Stable Volumes

Average farmers in Kampot own small-scale plantation, producing about 200 kg of black peppercorns per year. These associations can guarantee a stable volume of supply to distributors and importers.

Quality Control

These associations put in place a reliable control system that guarantees the quality, homogeneity and consistency of the production by producing production and processing guidelines and monitoring the conformity of each farmer's production with this guidelines.

Tracability

Through simple labelling of the bags after harvest and control on the origin of the peppercorns, these association are able to trace back to the farmer the origin of each pepper bags sold.

Sharing Knowledge & Costs

The farmers' associations are a structure that allow the farmers to put in common their knowledge and finances, increasing their collective expertise and financial power.

• Access to water is certainly the number one problem of the farmers. From the month of December – January, no water is available to irrigate the pepper vines. The direct result is a premature harvest or the death of the vine. Lack of water is the primary cause of lost yield in the pepper farms.
• Fertilizer (cow dung) input is essential for the health of the pepper vine. A lot of farmers do not own enough cows to cover the annual needs in fertilizer.
• The lack of quality wooden standards leads to their frequent replacement. Replacing a pole is a delicate operation as the vine is tightly attached to the standard. This operation damages the vine and leads to productivity loss. Moreover, frequent purchase of wooden standards is an important additional cost..