PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is funding a program to donate cows to poverty-stricken Cambodian farmers, an associate said Thursday.

The plan is part of Jolie's nature conservation project in the country. Under the program, 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 organization $1.5 million for its environmental protection efforts in remote parts in northwestern Cambodia.

The project aims to protect about 148,200 acres 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.

The 300 cows will cost a total of $36,000, Mounh Sarath said, adding that each family can keep the cow and its first calf.

"Whenever the second calf is born, they will give it to our organization to pass over to another family," he said.

Mounh Sarath said the overall conversation project is going well, with offices, guesthouses and a vocational training center being built.

Jolie spent a night at one of the guesthouses during a secret visit in mid-October, Mounh Sarath said.

Two years ago, Jolie adopted a Cambodian boy through Lauryn Galindo — a so-called adoption "facilitator" for several agencies, including one run by Galindo's sister, Lynn Devin.

The FBI shut down Devin's agency, Seattle International Adoptions Inc., after Devin pleaded guilty on Dec. 10 to committing visa fraud by falsifying documents to get U.S. visas for Cambodian children.

The children were often represented as orphans even though they had at least one parent, often living in poverty, who agreed to sell the child, according to the Seattle Times newspaper.

Licadho, a human rights group monitoring adoptions in Cambodia, said Thursday it has no details on the background of Jolie's adopted son.