Agriculture in Bhutan
Lack of markets and access to them have been identified as major challenges for the farmers
With the finalisation of the agricultural master plan this week, the farmers in the country can look forward to a better market access for their produce. This is expected to be achieved through construction of more farm roads, formation of groups and cooperatives, building of market infrastructure, capacity building, and farming contracts.
The master plan outlines provisions and guidelines by which Bhutan can not only improve its market potential but also develop the processing capacity at the village level and improve yields.
So far, the agriculture ministry has been focusing only on the production of RNR commodities including agriculture, horticulture, livestock, and forestry products.
The ministry has helped the farmers produce more through different technologies like improved seeds and management practices, but the farmers have not been able to market what they have produced.
The government is now expediting farm road construction to give farmers better access to markets.
However, the director of agricultural marketing and cooperatives department, Dorji Dradul, said accessibility alone was not enough. It was important to find markets.
The master plan will serve as the guiding principle to achieve the vision set out for 2020.
A major strategy to improve marketing of the farmers’ produce is formation of groups and cooperatives. Today, the scale of produce is less when calculated in individual terms, and there is no economy of scale when the products are marketed individually. But the volume increases when all the produce are put together.
The aggregated volume gives better market access and better bargaining power, said Dorji Dradul. It is also expected to help avoid getting exploited by middlemen or exporters, thus enabling the farmers to sell products to whoever offers the best price.
In line with the Cooperatives Act adopted last year, the department will start registering farmers’ groups so that they become legal entities enjoying benefits of legal groups. Today, there are about 400 farmers’ groups, but none of them is registered.
In order to improve market infrastructure, the department wants to support farmers by building market sheds at the dzongkhags level and, later, at the gewog level. The sheds will serve as the strategic location for transport of farm produce. They could also serve as cold storage facilities.
The department also wants to support new markets like Sunday markets, not only in the dzongkhags but in gewogs. Some are already operational.
The master plan will also address the issue of capacity building of farmers and officials. Group formation requires management skills for the chairperson, secretaries, treasurer and other office bearers.
“We have a huge programme coming up for capacity building,” said the director. “Training on managerial aspects and book-keeping has to be given so that the group is able to function smoothly.”
The master plans also covers contract farming among the farmers within Bhutan and outside. Supposing that there are companies in India interested in potatoes, a link could be established with the Bhutanese farmers growing potatoes and a contract signed.
Such contract farming will be established with India and Bangladesh. Export to other countries will be considered later if some special Bhutanese products are identified for export.
The department has a total budget of about Nu 65.5 million through the government of India for the 10th plan.