• Society

The Weekend Organic Market in Siem Reap: Appreciated by Growers and Customers

• By Teng Yalirozy
• and Meng Seavmey
• July 29, 2023 4:40 PM

SIEM REAP — On the three-wheel motorcycle that she designed, Choi Sokha travels 20 kilometers every weekend to sell her lotus flowers at the organic market of Siem Reap province.

A villager of Angkor Thom district in Siem Reap province, she started selling lotus flowers three years ago when she lost her job due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, Sokha was working at a landmine museum with other employees who, like her, had physical disabilities. Today, she sells her lotus flowers at the weekend market, and does well, she said.

The organic market is a local-scale market where farmers of the area sell their produce on weekends. Located at the Royal Independence Garden, the market involves about 20 communities come to promote local organic vegetables and fruits.

The market has been established for six years, welcoming those who grow organic produce and providing people in the area with healthy and fresh vegetables and fruits.

Choi Sokha is not a regular seller, but she can be found selling flowers on her three-wheel motorbike at times such as Uposatha—a Buddhist day of observance—when she sells her flowers next to the Preah Ang Chek Preah Ang Chorm Shrine, a well-known religious place located opposite the Royal Independence Garden, she said.

“It’s quite far but not that difficult for me because of the smooth roads in the province,” Sokha said. “Still, I have to work hard because I’m disabled. But, I have my motorcycle, and it’s convenient for me to go anywhere.”

Vat Sophy, who is a farmer from Damrei Chhlang village in Soutr Nikum district, has been coming to the weekend market for four years. She grows organic fruit and vegetables as a family business with the assistance of the Farmer Unity for Development Agricultural Cooperative (FUDAC).

People can enjoy healthy vegetables and fruit as the farmers in the communities produce according to healthy standards without using any chemical substances or fertilizer, she said.

“We need to join the community to collect produce to sell,” said Sophy. “We grow on our own and also share our crops with the members of the community.”

There are 150 households in Sophy’s village, but only 70 are members of FUDAC and grow organic vegetables and fruits.

As she explained, only organic crops planted by the farmers are allowed to be put on sale in the organic market.  The communities provide local farmers with seeds, training, and tools. Then, 25 percent of the profit becomes a contribution to the community.

Sophy pointed out that some families do not join the community because they have big plantations and need to use some chemical substances for their crops, then sell wholesale.

Ny Ta, a resident who moved to Siem Reap province five years ago, is a fan of the organic market. She shops at the market every weekend because she trusts that the fruits and vegetables she and her family get there and consume later on truly are organic.

“I think this market is good and I know that we are safe with what we consume,” she said.

Chea Nin is also a seller at the weekend market. The 76-year-old woman used to ride on her bicycle from dawn till dusk around Siem Reap City to sell vegetables and fruits. Living with her daughter, Nin said, at first she did not dare sell her crops at the weekend market, fearing she would be chased away.

But recently, she has been able to put on display at the market the vegetables and fruit she grows in the organic community garden. She can earn about 10,000 riels ($2.50) a day at the weekend market. “It is just my small business that I have been doing since I moved to Siem Reap about 20 years ago,” she said, “after my six children had kept dying in the genocide and of disease.”

Nin said she is happy now that there is a place where she can sell her fruit and vegetables. She just wished the market was not held only on weekends, she added.