With market booming, organic coffee farmers plan expansion

30 Nov 2018 2288 | Business & Trade Fairs

Roy Terb, a farmer from the Panong minority, owns four hectares of coffee plantations in Mondulkiri province, in the country’s northeast, that he cultivates using organic techniques.

His farm, located in the elevated terrains of Mondulkiri’s Pich Chreada district, now produces two tonnes of coffee beans a year, but, with Cambodia’s love for coffee reaching new heights every year, he is now thinking of expanding, taking on four more hectares within the next three years.

With demand for the commodity booming, the area used for coffee plantations in Mondulkiri has doubled in just a few years, and it will continue to grow, says Seng Se, chief of agronomy at the provincial department of agriculture.

There are now 206 hectares of coffee plantations in the province, 132 of which belong to corporate entities, while the rest are owned by smallholder farmers, according to Mr Se.

A kilogram of non-organic coffee fetches $2.5 in the local market, much higher than a few years back, when it sold by just $1, Mr Se says, adding that the price for organic coffee is much higher.

Mr Terb is one of around 40 indigenous farmers growing organic coffee beans in some 48 hectares of land in Mondulkiri, producing a total of between 20 to 25 tonnes per year.

These 48 hectares in the Northeastern Cambodian province are recognised by the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) as organic plantations.

Though it requires more effort than using pesticides and other chemicals, these farmers choose to follow organic techniques because it guarantees them a higher price for their products.

Walking around with a wooded basket tied to his waist that he uses to collect the coffee beans he is picking from the field, 47-year-old Mr Terb says he started implementing organic methods for growing coffee about two years ago, after he learnt that demand for organic coffee was much higher.

“I chose to use organic techniques because they pretty much guarantee me that I will have buyers,” Mr Terb says.

“It was difficult at first, but thanks to technical assistance from CEDAC, it has become quite an easy affair,” he says as he picks beans in his plantation.