Innovations for increasing off-season vegetable production in Cambodia

Keo Noem tells of how she has seen an almost 50% increase in yields from her family farm in Thlouk Damnakloung village, Takeo province. She is one of more than 70,000 households across six provinces who have seen significant improvements in their incomes and nutritional security from two parallel projects. She and her husband, Prom Phally, always used to grow vegetables on their 1,300 m² plot, but yields were low. They were selected to be involved in the program because they were in the poorest category of farmers, and received training in a wide range of good agricultural practices. They also invested in a shade net structure to protect against crop pests, with a subsidy. “And with the extra money we now earn, my husband bought a rotovator, and I bought a motorbike that gives me more freedom. I can now also pay for better medical treatment for my mother”.

“I had no idea before about biocontrol; now I know what to look out for and use sticky traps and neem oil. And This has increased my yields amazingly!”, says Keo Noem

Keo Noem is one of thousands of farmers who have benefitted from training provided as part of two projects that are making vegetables more available, affordable, and accessible in Cambodia and Laos, by promoting technologies that increase year-round production. She was trained as part of the Grow Against the Flow project, implemented in partnership with iDE-Lors Thmey in Takeo province, and with East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer in Kampot, Kampong Cham and Tboung Khmum provinces. In Phnov village, some of the 75 members of another producer group are proud to show off their crops. Said Samreth La, “We received training on the use of plastic mulch, drip irrigation, biopesticides, pheromone traps, and trellising. We now grow year-round, in rotation, and I harvest around 80 kg of yardlong bean daily at the moment from my 900 m² plot, 60% more than before. The new practices also save so much time that we used to spend on watering, weeding, and spraying.”

Samreth La and Key Srey Neng with a 10 kg crate of yardlong beans, ready to go to market

In Svey Chhrum village, Khy Vanny and Te Chileang tell of the new enterprise that they have started, thanks to training received from the Cambodia Scaling project, implemented by the General Directorate of Agriculture in Kampong Cham, Kandal and Prey Veng and provinces. Production of tomato was limited due to problems caused by soil-borne bacterial wilt disease that is very difficult to control. However, grafting tomato onto eggplant rootstock eliminates the problem entirely. Many farmers were trained, but Khy and Te turned it into a business. “We sold 30 trays last year at US$20 each, even to farmers from outside the district; US$600 is a nice extra income! Farmers like them because not only do they stay alive, they yield for four months instead of two, and you can double your yield. From 300 m² here, we can get 1,300 kg in a season, earning us US$1,300.”

Training is also a core component at multiple levels. There are training of trainer events covering various topics, such as integrated pest management, improving soil health and good agricultural practices, given to government, NGO staff, private sector extension agents, and university students. Many of those trained then go on to undertake regular village-level farmer training.

Technical field officer for East-West Seed, Ang Somany, training women farmers on pest identification and biocontrol techniques. Regular village-level training is a key reason for the success of the project.

But, promoting organic pest and disease control, irrigation, and mulching is pointless if farmers have no access to the necessary products. Thus, an important part of the project was also to engage with wholesalers of agricultural inputs and educate and encourage them to start stocking a range of new products, such as sticky traps, pheromone traps, neem oil, organic fertilizers, drip irrigation systems, and plastic mulch. Introducing improved postharvest practices is also part of ‘the package’, which, all together, is making a real impact in the target areas. Now, these successes should be scaled out to other parts of the country.

This reports on the impacts from two projects. ‘Grow Against the Flow’ is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and implemented by WorldVeg, East-West Seed-Knowledge Transfer (EWS-KT) and iDE-Lors Thmey. Other partners include the General Directorate of Agriculture in Cambodia, iDE, and the Clean Agriculture Standards Center of the Lao PDR Department of Agriculture. The ‘Cambodia Scaling’ project is funded by the Taiwan Ministry of Agriculture, and implemented by WorldVeg and the General Directorate of Agriculture

This article can also be found in the World Vegetable Center Annual Report 2023

WorldVeg Annual Report 2023 ! – World Vegetable Center (avrdc.org)