Set Hach, chair of the Strey Phokphal Meanchey Agricultural Cooperative in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, received international recognition from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as one of its 100 Women Heroes in Agrifood Systems for Rural Development. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu presented the award at FAO headquarters in Rome on October 15, 2026, during the World Food Forum — a milestone that carries real implications for how development organizations, food-system advocates, and the broader food and beverage industry think about women's leadership in agricultural supply chains.
Her Cooperative's Growth
The numbers behind Set Hach's tenure illustrate the business case for investing in women cooperative leaders. The cooperative she chairs launched in 2016 with 82 members — 79 of them women — and expanded to 540 members across 30 villages by 2025, with 451 of those members being women. Capital grew from approximately $2,275 to more than $130,000, backed by 3,014 member shares. The cooperative also established 23 self-help groups encompassing 556 members, mobilizing more than $54,000 in savings. That trajectory — from a micro-scale collective to a financially self-sustaining rural enterprise — is precisely the kind of supply-chain development story that matters to food companies sourcing from smallholder farming communities in Southeast Asia.
Set Hach's path to cooperative leadership began in 2013, when she joined a women's self-help group supported by Heifer International and its partners in Cambodia. She engaged in savings programs, financial literacy training, and leadership development before becoming a self-help group leader and volunteer literacy trainer. Fellow cooperative members encouraged her to run for deputy chair; she became chair in 2017.
Why It Matters for Food Systems
"Her leadership demonstrates how one woman's resolve can empower hundreds of smallholder farmers, transform rural communities and strengthen food systems," said Siyonn Sothearith, Director of Programs at Heifer International Cambodia. "Her achievement will inspire more women and young people to see themselves as leaders and changemakers." The recognition was established in the spirit of the 2026 International Year of the Woman Farmer, a global framework increasingly shaping procurement and sustainability standards across the foodservice and hospitality supply chain.
For operators and sourcing professionals tracking agricultural resilience in Asia, stories like Set Hach's underscore a structural shift: women-led cooperatives are proving to be durable, growth-oriented supply partners. Heifer International, which has worked with nearly 62 million smallholder farming households across Africa, Asia, and the Americas since 1944, reports that roughly two-thirds of its program participants are women — a demographic that is increasingly central to global food security strategies and ESG commitments across the food and beverage sector.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
