November 10, 2026
Ask Cheng Krat about this season, and he’ll probably start with the numbers, then smile. When he planted eggplants on his small plot in the rain-soaked fields of Kampong Speu, Cambodia, he wasn’t chasing a record. He just hoped this season would finally pay off.
It did pay off. Cheng grew Sambath, an eggplant variety from East-West Seed Cambodia, on just 0.15 hectares. He prepared the soil carefully, cared for his plants, and stayed in touch with our field team whenever something came up. By harvest, he had 5.7 tonnes, which he sold at the local market for 1,400 riel a kilo. He took home about 8 million riel, close to US$2,000, from a piece of land you could walk across in a couple of minutes.
A few hours away in Kampong Cham, Vy Naren tried the same variety on a bigger patch of 0.46 hectares. Two months in, he was already picking. By the end of the season, he’d harvested 18.6 tonnes of eggplant and earned more than 20 million riel, well over US$5,000.
Thon Bunthoeun in Kandal Province picked watermelons. At the start of 2025, he planted 0.6 hectares with our Loueng Reach Thmey variety, put real effort into land preparation, and followed the technical advice closely. Two months later, he had 15 tonnes of fruit. That was about 1,000 riel per kilo, or about 15 million riel, or US$3,750.
Three farmers in three provinces, all on small plots. The seed made a big difference for each of them, though not on its own. Knowing how to prepare the soil and catch a problem early, before it spreads through the crop, counted for a lot too.
G C Shivakumar, Regional Head, Growth Markets, East-West Seed, sees it much the same way. “People sometimes ask me how we know we’re making a difference. Honestly, stories like this one tell me more than any report. When a farmer earns more from the same piece of land, that money goes into school fees, into the household, into next season’s crop. That’s what improving farmers’ lives looks like on the ground, and our team in Cambodia is doing a great job of it.”
That’s why our Cambodia team spends so much time out in the field rather than behind a desk. It’s also why we opened a Learning Farm in Kampong Cham this year. Growers can come and see new varieties and methods for themselves before trying them at home.
“Every time I visit a farm like Mr. Naren’s, I am reminded why we do this,” says Ratha Chan, Country General Manager, East-West Seed Cambodia. “Those are families that took a risk with a new variety, and then did the hard work. “It’s our job to make sure that chance pays off, with seed you can trust, and a team that picks up the phone when you need help.”
At East-West Seed, farmers are at the heart of everything we do. Our team in Cambodia will keep working alongside growers like Cheng, Vy and Thon, season after season.
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