STI: Turning farmers by accident

April 5, 2009

Turning farmers by accident

By Huang Lijie 

 

The Hoefers may have green fingers, but becoming farmers was the last thing on the Singapore-based couple's minds when they bought 4ha of land in Nepal to build a holiday villa.

 

Mrs Cynthia Wee-Hoefer, 57, whose German husband Hans is the founder of the popular Insight Guides travel books, says: 'We thought, since we have this piece of land, why not grow our own vegetables?'

 

The plot in Phulbari, about two hours' drive from the capital Kathmandu and 1,800m above sea level in the Himalayan highlands, cost them less than $50,000 in 1993.

 

What was to have been a small, self-sufficient farm, however, grew into a sprawling organic farm with hundreds of fruit trees, including olive, apricot and peach, as well as more than 60 types of herbs and vegetables such as basil, fennel, tomatoes and endives.

 

The farm also produces its own honey, jams, pickles and oils.

 

And for the past year, the couple has been bringing in the produce in shipments of 200kg each every fortnight, which they sell to friends on weekends from their home near Bukit Batok Nature Park.

 

Mrs Wee-Hoefer, a former journalist, says she and her husband became 'accidental' farmers after their land started yielding bountiful harvests a year ago.

 

She says: 'We started a proper planting programme in 2007 with the help of a German agriculturalist friend who managed to successfully cultivate the land and grow both native and non-native vegetables such as local cauliflower and Italian radicchio.'

 

He also taught sustainable, organic farming techniques to the four Nepalese staff who manage the three guest lodges on the tract of land.

 

The mother of two teenage children says: 'The abundance of the first harvest in March last year took us by surprise and we wondered who was going to eat all the fruit and vegetables.

 

'Also, running the farm incurs expenses and we had to find a way to recoup it.'

 

The farm costs between $3,000 and $4,000 a month to operate.

 

So the entrepreneurial couple, who also own two holiday villas in Sri Lanka, decided to sell the produce in Nepal, including to a Buddhist meditation centre and a Buddhist monastery near the farm.

 

But these bought only small quantities.

 

Mrs Wee-Hoefer says: 'I tried selling to hotels and a French restaurant in the city, but the transport cost was too high to cover the small orders.'

 

Eventually, she decided to apply for a permit from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, Singapore's food safety and regulatory body, to import the produce here.

 

She says: 'There is a definite and growing market for organically grown produce here among health-conscious eaters.'

 

Indeed, the weekend vegetable sale, which draws about 30 people each day, has seen increased attendance due to word of mouth.

 

Prices range from 70 cents for an organically grown lemon and $7 for a jar of home-made jam to $15 per kg for vine-ripened tomatoes and $20 per kg for endives.

 

The couple visit the farm several times a year, each time for between two and three weeks, and they do everything from weeding to harvesting during their stay.

 

They also teach the staff new methods of preparing the produce for sale, such as pickling the cabbages to make sauerkraut and infusing the home-pressed oils with herbs such as rosemary.

 

Mrs Wee-Hoefer says: 'Being a first-time farmer has been challenging and we've had to learn through trial and error along the way. When we flew in our first batch of harvest, for example, we packed the produce in non-breathable bags and some of the vegetables turned bad on arrival.'

 

The couple has since commissioned a factory in Nepal to make better, lighter boxes for transporting the vegetables and fruit.

 

She adds: 'The enthusiasm of our customers for our organically grown produce has made this venture into farming a rewarding experience. And ultimately, if our harvests permit, we would like to sell to city dwellers in Dubai, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi, which have direct freight services from Kathmandu.'

 

For the venue and date of the Hoefers's next vegetable sale, e-mail cynthiahoefer@mac.com