Savannakhet and Attapeu Province, 18-21 December 2022 - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Attapeu Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office (PAFO) conducted a four-day vegetable group study visit, between 18 and 21 December 2022, to Savannakhet province with 63 model farmers and 6 ICS trained farmers participated. This study visit is a part of the capacity building activity implemented under the “Building Climate-Resilient and Eco-friendly Agriculture Systems and Livelihoods” (Climate REAL) project, funded by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

The 69 model farmers were invited to visit two outstanding vegetable production groups, namely Phakha and Phonsim, to learn from their experiences and the benefits of farming the organic and/or clean vegetables. Both Phakha and Phonsim have been certified as organic agriculture production groups with proper certificates. Mr. Sengsawang, Head of the Phonsim group shared the experience of the group not being able to sell much for the first three years of applying and trying the organic vegetable farming, however, now their income is five times higher than it was before. As the market demand is higher than what they can produce, the group confirmed that they are happy to share the contacts of the buyers.  

Mr. Souktavanh Meunkittilath, technical staff at the Agricultural Division, Attapeu PAFO, noted that “the principles of the organic vegetable farming model could transform the lives of the 69 model farmers to the better.” "They would be able to grow high quality seasonal agricultural outputs demanded by the markets. With higher income, they could further invest in their agricultural practices to ensure that they could completely satisfy the needs their Attapeu customers throughout the year,” he added.

Overall, the project supports the vulnerable farming households by providing agriculture inputs based on the need assessment conducted at the early stage of the project implementation. The vegetable seeds were distributed to 516 beneficiary households in 19 villages in three target districts. As a result of the evaluation, 63 farmers out of 516 beneficiary households were selected as model farmers for the organic vegetable farming group and were trained to provide the peer-to-peer sessions to the assigned groups of farmers.