Cambodian pepper – highly flavorsome and aromatic. In the ‘60s it was known as the world’s tastiest pepper, but because of the civil war production and quality levels dropped dramatically – until it was in danger of disappearing forever.

Mr. Kurata, who first to come to Cambodia in the early 90s as a volunteer, wanted to fix Cambodia’s agriculture industry and so started a trading company. He was unable to find produce that was suitable for export. Pepper was named as one of Cambodia’s main agricultural products in trade data from the 60’s. When considering exporting from farms, he found most had been almost completely destroyed during the civil war, but he was lucky to come across a few surviving seedlings. This spurred Mr. Kurata into deciding to start cultivating pepper. In 1997, in the foothills of the Cardamon Mountain Range in Koh Kong, together with local farmers, he began growing pepper using traditional, natural farming methods.

And so “Kurata Pepper” was born. At first the company made losses, but over time it made a reputation for itself and is now representative of Cambodian pepper – exporting overseas to many countries including Japan. Former workers have gone on to run their own pepper farms, and the industry is expanding.

“Before I knew it, I had become a pepper peddler,” laughs Mr. Kurata. He makes valuable contributions to the whole pepper industry in Cambodia, making use of his experience in the trading business, and his know how acquired as a grower of pepper in Koh Kong.