Mr Khut Khoeun - Sim Som Oun's Client

Mr Khut Khoeun

Hi! My name is Khut Khoeun and this is my wife Sun Thorn, our daughter and grand-daughter. We live in TaNgak village, Preah Sdach District, Prey Veng Cambodia. There are 5 daughters but 3 of them have work in Phnom Penh City, and 2 sons, Nak and Somnang.

The only son, Somnang is studying and now in 8th grade in TaNgak secondary school. Nak never been to school because of sickness.

Nowadays, I have a 15m x 12m-bitter gourd garden. I just plant cucumber, long green bean, and lettuce, in which seeds are bought from Mr Sim Som Oun, an FBA in our commune. Generally buyers come to collect from our garden but sometimes we take them to the market.

There are 2 fish ponds. The one behind me is 25m x 10m, 2m in depth consists of 2700 fish. I feed them, 2 times a day, bran mixed with water lily or water green from this pond. 

I am going to prepare this pond again because it is shallow, and then share half of the fish from other pond. Mainly for market sales and we can eat daily. I have some chicken, ducks and 2 cows used for ploughing the rice field next to the pond on my right.

I own about 1 hectare of land. I never try planting rice in rows, and this is my first time I learn from Mr Sim Som Oun, an FBA in TaNgak village. They look very healthy as I can take good care of them while they are so close to my house. I think row-planted rice is a good technique that other farmers should try and from this season on I will apply this method, but wait and see whether the harvest is good or not.

Water is the main problem for farmers. To me, I really need a new pump because this one is not working properly and is almost broken that cannot give enough water for vegetable and rice.

I would feel more self-esteem if we have (irrigation system) pump.

Besides vegetables, rice and livestock, we have banana, mango and guava trees which we can eat and also sell. My daughter likes to climb guava trees and eat until she fulfills her stomach. 

My father also has palm trees that we can make sugar palm. Sometimes my sisters in Phnom Penh send us money.

Return to Mrs Sor Nak's farm

Mrs Sor Nak

Here I am at Veal Yun market in Svay Rieng Town where I sell vegetables. And these are the remaining that I have to sell myself along the street market because it is being rebuilt. As soon as the market is built, I will move in and sell there, which is easier than and as long as possible. In here I can sell only until lunch time then go back home, so I cannot sell all these.

I can make around 4,000Riels ($1) in 10kg of mints as well as other kinds of vegetables by selling to other collectors or sellers at the market. And the remaining I will have to sell it myself.

After selling vegetables at the market, I always have to go to the vegetable gardens around my village and give them price then growers will bring me those, but now I am doing it myself because she is out in her rice field after I am going to another farmer to see if there are different kinds of vegetables, so today I will go back home late.

It’s cloudy and rainy more often, so my husband is not very busy with rice mill. And our son also helps; he is on his vocation and will start school again in October. For brand from white rice we mix with vegetables to make feed for our pig. 

In the night time they both go to the field to catch fish. If they could find more, then we can eat some and the rest I sell.

Return to Mrs Tum Sambo's farm

Mrs Tum Sambo

Ehhh...! My spoiled cucumber garden. Little of them are sold to the market, but we eat ourselves specially my children when they come to cut the grass. I also have two kinds of eggplants, water green, wax gourd. Occasionally I sell them to the market about 4 km from here that I have to drive motorbike myself.

Honestly I don’t have much time for vegetables while housework, pigs and rice are more important as you know this is the rainy season and we are farmers. I just left about 3000 fish in the pond behind me then there is too much rain maybe some of them gone out.

I have just harvested the rice field, which is near my vegetable garden and used to have problem with water and pests, 2 days ago and dry them so I cannot leave it alone otherwise chicken or ducks would come and eat.

I don’t sell them, but I send some of them (white rice) to my children in Phnom Penh.

Earth black warm! Are you afraid? ha!ha! Sorry I’m just kidding! Alright! This is my demo Rice Field, about 2km from my house, I am just trying. Mr Vanna, an FBA and his advisor from IDE, Mr Rith help me. Now look they are really green and healthy. I believe it will give me more yield so I would need their help again, wouldn’t I?

Wow! Oh!.. No! Don’t come closer to them, they would kick and harm you, I’m telling you!

I have 2 pigs, 4 buffaloes and few chickens. During this season we cannot leave them off because they would eat and damage other farmers’ rice.

At home we have to cut grass and water green/morning glory from my vegetable garden and straw or hay from the rice filed for them. My daughter does this before and after school and some other house work too.

Visit to Mr Sim Som Oun's farm

Mr Sim Som Oun

I am doing account and think about whether to order some more FDP briquettes, which is at the moment going up, the price, I may need to put off an order for a while, it’s a challenge to find new customers.

I hope prices of FDPs as well as seeds would decrease.

Hi! I am Savoeun. My father, Sim Som Oun’s gone out so I help him look after a one-hectare dry paddy field. Previously we did one or two times a year. Last year our rice didn’t grow well, but after using FDP briquettes, bought from FBA SomOun I found that FDPs really provide good quality and fertile our rice which make them look green and strong since the start till harvest. 

This is the second time we try FDP and some farmers around here also surprise and some have tried these briquettes too.

My name’s Chan and here my wife Vanna. We have small amount of land so we have to do dry season rice.

This is our first time that we tried FDPs with some Urea in our paddy field. I could see that it’s good and I will try FDPs again in my paddy rice.

Mr Roith whose mother was introduced to FDPs briquettes and seeing Mr Sem Soen’s paddy field together with his own experience two years ago that his rice was not so healthy, but after using FDP his rice looks green all the time.

Having seen this his mother decided to buy 7 bags of FDPs. “I will try FDPs again if quality is as good as mention”, says his mother Ms Him.

Well, I just let these cucumbers grow on the ground, using plastic mulch and straw coving the layer, by doing so I am sure it can reduce the heat and keep the stem strong. As a result there are between 10-14 cucumbers in one stem.

Sweet melons are grown over there and they will be harvested in April due to the right time for Khmer New Year in which Cambodian people need at least two of them for worshiping and welcome the New Year god.

It’s almost two months that I left my vegetable garden and now I must prepare it for eggplants and long bean. I made a loss during the heavy rain which destroyed my vegetables but never mind I expect to make a profit again from my new garden.

Here are about 125 developing long beans soon they will be transplanted. And I will need some more eggplants developed in here too.

Visit to Mrs Puth Saroeun's farm

Mrs Puth Saroeun

A lot of chicken and ducks something like 15kg are served as a meal for 8 farmers we hired to help implant our rice.

Soon it will be our traditional festival (PchumBen) which lasts for 15 days so chicken and ducks are sold at high price at the market then.

My mother also helps me do the chore. Now she is preparing the coconut leaves to make broom and she sometimes helps give feed to chicken and ducks while I am away to meet my clients, but she cannot help sell seeds or fertilizer because she cannot settle the bill.

And in this pond I have around 150 fish. Some we eat and serve as a meal for other farmers we hire to help plant our rice.

Just behind me is a field which I am going to plant a rice demo that is a new method with a fertilizer from IDE to proof farmers around my village by comparing with another rice next to it grown in traditional way and without fertilizer I am selling.

Eh! However, I am not sure yet if farmers will buy more as I was told that ‘ It’s good to try new method together with fertilizer bought from me, but the problem is that they have to put one piece of fertilizer into each hole of the rice stem, which they think spend longer time and more effort’.

While I am off to meet clients or find new ones, my daughter-in-law helps do the house work, cooking, selling seeds or fertilizer and looking after her baby together with her sewing job. 

Mmm! It costs me a lot to hire farmers to transplant rice for us and it takes 5 days to be ready. Totally I have paid 15,000Riels for ploughing and 56,000Riels transplanting rice for 8 farmers.

As you may know I am getting older and my son has to do his full-time job and because rice is the main thing than we have to hire those farmers to do that for us.

I have to leave my vegetable garden free for a while now and wait and see if there is too much or less water of rainfall then I will start again and I can make sure vegetable seeds would be sold more.

In the afternoon, I take my cows to the field where grass are available and come back at around five. We cannot leave them alone otherwise they would eat other farmers’ rice then I would have to pay for that or they would not be happy with us.

Visit to Mr Oeurn Vanna's farm

Mr Oeurn Vanna

I’m not very busy with my clients’ vegetable garden or seeds because as you know this is the rainy season, so farmers must spend their time with rice, and so do I. 

However, NPK – FDP fertilizer (Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium – using Deep Placement method) is part of my product to be sold this time and I have to go to the training once a week. I think I will be able to sell out more as evidence my client Sambo’s demo rice field now looks healthier than others around.

I heard that some farmers are amazing to see her field and they want to try, Mrs Tum Hum, Mrs Hem Gnoy for example and some others.

Our baby daughter is now sleeping then my wife helps clear off the weeds in the garden and bring it for our cows, also she helps sell seeds, fertilizer and vegetables while I am off to visit clients.

I will get out tomato plants and start preparing new growing bed for long green bean in few days.

Eh! it’s a bit problem with my vegetable garden as there are some trees (palm trees) that can spoil my plants caused by rainfall; during and after the rain, water remaining on their leaves drop down harshly on the new bulbs.

Look! My demo long green bean’s now been ready with drip irrigation system together with Fertiliser Deep Placement. 

I water them once a day because the plants are young and enough rain water, but they would need more water when they grow up. There are 8 rows of vegetable beds with 548 plants then they would need around 10 liters of water a day, so a 640-liter reserved drip water can be used for 10 days.

It’s good that farmers should use drip irrigation system as they save time and labour work.

Mrs Bei Phean - Sim Som Oun's Client

Mrs Bei Phean, TaNgak village, Prey Veng Province, Cambodia

Hello! I am Bei Phean and my wife Chhoem Yean with one daughter , Yorn and her two children and one son, Heng who has moved after marriage. We live in TaNgak village Preash Sdach District Prey Veng Province, Cambodia. We both in the garden zone, and our daughter is at home about 50m from here and our grandchildren also visit us and we all go for meal together.

Can you see the black string lead to a metal box? I use it to alert the birds when they come to the garden. A month ago, I started to grow eggplants and is my first time so I need advice from an FBA, Mr Sim Som Oun and his advisor Mr Van comes along to help.

Ooh! Eh! Harvesting bitter gourd is not easy. To pick them up I need a stool and so far I have already harvested around 20-30kg. Long green bean gave us about 400,00Riels ($100).

I actually cannot help my husband grow vegetables. I’m not very healthy. Not very often that I have to sell these vegetables to the market because clients and collectors come and give us price, except when we have too many left in the garden.

Here in the new garden for cucumber and bitter gourd. Previously we had sugar cane grown here. Because I have experienced a high ridge/net that is not easy to harvest, my husband has changed and lower it down so I believe next harvest will be easier.

Kind of long gourd (Khlok) is partly an income we make, 2000Riel ($0.5) for one gourd. Together with some other kinds of vegetables: lemon, red ginger (to make our daily tea), galangal, lemon grass, 20 Persian lilac trees ( leaves we eat taste really bitter).

Taro is also one of vegetables we grow, but we don’t have time to get the grass out as you see there’s a lot of them. It is good for pickled and is common to eat them with grilled fish, Oh.ho! Delicious! We can also make soup using the stem with its tuber. 

Guava is one of the fruits we have in here. We already made income about 100,000Riel ($25) in one season, usually in between 6 -7 months and some others like 15 coconut trees, mangos, and papaya that we can eat ourselves.

We plan to have chickens as you can see the net surrounding so he keeps few hens for breading, not so long they will lay some eggs then we will keep them all. He’s very committed, my husband is.

I have 1 hectare of rice field. In here very close to our vegetable garden just behind me, I and my daughter (she’s not coming yet) are trying planting our rice in rows the first time. After harvest, I want to grow juicy melon.