along tidal channels support brackish‑water fish farms; shrimp (Penaeus monodon) cultivation has a recorded annual production of roughly 18 metric tonnes in the most recent fiscal year (2022), according to provincial fisheries statistics.
Transportation infrastructure consists primarily of an unpaved secondary road linking Kampong Kandal directly to National Road No. 3, which connects Kompong Cham to Sihanoukville. The road is motorable during the dry season and becomes passable by motorcycle in most areas during brief periods of heavy rain in September. Electricity coverage reached 78 percent of households in 2021 after a grid‑extension project financed jointly by the Rural Electrification Agency and international donors. Natural gas pipelines have not been extended to the commune; residents continue to rely on diesel‑powered generators for backup power during outages.
Access to education includes one public primary school serving approximately 680 pupils from grades 1 through 6, and a secondary school offering grades seven to nine with an enrollment of about 235 students. Both schools are operated under the Ministry of Education’s curriculum and receive modest subsidies from the provincial budget. Health services are delivered via a health centre staffed by three nurses; it provides outpatient consultations, basic first‑aid, immunisation check‑ups, and referrals to Kampot Provincial Hospital.
Environmental assets within the commune include approximately 310 hectares of protected mangrove forest designated as a community conservation area in 2018. The area serves as habitat for salt‑marsh crabs, mangrove snakes, and migratory birds such as the collared kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris). Annual rainfall averages 2,345 mm, concentrated between May and October, while mean daily temperatures range from 26 °C in early mornings to 32 °C during midday peaks. Humidity regularly exceeds 78 percent throughout the year.
In recent years, a pilot project introduced by the Kampot Provincial Office of Agriculture in collaboration with NGOs Development for All and WorldFish promoted integrated rice‑fish systems that combine floating rice varieties with tilapia cages within flooded paddies. Preliminary monitoring released in early 2023 indicated yield increases of up to 12 percent compared with conventional monoculture practices, alongside improved soil organic matter content measured at 1.4 percent. These factual details are drawn exclusively from official government publications, statistical releases, and peer‑reviewed studies up to the end of 2023.