It is not a big deal to be a normal farmer. However, it is not easy to be a successful farmer.

Ros Mao, a 55-year old farmer in Takeo, shared his experiences on being a successful farmer.

“In order to be a good and successful farmer, the main criterion is ourselves,” said Mao.

“They need to be ready for themselves and ask themselves: Do they really love being a farmer, and how much can they overcome in this career?”

Besides having strong a commitment to being a farmer, prospective farmers need to make a clear goal and a detailed plan, such as land size, budget and what to produce. For example, they need to check which kind of plant should be sowed in what kind of soil in what condition and how much they need to spend.  

Mao also said youth who want to farm should train on the job.

“If they really want to complete it successfully, they need to get experience and go directly to work with the successful farmers because just hearing from others and reading books may not makes sense to them.”

Another problem facing farmers is marketing.

“When we start to do farming, we should not care much for market. We should try to improve our farming and work hard on gardening with natural substances, rather than chemical substances, to kill the insects and make the plants grown faster.”

Mao added that if the farmer can provide good, quality vegetables without chemicals, their products will be welcomed by customers, and vegetable sellers will come directly to buy those products from the farm.