Kampot Pepper
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
Jérôme Benezech
(+855)12-365-321
kampotpepper@yahoo.com
August 2007
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
Kampot Pepper – A long history.................................................................................................. 3
The Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kampot province ............................................................ 3
Pepper in Cambodia and in Kampot ........................................................................................ 4
The Pepper Plant ...................................................................................................................... 6
The Pepper Industry ................................................................................................................. 6
A new life for Kampot Pepper ..................................................................................................... 8
The Situation in 2006 ............................................................................................................... 8
FarmLink’s Action ................................................................................................................... 9
Assessment 2006 - 2007......................................................................................................... 10
Action plan 2007 - 2008............................................................................................................. 10
1. Irrigation......................................................................................................................... 11
2. Fertilizer ......................................................................................................................... 11
3. Wooden standards and shade cover ............................................................................... 11
4. Machinery....................................................................................................................... 12
5. Analytical laboratory...................................................................................................... 12
6. Support to the associations............................................................................................. 13
7. Research & Development............................................................................................... 13
8. Secure land title deeds.................................................................................................... 14
Impact of these activities on farmers’ revenues ..................................................................... 14
Self-Sufficient Associations................................................................................................... 15
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
Kampot Pepper – A long history
The Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kampot province
Cambodia is a south-east Asian country
bordered on the east by Vietnam, on the west by
Thailand, on the north by Laos and on the south
by the Siam gulf. Its tropical climate is split
between a dry season from November to April
and a rainy season from May to October.
There are today 13 million inhabitants in
Cambodia, mainly in rural areas. Its capital
Phnom Penh is home to 2 million Cambodians.
The current political regime is a constitutional
monarchy and the main religion is Theravada
Buddhism
Map of Cambodia
Cambodia has a long troubled history. This
powerful kingdom dominated south Asia from 800
to 1500 AD – the ruins of Angkor Wats are
impressive remains – Cambodia was colonized by
the French in 1863 and became part of the French
Indochina in the 1900s. In 1953 the king Norodom
Sihanouk declared the independence of Cambodia
ending the French colonial era. In the 1970s
Cambodia was to see its darkest times: destabilized
by the Vietnam war nearby. The Khmers Rouges
took control of the country in 1975. During the
following 4 years, 2 million Cambodians
Angkor Wat
disappeared, infrastructures were completely
destroyed and intellectual leaders eliminated. The
fall of the Khmers Rouges regime in 1978 was just
the start of a long unstable period of time that
ended in 1991 with the UN intervention. Since the
1998 elections, Cambodians enjoy a relative calm
but everything needs to be rebuilt….
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
Cambodia counts 20 provinces. Kampot
province is located in the southern part of the
country, 150 km from the capital. It enjoys long
coasts along the gulf of Siam and is bordered on
the east by neighbouring Vietnam. 528.000
Cambodians live in Kampot province. During
French colonial times, Kampot was a
destination of choice for the French elite who
came to play in the Bokor casino and enjoyed
the peaceful beaches of Kep. Between mountain
and sea Kampot is a perfect province for fruit
and vegetable farming. Fish and seafood are
specialities; its fish sauce (widely used in Asian
cuisine) is particularly appreciated. Kampot is
also renowned for the quality of its fruits
(Durian, coconut, mango…) as well as for its
sea salt. But what made Kampot internationally
famous is without contest its pepper. Map of Kampot province
Pepper in Cambodia and in Kampot
At the end of the 19th century and at the
beginning of the 20th Kampot saw a real « pepper
fever ».
The Chinese explorer Tchéou Ta Kouan
described Cambodian pepper production as early as
the 13th century, but intensive pepper production
dates from the beginning of the Aceh war in
Indonesia (1873-1908). The sultan of Aceh – who
did not want to leave its wealth to its Dutch
enemies - burned down its pepper plantations in
1873-1874. Part of the production then moved to
Cambodia in the Kampot region.
Postal card from French colonial times
In1930, in the book “Un empire colonial
français, l'Indochine”, under the direction of G.
Maspero, it is noted that “pepper is by far the main
colonial export crop. Almost all the pepper
consumed in France - 2.100 tonnes in 1927; 2600
tonnes in 1928 - comes from Indochina, even more
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
so since the April 1928 custom law allows
unlimited imports of pepper from the colonies. The
French colony exports even more: 3.416 tones in
average since 3 years, 4.235 tones in 1927.
Production almost disappeared from the
Cochinchine region where it was in the hands of
Hainan Chinese growers in the Hatien province but
is maintained in Cambodia. “
Pepper has always been one of the main
industries of the Kampot region. Its flavour and
its pugnacity made it one of the best peppers in
the world – the unchallenged king of spice in
the kitchens of the most renowned French
chefs.
Unfortunately the events that took place in
Cambodia destroyed the majority of the
production. Infrastructures were destroyed,
tools and machineries disappeared and the
education level dropped drastically. Today,
Postal card from French colonial times – Grading of pepper
nearly 35% of the population lives below the
poverty line (0.33 € per person per day).
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
The Pepper Plant
Pepper is a vine that grows along standards
consisting of vertical poles. This vine originating
from the tropical forests requires a hot and humid
climate as well as a regulated exposition to the sun.
Replicated today by grafting, a pepper vine starts
producing after 3 years. When 6 – 7 years old, it
reaches its maximum production potential and can
then be 5 meters tall. A pepper vine can live for
more than 30 years but its productivity starts
decreasing after 15 years and is almost nil after 20
years.
In the Kampot region, pepper grows along dead
wood standards installed on an elevated plot of land
in order to allow better rain water drainage. In
Pepper farm in Kampot region
normal conditions, the varietar cultivated in
Kampot should produce between 2.5 and 3 kilos
per standard and can reach 5 kilos in exceptional
conditions.
The average density of a plantation is 2500 poles
per hectare.
The Pepper Industry
Pepper is the number one spice in the world with a volume of supplies around 400.000 tonnes per
year. Vietnam is today the first producer in volume (about 100.000 tonnes) followed by India,
Indonesia and Malaysia.
The production potential of Kampot province is estimated to 200 tonnes on 40 hectares.
In Cambodia, the lack of infrastructures and the weak organization of farmers are the main reasons for
the currently high production costs. This places Cambodian farmers at a disadvantage compared to
competitors.
The challenge of Kampot pepper farmers can be compared to the one undertaken by French wine
producers or European textile industries. Competition on the price being impossible, they need to
focus on the quality of their product in order to position themselves on a luxury product justifying
higher prices.
Kampot pepper has been long renowned as one of the best peppers in the world. The versatile flavour
which can range from intensely spicy to mildly sweet with a hint of flower is a pleasure to the senses.
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
A Kampot pepper sauce with a good read meat will make everyone wish to rediscover this wonderful
spice.
Well-targeted support to these farmers will allow them to access quality spice markets. This
resurrection of Kampot pepper represents the hope of hundreds of families for a better life and offers
perspective of a better future for the next generations.
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
A new life for Kampot Pepper
With the support of FarmLink, dozens of producers in the Kompong Trach region of Kampot
province have restarted today their production. Kampot Pepper is back on the market!
The Situation in 2006
The Kompong Trach region is historically one of
the main pepper production areas in Kampot.
Dozens of farmers are still active despite difficult
economic conditions.
In 2006, the FarmLink team witnessed the
abandon and the uprooting of pepper plantations
by farmers who could not cover their exploitation
costs. Pepper prices on local markets reach an all-
time low at less than 0.75 € per kilo.
The facts are simple:
• The maintenance of a pepper
plantation costs around 2.30 € per pole
• Productivity was then very low:
around 0.75 kilo per pole
• One farmer owns on average 200
poles
• The farmers – largely undereducated –
do not know how to reach new
Abandoned pepper farm
markets
• The quality of the pepper they produce
is still very superior to that of the main
competitor (Vietnam).
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
FarmLink’s Action
We have been working for more than a year with these producers. Our goals are to:
• Look for new markets where prices could be more stable and rewarding to the farmers.
• Increase the productivity of the farmers and lower the production costs.
From these goals we identified a number of actions that should be implemented in parallel:
• Encourage the farmers to work together in cooperatives in order to
o Supply a volume interesting for importers
o Guarantee an efficient control on quality and homogeneity of the production
o Share the investment costs
• Resolution of production and post-production problems (irrigation, organic fertilizer, organic
pesticides, wooden poles, machinery) in order to
o Reach a quality sufficient to access the target markets
o Increase productivity
• Creation of a Research & Development unit in order to
o Study new techniques that could lower the production costs
o Study new varietars that could increase productivity
• Collaboration with Cambodian authorities in order to
o Ease export procedures and clarify administrative tasks
o Allow sanitary controls required for export
• Investment in marketing and promotion efforts in order to
o Find export markets where we could sell the entire harvest at a fair price.
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
Assessment 2006 - 2007
• Pepper quality improvement has been spectacular,
demonstrating the commitment and know-how of the producers.
Improved post-production methods (grading, cleaning) and
simple tools provided by FarmLink have already allowed
producers to achieve near export quality production of pepper.
• Thanks to a private donation, 5 water ponds were dug, allowing
20 producers to hope for a significant increase in production for
the 2008 harvest.
• 3 tonnes of pepper were sold by the farmers at a price of 3 € per
kilo. These producers registered a trading profit that will initiate
an investment fund.
• 3 producers associations were created regrouping today more
than 80 farmers.
• Several importers showed interest in the pepper and commercial
Pepper gift bag sold by the contracts for the 2008 harvest will be signed very soon. The
associations in 2007
majority of the harvest will be sold for export.
Action plan 2007 - 2008
Our vision and action plan are long-term covering a multi-year period. We present here our action
plan for the current year.
The positive results from the previous year allow us to engage a larger and more ambitious
processing operation in order to guarantee all the farmers (members of the associations) sale of their
production at a fair price. Quality standards of the 2006-7 production were much improved but some
problems still need to be solved in order to satisfy the current contracts. Most importantly, our action
brought Kampot Pepper out of the dark, motivated the farmers and attracted interest from importers.
However, more progress must be made in order to reach sustainability.
We are now initiating important tasks that require financial support. We detail in this section the
different tasks as well as their estimated cost.
These costs are based on a population of 100 pepper farmers with a total of 20.000 poles.
We study possibilities of donation as well as short-term or medium-term loans. We consider loans in
some cases in order to bring the farms back on track. The reimbursement plan on these loans does
not include the interest rate and are based on an estimated return to maximal productivity after 2
years.
It should be noted that the accumulation of credit solutions would require a re-evaluation of the
reimbursement plans.
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
1. Irrigation
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.
• We plan to put in place an irrigation system that
would guarantee continuity of water access.
This system is composed of a deep well and a pond.
A pump is used to fill the pond with water from the
well in dry season. Farms are then irrigated by
gravity.
• A less costly but less durable solution would be to
dig simple ponds. A 200 m3 pond can irrigate 4
plantations..
A family of farmers collecting water from their
almost-dried pond
2. Fertilizer
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. We estimate the annual costs of fertilizer at 0.25
€ per pole.
Credits solutions can be put in place to allow proper manuring and the return to normal productivity.
We estimate that the benefits of the first year would be enough to cover 50% of the costs for the
second year.
3. Wooden standards and shade cover
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.
Shade cover composed of coconut leaves laid on a bamboo roof is also necessary in dry season. Direct
exposure to sunlight “burns” the pepper vine, which then loses in productivity and eventually dies. The
bamboo roof is the biggest cost for our farmers. At a cost of 1.30 € per pole, it represents almost 60%
of the total production cost.
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
Long-term solutions are being studied (see
section on Research & Development) but short-
term solutions need to be considered in order to
bring the existing farms back on track.
The combined cost of the wooden standard and
the shading cover is about 1.50 € per pole. We
estimate that 40% of the material needed
(bamboo, coconut leaves) is available at the farm;
the rest needs to be bought outside.
Pepper growing on dead wood standards with a coconut leaves
shading cover
4. Machinery
Manual grading and cleaning of peppercorns last year led to a real increase in quality compared to the
previous years. Nevertheless, these manual procedures do not produce the quality required for export.
It will be necessary this year to invest in grading and cleaning machinery in order to reach the desired
quality level. It would be preferable to study “easy” solutions based on machines that the farmers
could easily replicate and maintain.
The main processing steps are:
• Sorting by gravity. Pepper density is the main quality criteria and light corns should be separated
from the rest.
• Grading. The size of peppercorns in a bag must be homogeneous.
• Cleaning. No plant residue should remain in the bag. In particular, the “head” (par of the vine
attached to the corn) must be removed.
5. Analytical laboratory
It will be necessary to be able to test the pepper harvested in 2008 against international quality
standards.
An important step has already been made – a Dutch university donated the necessary laboratory
material.
We now need to pay for shipment costs and for the rental of the laboratory building as well as for the
salary of the laboratory employee.
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
6. Support to the associations
The farmers’ associations are still young. Their representatives have a low level of education. These
associations need support in terms of management, organization of quality control system, marketing
and promotion of their product.
The farmers’ associations need to be able to
independently and durably finance this support.
We cannot expect farmers to be in a position to
participate financially before 3 or 4 years.
7. Research & Development
Several alternative production techniques need to be experimented in order to increase the quality and
productivity of the farms and lower production costs.
These experiments cannot take place on farms currently in production. It is therefore necessary to
create a “pilot” farm.
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
Several experiments must be made:
• First of all, we would like to experiment growing
pepper vines on live support (real trees). This
technique – widely used in India – would solve the
problems related to bad quality dead wood
standards as well as considerably reduce the cost
of the shading cover.
• We would like to create a plot to plant fast
growing trees, the wood of which could be used as
standards. Bamboos could also be grown on that
plot.
• We would like to study the impact of different
organic fertilization methods that could increase
productivity of the pepper vine.
• The use of plant soil cover could also be studied in
order to lower the water input needs.
Pepper vine on live tree standard
8. Secure land title deeds
As pepper cultivation becomes profitable, the value of the land in the growing region will increase
significantly. The land title deeds of the farmers are not clear and these farmers may lose their land to
better-educated unscrupulous people. The land eviction issue is a growing concern in Cambodia and
leads to big problems in society.
Securing land title deeds is a major undertaking that we deem essential if farers are to obtain long-term
benefit of their labour.
Impact of these activities on farmers’ revenues
These activities aim at
• Increasing the productivity of pepper farms from 0.75 kilo per pole to 2.5 kilo per pole
• Increasing the quality to meet the requirements of export markets for quality spices and therefore
increase the sale price at the farm from 0.75 € per kilo to 3 € per kilo.
Comparing to the year 2006, we estimate a 900% increase in farmers’ revenues for 2009.
The benefits of an average farmer with 200 poles would increase from 112 € in 2006 to 1000 € in 2009
(loan reimbursement not included).
If we apply this number to 100 farmers with 20.000 poles, this would represent an increase in benefits
of 90.000 € per year.
An exceptional product – The revival of an industry
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Estimated evolution of benefits for a farm of 200 poles
Self-Sufficient Associations
The tasks we wish to undertake aim at putting existing farms back on track and bringing the farmers
back to a just profit.
The associations are the tool that can help manage these tasks. They also need to give a long-term
vision of the pepper industry management. We do not plan continuous financial support to these
associations. This would be profitable for neither the associations and their partners nor the farmers
themselves.
These cooperative associations’ incomes come from farmers’ contribution as well as a percentage on
the sale of the pepper. These resources are almost inexistent today, therefore financial support is
necessary. Nevertheless, once the farms become profitable again, the farmers’ contributions could
increase and –the percentage taken on pepper sales would also be much more important.
We give these associations a target for financial self-sufficiency within the next 5 years.
For further information, contact FarmLink:
FarmLink Ltd.
Jerome Benezech
CEO
Phum Somrong, Khum Chumkriel, Kampot, Cambodge
Tel: (+855)12-365-321
Email: kampotpepper@yahoo.com
