(from left) Women farmers Khat Than, Sit Lem and Som Sitha are among those strengthening climate resilience through more sustainable farming practices. Photo: UN Women/Lim Sophorn
How women farmers in Cambodia are turning local innovation into climate resilience
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Farmer Sit Lem shows programme donors and UN Women representatives around her farm in Kampong Svay District, Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia, in March 2026, sharing how eco-friendly biochar-based fertilizer has helped transform her land and improve productivity. Photo: UN Women/Lim Sophorn
In rural Cambodia, climate change is driving more severe and less predictable weather, making it harder for communities to protect their livelihoods and plan for the future. Women farmers, who already face unequal access to information, finance, technologies and decision-making, are often those hardest hit.
“Now the climate is very unpredictable,” says Som Sitha, a lettuce and bok choy farmer from Taing Kroch village in San Kor commune. “It is much hotter than before. Since I was born, I had never seen flooding happen in March. But in 2022 and 2023, my farm was flooded.”
As these conditions intensify, women farmers are turning to practical, locally-led solutions. One of these is biochar-based fertilizer, made from rice husks, which helps retain moisture during dry periods and strengthens crops, supporting more stable yields and incomes.
The EmPower: Women for Climate-Resilient Societies programme, implemented by UN Women and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), with support from the Governments of Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland, is supporting women across Asia and the Pacific to build climate-resilient livelihoods.
In Cambodia, farmers like Som Sitha are using fertilizer produced by HUSK Ventures, a climate enterprise supported through the Pioneer Facility. Backed by EmPower and managed by Nexus for Development, the facility provides flexible financing to grow women-inclusive, climate-positive businesses across South-East Asia. With this support, HUSK secured $ 250,000 in debt financing to invest in machinery, expand production and reach more low-income farming communities.
Biochar also has an important climate mitigation role. By storing carbon in the soil in a more stable form, it helps remove carbon from the active cycle and reduce atmospheric CO₂ over time. This means it can support both climate adaptation and mitigation, improving farming conditions while contributing to longer-term carbon sequestration.
A representative from HUSK Ventures holds biochar-based fertilizer, a climate-smart product helping restore soil health and improve crop productivity. Photo: UN Women/Lim Sophorn
For the women involved, the benefits are already visible.
“Since I started using biochar fertilizer, my soil has improved,” says Khat Than, a farmer from Tropeang Chrey village in Ballangk commune. “It is more moist and looser than before. My farm now produces a higher yield. Before, I could only harvest about 50 kg, but now I can harvest around 70 kg.”
Before switching, many women struggled with dry soil, pests and declining productivity.
“Before I joined the Super Farmer project, I only used chemical fertilizer,” said Sit Lem from Ballangk village. “It affected people’s health and also the quality of the soil. The soil was dry and not very good. After I joined the project, the quality of my soil improved. … We can also mix it with organic fertilizer. It does not affect health and customers are not worried.”
This work is already showing results at scale. So far, 2,500 women farmers have been supported, 4,100 hectares of land restored and nearly 800 tonnes of CO₂ sequestered.
For Sitha, the fact that the fertilizer is locally produced also matters: “I decided to try biochar-based fertilizer because it is a local product. When a company produces fertilizer in our province, it is cheaper than imported products and creates jobs in our community.”
Som Sitha explains how biochar-based fertilizer has helped improve soil moisture, strengthen crops and support climate resilience. Photo: UN Women/Lim Sophorn
But the impact goes beyond improved yields. Training has also been central, helping women build technical knowledge, strengthen decision-making and gain confidence in managing their farms and livelihoods.
Than says this “empowered me a lot. Now I feel confident to make decisions about my business by myself.”
As women gain skills and confidence, they’re sharing knowledge, supporting one another and becoming trusted voices in their communities, while helping strengthen local climate adaptation and mitigation.
“What we are seeing in Cambodia is that climate action is not only about helping communities adapt to changing conditions,” said Sorphoarn Sok, Programme Lead for EmPower in Cambodia. “It is also about women leading solutions that strengthen resilience, support mitigation and transform their communities.”
And that growing leadership is being recognized.
“Many people started to know and value me after I joined the project,” says Lem. “They call me a champion woman farmer.”