CAC News

KAMPONG THOM, Cambodia, Aug. 23 — A total of 204 cashew farmers, including 22 women from six provinces, took part in a Cashew Farmers’ Workshop aimed at improving productivity, reducing production costs and strengthening the resilience of Cambodia’s cashew sector.

The training focused on yield improvement, fertilizer management, climate-resilient farming, modern cultivation techniques, farm economics, pest and disease management, and agricultural mechanization.

Participants were encouraged to adopt more systematic farm-management practices to increase yields while improving profitability and household incomes. The workshop emphasized that higher productivity can help reduce production costs per unit, strengthen farmers’ competitiveness and contribute to Cambodia’s agricultural growth.

A key focus was the relationship between plant nutrition and yield. Farmers were advised to apply fertilizers and other agricultural inputs according to crop requirements rather than relying on fertilizer alone to increase production.

The workshop also highlighted the importance of variety and genetics, soil quality and pH, plantation location, modern cultivation practices, farm management, harvest efficiency, and weather conditions in determining yields.

Trainers noted that every cashew variety has a genetic yield ceiling and that farmers should monitor whether additional inputs continue to generate meaningful production gains. As yields approach the practical potential of a plantation, additional inputs may produce diminishing returns.

For existing varieties such as M23 and HAY-24, increasing yields from one tonne to three tonnes per hectare may be more economically achievable than moving from three to five tonnes per hectare, participants were told. Achieving higher yields will require continued research into improved varieties, cultivation methods and efficient production systems.

The workshop also promoted agricultural mechanization as a way to reduce labor costs and improve farm efficiency, while encouraging farmers to improve pest and disease monitoring and undertake timely interventions.

Organizers said improving productivity is essential to making Cambodia’s cashew industry more competitive and sustainable, while helping farmers increase incomes and reducing their vulnerability to rising production costs and changing weather conditions.