Octave Vandelet

One of the first French planter and breeder in Cambodia, Octave Vandelet (1848?, Paris — 30 Sept. 1912, Phnom Penh) started to reside and work in Cambodia as early as 1872.

A close confidant of Kings Norodom and Sisowath, Vandelet was the delegate for Cambodia to the Conseil Supérieur des Colonies and first president of the Mixed Council for Agriculture and Commerce in Phnom Penh. 

With associate Félix-Gaspard Faraut, Vandelet imported 26 Ploermel cows to start a cow farm that numbered more than 1,000 heads. He grew cotton, corn, coffee, on some 650 ha of land. After an attempt to develop vineyards in South Vietnam, he was also the last farmer to grow opium in Cambodia.