Cowgirl: Angelina Jolie

Phnom Penh, Jan. 1 (AP): Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is funding a programme to donate cows to poverty-stricken Cambodian farmers, an associate said today.

The plan is part of Jolie’s nature conservation project in the country. Under the programme, 300 families will get one cow each to help them earn money — hopefully dissuading them from logging and hunting wildlife for their living — said Mounh Sarath, director of the Cambodian vision in development project.

Jolie is giving the organisation $1.5 million for its environmental protection efforts in remote parts in northwestern Cambodia. The project aims to protect about 60,000 hectares of forest in the Samlaut and Pailin areas, both former strongholds of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia in 1975-79.

Jolie, 28, is having a house built in Cambodia. She fell in love with the country when part of her film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was shot at its famed Angkor temple complex.