Empowering Women Farmers: Mrs. Heng Thavy’s Journey with Innovative Agriculture
Published: Dec 10, 2025 Reading time: 3 minutes Share: Share an articleEvery morning at 5:00 AM, Mrs. Heng Thavy, 28, wakes to start another long day on the pepper farm, where she has worked for two years. She lives with her husband and young child. Since we have introduced solar powered cooling technology, work at a farm has become less demanding and the pepper grows better.
Before turning to farming, she spent years as a garment worker. Today, the farm provides Heng and her family with meals and accommodation, with the family covering only electricity costs; thus, the farm is instrumental to their livelihood.
Days on the farm are physically demanding. By 7:00 AM, Heng is on the farm, spraying water, tying pepper vines, digging soil to drain excess water, cutting grass, and replacing dead plants. The work continues until 11:00 AM, resumes at 1:00 PM, and ends at 5:00 PM. The rising heat and lack of shade make each task exhausting. Access to water is limited, and the fluctuating weather—intense heat followed by rain—often leaves her fatigued and prone to illness. The pepper plants themselves struggle under these extreme conditions, threatening the productivity that Heng depends on for her family’s income.
Thavy’s work life has transformed with the introduction of solar-powered cooling technology. Trained by our project team, she learned to operate the system, conserve water, and protect the pepper plants during heatwaves. Now, during the hottest hours of the day, she and other farm workers can stand under the cooling mist, refresh themselves, and continue working with reduced fatigue and stress. The system can activate automatically when temperatures rise, helping both workers and crops thrive.
"Before this system, I used to feel completely exhausted by midday, sometimes even too tired to continue. Now, I can work without my body giving up on me," Thavy says.
Thavy describes the technology as life-changing. She feels healthier, more productive, and less exhausted, while the pepper plants grow stronger and greener, ensuring better harvests and higher income. Beyond immediate benefits, the project has sparked her aspirations. She hopes to save money, deepen her knowledge of pepper farming, and one day cultivate her own farm, turning her hard work and experience into a sustainable livelihood.
Thavy’s story reflects the transformative power of innovation in agriculture: combining technology, training, and gender empowerment not only protects Cambodia’s world-famous pepper but also enables women like Mrs. Thavy to work safer, earn more, and dream big.
The “Kampot Cooling: Innovative Technology Solutions to Save Cambodia’s World-Famous Pepper” project, funded by ADB’s Innovation Hub with support from the High-Level Technology Fund, and implemented by People in Need Organization, Banteay Srei Organization, SOGE Company, and Fair Farms.
