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There’s news of how Cambodian farmers have been able to adapt to climate change and improve their incomes, all thanks to the contents of a tiny pepper pot. IFAD
STORY: IFAD / CAMBODIA FARMERS CLIMATE CHANGE
TRT: 05:21
SOURCE: IFAD
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / KHMER / NATS
DATELINE: 25-28 NOVEMBER 2025, TBONG KHMUN, CAMBODIA / PHNOM PENG, CAMBODIA
1. Various shots, farmer Som Samnang picking peppers and working in pepper field
2. Wide shot, woman walking inside supermarket
3. Close up, Fuchs pepper–based products on German supermarket’s shelfs
4. Tilt down, woman picking Fuchs product from shelf
5. Wide shot, flags outside Fuchs factory, from left to right: Cambodia, FUCHS Logo, Germany
6. Various shots, pepper bags inside factory
7. Med shot, Chhoy Chuunly working on computer
8. SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Chhoy Chuunly, Representative, Fuchs Gruppe:
“At our factory, we have black pepper products, including safe black pepper and organic black pepper, which we export to Germany.”
9. Various shots, farmer Pros Lane picking pepper
10. SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Pros Lane, Pepper Farmer and Cooperative Member:
"Climate change, such as extreme heat during the dry season and heavy rain during the rainy season, seriously affects the pepper crops. So, it can affect the pepper yield."
11. Close up, pepper plant
12. Various shots, irrigation system in pepper field
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Frew Behabtu, Country Director, Cambodia, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
"We have created close to 1,200 producer organizations with the support of the project."
14. Various shots, farmer Som Samnang in cooperative meeting
15. SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Som Samnang, Pepper Farmer and Cooperative Vice President:
"When we are alone, it's very difficult, and the traders can manipulate the market as they wish. By selling collectively, we have greater negotiating power and can secure better prices.”
16. Various shots, Som Samnang loading bags on truck
17. SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Som Samnang, Pepper Farmer and Cooperative Vice President:
"We have a contract, a pepper contract with a stable price. Even if the price goes up, we don't go up, and even if it goes down, we don't go down. It's really good."
18. Various shots, farmers working in field
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Frew Behabtu, Country Director, Cambodia, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
"So, the project is focusing on identifying value chains and then try to really support in expanding in the global market."
20. Med shot, farmers looking at pepper yield
21. Close up, pepper grains
22. Med shot, worker cleaning pepper bags in factory
23. Various shots, farmer Pro Lane talking with young woman
24. SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Pros Lane, Pepper Farmer and Cooperative Member:
"I have three daughters. I hope that in the future, I will be able to afford for them to get a high education so they can come back and develop our village, our country, and our nation."
25. Various shots, German consumers preparing and eating meal with Fuchs pepper products
As the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture takes place in Berlin this week.
There’s news of how Cambodian farmers have been able to adapt to climate change and improve their incomes, all thanks to the contents of a tiny pepper pot.
Sales of organic pepper products increased by 24 percent in 2024, as German shoppers are demanding organic ethically sourced products with fair trade traceability.
Black pepper is the most important and widely consumed spice in Europe. However, small-scale farmers in countries like Cambodia have struggled to export their products to Europe due to the EU quality standard required. Germany is by far the largest EU importer with a 25 percent share.
But all that is changing.
Som is tending to his precious crop of peppers. A practice carried out here by farmers since the 13th century. 75 percent of the world’s pepper is grown in Asia.
Here in Cambodia, farmers are growing a special type of pepper: Higher quality organic varieties, which are seen as far superior with a unique taste. Just a decade ago, many Cambodian farmers had abandoned pepper farming due to poor yields and prices.
But now Som has seen his profits increase and his produce is being used at European dinner tables over 5,000 miles away.
SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Chhoy Chuunly, Representative, Fuchs Gruppe:
“At our factory, we have black pepper products, including safe black pepper and organic black pepper, which we export to Germany.”
Most pepper in Cambodia is grown by small- scale farmers, but many producers found it hard to make a living. Extreme weather events have led to poor yields.
SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Pros Lane, Pepper Farmer and Cooperative Member:
"Climate change, such as extreme heat during the dry season and heavy rain during the rainy season, seriously affects the pepper crops. So, it can affect the pepper yield."
And farmers have suffered unstable incomes due to fluctuating commodity prices. Som and Pros are among almost 150,000 pepper producers who have set up cooperatives following investments from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Cambodia.
SOUNDBITE (English) Frew Behabtu, Country Director, Cambodia, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
"We have created close to 1,200 producer organizations with the support of the project."
Som and his fellow farmers set up one such cooperative.
SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Som Samnang, Pepper Farmer and Cooperative Vice President:
"When we are alone, it's very difficult, and the traders can manipulate the market as they wish. By selling collectively, we have greater negotiating power and can secure better prices.”
The power of cooperatives has not only connected them to international markets, selling to German companies like Fuchs, but also stabilized prices and increased their incomes on average by 56 percent.
SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Som Samnang, Pepper Farmer and Cooperative Vice President:
"We have a contract, a pepper contract with a stable price. Even if the price goes up, we don't go up, and even if it goes down, we don't go down. It's really good."
The project has contributed to this growth by training farmers on how to improve their produce to meet international buyers’ standards, particularly EU regulations on quality. IFAD’s investment will continue linking more farmers’ cooperatives to international buyers with co-financing from the European Investment Bank and the European Union.
SOUNDBITE (English) Frew Behabtu, Country Director, Cambodia, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
"So, the project is focusing on identifying value chains and then try to really support in expanding in the global market."
Cambodian farmers like Pros believe their improved livelihoods will have a positive impact not just themselves, but millions of others too.
SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Pros Lane, Pepper Farmer and Cooperative Member:
"I have three daughters. I hope that in the future, I will be able to afford for them to get a high education so they can come back and develop our village, our country, and our nation."
And as German customers continue to get a taste for more organic varieties, farmers here hope that even more of their precious crop will end up on German dinner tables.
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