After years in the steel construction industry, Phaivanh Sixaiyavong (known as Tou Kood) shifted to agriculture when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted his business. Despite having no prior farming experience, he taught himself coconut cultivation through online research and hands-on experimentation. However, he soon faced challenges in marketing his raw produce. To add value to his harvest, he began exploring coconut processing, specifically coconut ice cream.<\/p>\n
Around that time, a development project encouraged local farmers to adopt contract farming for cocoa, guaranteeing purchase agreements. When the initiative faltered and many farmers uprooted their trees, Tou Kood saw potential where others saw failure; he retained his cocoa trees and dedicated himself to learning their care. Later, he and his son travelled to a neighbouring country to study advanced cocoa farming and chocolate-making techniques. Upon their return, they successfully produced high-quality chocolate using beans from their own farm.<\/p>\n
Today, Tou Kood tends to over 800 cocoa trees and plans to source additional beans from neighbouring farmers to bolster local production. His ultimate vision is to transform his farm into a learning centre, offering children, youth, and fellow farmers hands-on experience in cocoa cultivation and chocolate processing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"template":"","category-actor":[221],"province":[185],"scale":[],"sector":[228],"topic":[158,156],"class_list":["post-17291","champion","type-champion","status-publish","hentry","category-actor-private-sector","province-vientiane-capital","sector-farming","topic-market-access-and-value-added-agro-products","topic-traditional-crop-cultivation-and-agrobiodiversity"],"acf":{"pkl_story_headline":"Tou Kood's Cocoa Farming Journey","pkl_story_authors":"Bouavone Thipphavanh and Albrecht Ehrensperger","pkl_story_image":"","pkl_story_video":"","pkl_story_image_credits":"Tou 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