The Bhutanese Leading the way.
A total of 156 students from various schools in Thimphu have signed up to participate in the School Agriculture Program and spend their summer break experiencing the life of a farmer.
Agriculture minister Yeshey Dorji said the program will introduce youth to farming practices and expressed his appreciation to students who volunteered to participate in the program.
The participating students are divided into two groups and some 53 students are in Chimipang in Punakha to learn about vegetable, fruits and mushroom cultivation. The other 103 students are actively engaged in vegetable cultivation in Samazingkha and tree plantation in Kuenselphodrang in Thimphu.
The School Agriculture Program Coordinator with the Department of Agriculture, B.B Rai, said that such programs will help students realize the government policies to boost homegrown vegetables.
He said that some students are handling agriculture tools for the first time.
“Such programs also provides youth the sense of learning to earn” B.B Rai said. Students are paid Ngultrum 215 per day. He said the students work in the farm for three hours a day.
Dechen Namgay, 16, from Dechchholing Higher Secondary School said that such farming initiative provides a very good opportunity to experience and learn about farming in rural areas. “Other than my mother’s small kitchen garden, I never even saw such huge vegetable gardens,” Dechen Namgay said.
