Story and Photos: Sovannary Ky/ GIZ Cambodia
Fresh Insights: Cambodia’s Pepper Sector Analysis
Phnom Penh, Cambodia – On June 9, 2025, the EU-German Cambodia Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems (EU-German CAPSAFE) project released a comprehensive analysis of Cambodia’s pepper sector, marking a key step toward boosting its competitiveness and sustainability. The report highlights the sector’s economic value and offers strategic recommendations to support farmers, add value, and expand export opportunities.
While Cambodia is globally known for its premium Kampot pepper, thousands of smallholder farmers across Tboung Khmum, Mondulkiri, and Ratanakiri also produce high-quality conventional pepper. This crop holds great potential for boosting rural incomes, export earnings, and sustainable development.
While the sector is growing, there are exciting opportunities to overcome challenges like stabilizing production, adapting to climate change, increasing local processing, and formalizing exports. By adding more value within Cambodia instead of sending raw pepper abroad, the industry can create greater benefits for farmers and communities.
This newly published analysis, with the EU-German support, provides a comprehensive picture of the sector — from cultivation to global markets.
What’s Inside the Report?
- Field-based insights into production trends, farmer realities, and processing gaps
- Risks and constraints linked to climate change, input costs, and informality
- Potentials of the pepper sector leading to higher incomes across the value chain
Why It Matters
This report comes at a time when Cambodia is prioritizing agricultural modernization and value-added exports as part of its broader national development goals. Pepper is a perfect fit — and this report offers concrete guidance to unlock its full potential.
With rich data, field research, and feedback from farmers and traders, this report is designed to support government policy, guide private investment, and empower development partners to take action. Whether you are a policymaker, agri-entrepreneur, cooperative leader, or donor, this report is for you.
