When Davuth fell behind on his microfinance loan earlier this year, a credit officer visited his home in Ratanakiri province almost daily. The officer pressured him to borrow from neighbourhood lenders or sell his farmland – his main source of income and livelihood, he said.
“I replied that if I sold my land, which includes my cashew and cassava crops, I’d rather die,” Davuth, a Kachok Indigenous man, said in August. He requested a pseudonym, fearing reprisals.
He claimed the credit officer, representing microfinance institution LOLC Cambodia, threatened and intimidated him until his first suicide attempt in March. His wife intervened just in time to save his life.
