Organic farmers in Vientiane expect to double their income during the SEA Games in December.
Farmers in Khoksai village, Hadxaifong district, are top suppliers to local markets, and are expecting to boost production to respond to increasing demand during the games.
Mr Ounkaeng Phommasaen, head of the group, told Vientiane Times on Tuesday that he hoped to generate 60 million kip this year from selling his crops.
He made only 48-50 million kip last year.
“My outlay is not too much, it is only 500,000-600,000 kip per year since I started in 2004,” Mr Ounkaeng said.
Chemical fertilisers used to cost him about two million kip per year.
“Straight away I found that I could make in excess of 20-25 million kip a year from selling organically grown vegetables, the same amount as when I used chemicals,” he said.
Mr Ounkaeng has been farming in line with the government's policy on organic agriculture and commercial production. His main crops are long beans, garlic, tomato, cucumber and cabbage.
The organic farming methods also reduce pollution and help to preserve the natural environment.
He said many vendors had told him that organic produce was better and lasted longer on their stalls.
“Over the course of a month in a refrigerator, organic vegetables always keep better than those grown with chemicals,” he said.
In recent years, Mr Ounkaeng and other organic farmers have not needed to take their crops to markets, but could sell from their farms directly to vendors.
In the past farmers sold their produce at the weekend market in That Luang village, but now they sell the vegetables at the corner of Nongbone temple in Vientiane.
Today, he farms a total area of four hectares, but over the next two years his family expects to extend their land over two more hectares, where they will grow cucumbers, spring onions and cabbages.
Mr Ounkaeng said he learned how to incorporate organic farming methods thanks to the training courses he attended in the community.
Today, he has 10 family members who also farm organically on their own land in Sithantai and Khoksai villages.
By the end of this year, the group expects to have 30 families as members of the cooperative.
Next year they hope to supply organic food to Vientiane markets, the first local group to have set up such a project.
At present, there are eight co-operative groups comprising 101 families who operate organic farms in five districts of Vientiane.
