SOLAR Project: Khamtan Sivonga, Growing together: Lao village chief cultivates new coffee farmer group with SOLAR Project support
Khamtan Sivonga, Growing together: Lao village chief cultivates new coffee farmer group with SOLAR Project support
Coffee growing on the Bolaven Plateau in the Lao province of Salavan is typically a longstanding family affair, with generation after generation working the volcanic soil to produce unique and prized coffee beans. This being the case, coffee farmer Khamtan Sivonga might be considered a bit of an oddity, as he did not grow up among the sights and smells of coffee plantations. Instead the pursuit found him as a young man when he moved from his home province of Champasak to Salavan’s Lao Nga village in search of work. Once there he found more than a job, he fell in love with coffee farming, with his new home, and with a local girl who became his wife. Together they began farming their own coffee crop on a small one-hectare farm. Although he had no experience, he picked up the necessary skills from other growers and friends.
Two-and-half decades later, a 46-year-old Khamtan has three daughters and a 15-hectare coffee farm, and he has been made the Chief of Lao Nga village. Lao Nga have been recognized for their potential by the Lao Government, as well as by international organizations, which are making concerted efforts to support growers, through training on occupational safety and health, social security, and collective bargaining with buyers. One of the most prominent initiatives in this space is the SOLAR Project, a European Union-funded initiative implemented by the ILO and Oxfam.
With SOLAR Project support, 36 families in Lao Nga village recently came together to form the Santiphab Coffee Production Group in order to strengthen the bonds between them and to enable them to bargain collectively with buyers without the need for a middleman. When it came to selecting the leader of the Group, the choice was obvious: Khamtan.
Unlike most of his contemporaries in the village, Khamtan completed secondary school. And as a farmer he found that he had some talent for trading, so he bought coffee beans from other villagers and sold them to companies in Champasak. Khamtan is now using his skills and know-how to help his fellow farmers increase their incomes and improve their livelihoods, and he anticipates that more coffee farming families will join the group as they witness the members’ collective success.
As part of the SOLAR Project, the Santiphab Coffee Production Group members and other villagers are being provided with information about social security, occupational safety and health, and gender equality. As a result, some of the villagers have registered in the government-run social security scheme after attending training sessions, including seven families in the Santiphab Coffee Group. “By subscribing to the social security scheme, we are not losing or gaining money, but getting coverage for hospital treatment,” Khamtan said. He noted that participants in the scheme will get free hospital treatment for basic illnesses. They will also eventually get back the money they contribute to the scheme in the form of a retirement allowance, provided they keep contributing for long enough. He noted that membership gives him peace of mind about healthcare and the payment of hospital bills. In addition, many families and villagers are learning about gender equality and its benefits. Khamtan said that today a growing number of husbands and wives in the community are sharing their workloads more evenly.
As the head of the Santiphab Coffee Production Group, Khamtan welcomes the initiatives of the SOLAR Project, and works to motivate members to be open to new ideas about coffee farming and trading. Speaking of his fellow group members, he said, “They have a lot to learn and have to keep innovating if they are to achieve more success in the future.” With the leadership of individuals like Khamtan and the unstinting support of the SOLAR Project and other initiatives in the region, that success looks very attainable.