All Donations Matched
In Kan Yuor village, Cambodia’s Kampong Chhnang province, Chan Phally, 46, steps into her net house, the air thick with the scent of damp earth and fresh greens.
The fine-mesh enclosure, designed to protect delicate crops from pests and extreme weather, hums with quiet life. Inside, rows of cauliflower and bok choy push steadily toward harvest. Within these walls of careful work, the road ahead feels sure.
For years, Phally tried to produce vegetables without any technical knowledge, hoping nature alone would provide enough to sustain her. The result was inconsistent harvests, constant pest damage and modest earnings.
“I truly relied on the ground, the soil by itself,” she said. “I would just put seeds in the ground and hope that it would grow.”
Some weeks, she made as little as $12 from her vegetable sales. It was hardly enough to survive, let alone plan for the future.
Opportunity arrived in 2021, when Phally joined the Melum Samaki Rongroeung Agriculture Cooperative, established through the Cambodia Vegetable Value Chain Development Signature Program. Led by Heifer Cambodia, the program is transforming small-scale vegetable farming by introducing climate-smart practices, market access and financial tools to help farmers build sustainable, reliable livelihoods.
Through the cooperative, Phally secured a net house along with an irrigation system that delivers water straight to the roots. She also learned to use compost-based fertilizer and natural pesticides, along with advanced cultivation techniques such as starting seedlings in trays before transplanting them to the soil.
“With the net house, I am sure that when I grow the vegetables, anything I [plant] there will grow,” she said. “I’m not talking about the market yet, but I am sure that I will get the yield from what I am growing. And because of that guarantee, it gives me hope already.”
Phally purchased her net house through the cooperative’s revolving loan system, a model that helps smallholder farmers access protective structures and irrigation systems while making it possible for other borrowers to do the same. She paid a $250 deposit and now makes monthly payments that replenish the co-op’s loan fund. As farmers repay their loans, more people in the community will have access to the same resources.
Before joining the cooperative, Phally carried water to her fields by hand. Now, irrigation pipes inside her net house deliver a steady flow from her well, saving her time and physical strain. After experiencing the benefits firsthand, she later invested $80 to extend the same system to her open-field crops, a 15-by-35-meter plot just beyond her net house.
The changes have had an immediate financial impact. In just four months, Phally earned $500 from the vegetables cultivated in her net house — more than doubling her previous income. She now sells bok choy, white carrots, spinach and cauliflower to traders who come to her farm, earning $0.35 per kilogram (about $16 cents per pound).
With her increased earnings, she buys food, covers costs to power her irrigation pump and makes offerings at Buddhist ceremonies, a customary practice to honor her faith.
Still, she knows that selling her produce directly at a formal market would allow her to negotiate even better prices. While this once felt out of reach, her rising income and involvement in the program are transforming the possibility into a tangible goal.
With her land yielding high-quality vegetables and her income climbing, Phally is also now thinking past her own accomplishments. She plans to add three more net houses in hopes of using her extra earnings to support her daughter, Chan Sophea, 28.
Sophea left school to work in a factory in another province, one of the few employment options available in the region aside from farming. Phally believes that with support from the cooperative and Heifer, the program could create stronger prospects for Sophea and others in similar positions.
Phally’s aspirations extend to the broader community, as well. In addition to her cooperative loan payments, she contributes $1.50 a month to a local self-help savings group, Toul Roka Moha ChoukChey, knowing that these pooled funds will help other farmers invest in protective structures, like net houses, and improved vegetable management.
“My hope when I joined … was that the money they get from me and other farmers they would use to help other people as well, to pass on to each other,” she said. “Because there are a lot of poor people in [our savings group].”
For years, Phally’s life was shaped by uncertainty. Now, standing in the green rows of her farm, she sees something greater: Growth that reaches beyond her own land.
“I want my community to develop,” she said. “My community won’t develop unless we all have a better livelihood.”
Phally is among thousands of farmers working toward a sustainable living income through the Cambodia Vegetable Value Chain Development Signature Program, which aims to support 10,150 farmers by 2027. Through 43 agricultural cooperatives, the project increases farmers’ incomes and builds trust and social cohesion within communities. It provides access to net houses, solar water pumps, and reliable water and power services, allowing farmers to produce higher-quality crops and withstand climate challenges. Post-harvest improvements also give farmers opportunities to sell fresher, higher-value produce, while ongoing efforts work to expand a stronger, more inclusive market system.
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