Mimi Phommaly

Kham Phet Garden was established in 2000 by her father and covers a total land area of 18 hectares. He was inspired after visiting Thailand and seeing the wide variety of fruits available there. At that time, Laos imported a large number of fruits from Thailand, which motivated him to introduce and plant different fruit varieties on his own farm, such as pomelo, rambutan, sapodilla, longan, and others.

When her father started the business, the biggest challenges were limited technical knowledge, plant diseases, natural disasters, and high production costs. To strengthen the family’s main livelihood, Mimi Phommaly chose to study agriculture. She graduated from Northern Agriculture and Forestry College in 2018. After graduating, she became actively involved in fruit farming to help support the family business.

The farm’s focus on sustainable, chemical-free agriculture and the promotion of local varieties and native plants at Khamphet Garden not only provides livelihoods for farmers but also plays a key role in preserving agrobiodiversity. By cultivating a wide range of traditional crops and locally adapted plant species, the farm helps maintain genetic diversity in Lao agriculture, strengthens resilience against pests and climate variability, and safeguards traditional knowledge about seeds and cultivation practices. This approach ensures that local plant varieties, some of which may be rare or underutilized, continue to thrive and contribute to sustainability.

In the future, Mimi and her family plan to develop Kham Phet Garden as a training and educational site for people interested in serious farming, and to introduce beekeeping to create more activities and learning experiences for visitors.