Civil society organizations: Farmer organization
Location: Laos
Fact sheet: Download
Mr. Ken Ngeng, Green organic farm owner
Green Organic farm was established in November 2016 by Ken Ngeng. Ken studied business administration at the university in Luang Prabang, graduated in marketing and then worked in a NGO and in social development. While building his working experience, he realized how important and valuable agriculture was. Having always seen his parents happy to do farming, he decided to quit his job and start his own farm. This small-scale organic farm of nearly 2ha is made of 1.1 ha rice field, the remaining area is dedicated to a large range of vegetables and fruit trees. The farm offers a choice of activities such as agriculture class for students, farm tour for tourists and lunch at the farm, “from the field to the table”
In Green Organic Farm, a high diversity of vegetables grows along with fruit trees. The focus is on western vegetables but local herbs and vegetables can also be found. There is one season for rice. I n the dry season more than twenty-four different varieties of vegetables and fruits are grown.
Not having a background in agriculture, Ken invested time and energy to acquire knowledge. When setting up his farm, he received a 6 months training from the local government agriculture staff. He believes in the virtues of organic farming such as using local and natural resources in the farm, maintaining soil fertility and providing good and healthy food for his family and customers.
A big challenge for agriculture in general and sustainable agriculture in particular is to provide sufficient income for farmers to stay in their land. Therefore, it is important to assess economic sustainability of a farm as, amongst other indicators, the economic returns from agriculture should at least equal the income that could be obtained from off-farm activities.