New Vegetable Farmers

New farmers enriching farming methodologies

One of the biggest impediments for new farmers is that they lack skills and training in vegetable farming. Most new farmers encounter challenges with high costs, limited access to inputs, and unreliable water facilities. For this reason, they end up focusing on producing vegetable crops for small markets or completely shy away from growing vegetables.

East-West Seed plays an essential role in helping new farmers develop holistic strategies to produce for broader markets. Our trained personnel constantly assist new farmers in approaching niche markets with locally preferred products.

Around the globe, vegetables are increasingly recognized as essential for food and nutrition security. Vegetable production provides a promising economic opportunity for reducing rural poverty and unemployment in developing countries and is a critical component of farm diversification strategies. The Food and Agriculture Organization and World Bank in 2011 cited diversification as the ‘single most important’ source of poverty reduction for small farmers in South and Southeast Asia. Increased access to domestic, regional, and international markets for vegetables can provide significant income incentives for farmers to enter vegetable production.

Vegetable production, processing, and marketing offer opportunities

that can be especially attractive to the young: the production requires only small patches of land that can be mechanized and it ensures high profits in a relatively short period. This is why East-West Seed focuses on bringing farmers into vegetable farming.

By giving the right support, imparting market-oriented vegetable farming techniques, and offering them the right fit of varieties, East-West Seed is engaged at a very hands-on level with new farmers worldwide.

This section presents some great examples of new farmers who have joined the ebullient East-West Seed farmer community.

‘Since my childhood I have wanted to be there for my father with his crops, because they were the only source of income. He had to support us. He was one of my best teachers, he was one of the best agronomists I learned from.

I also decided to be a grower because I could not find a social

position. We are educated but it is of no use to us, because of the political and economic situation of our country. I grow all kinds of vegetables, such as potatoes, onions, carrots, green beans, and cabbage.’

Guillermo Mendoza, Guatemala

‘I have been planting Lion 10 corn since 2019, just before the COVID pandemic. Before that I planted cassava and sugarcane. Corn is easier and the revenue comes faster. It requires less labor. If the corn is as big as the one I am holding, 1 ha earns about 100 million VND ($4,700), and the profit is around 70 million VND ($3,290).

Currently, I am growing more than 2 ha of plants such as bitter gourd, wax gourd, luffa, and corn. Thanks to the switch to growing corn, I was able to buy a Hyundai truck for 1 billion VND ($47,000) to deliver vegetables to the market.’