Bhutan: Urban agriculture initiative struggling to keep beneficiaries
At the Thimphu urban agriculture places, 33 metric tonnes (MT) of vegetables were produced this year. Potatoes constituted 60 percent of the production.
By Chhimi Dema
Kuensel
Oct 9, 2021
Excerpt:
Under the urban agriculture initiative, the Department of Agriculture plans to hand over underutilised land to new beneficiaries.
In May 2020, the Department of Agriculture identified 13.54 acres of private fallow land in Begana, Changtagang, and Kabesa in Thimphu, and involved 139 laid-off workers, especially from the tourism sector, for the urban agriculture initiative.
Today, 32 acres of land have 77 beneficiaries.
The initiative, funded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation as a part of Covid-19 contingency plan, is aimed at addressing current unemployment challenges and to achieve food security goals.
At Bebena, most of the land is underutilised. Undergrowth has taken over in the Changtagang urban agriculture garden.
The overall group leader, Tashi Chedup, said that many potential participants were not interested because they were not engaged in farming before and faced difficulties adjusting to the work. “The government has shown support to us in these times, but there is a lack of interest in the work.”
Dorji Gyem, 34, a former tour operator, said that many people dropped out because of high transportation costs.
“I continue to work because it keeps me engaged,” she said.
Lack of a market, Dorji Gyem said, was a challenge. This year, she harvested 400kg of pumpkins but there was no market. She sold them to the wholesalers at Nu 10 per kg.
