The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Mongar, a dzongkhag known for its significant maize cultivation, experienced a notable decrease in maize harvest to the tune of 4,369 MT.
According to the Saling Gup, while Mongar is the major maize growing dzongkhag, his gewog has seen a decrease in production, having no abundant rain in the last years and most youths choosing to migrate to other dzongkhags looking for better job opportunities.
Also, several farmers said that wild animals are really hampering in production despite farmers trying, and though the government has provided them with electric fencing, it has not helped much.
Although, farmers are happy to receive power tillers, but they are still short of manpower to do farmwork.The lack of highbred seedlings are also impacting these farmers.
During the harvest season, most farmers earn minimum Nu 1,500 to Nu 5,000 daily by selling the maize corn roasted over the fire and freshly harvested maize Tengma or Seap (roasted and beaten maize) fetches Nu 450 and Nu 150 for the previous harvest. Kharang (maize grits) fetches a price of Nu 50 to Nu 60 per kg.
Kharang is rarely produced for sale as most households keep it for self consumption mixed with rice. The maize also used for feeding the farm animals.
Farmers are adjusting to modernization by transitioning from using power tillers to machines for grinding and making maize products. However, they have to bear the cost of purchasing these machines themselves. The cost goes to Nu 60,000 for the power tiller and Nu 150,000 for the maize machine set, with no government subsidy.
The power tiller, being heavy, requires around 3 individuals for ploughing the field and 7 to 8 helpers for other tasks. Each helper is paid a daily wage of Nu 700, excluding food.
The power tiller works only in plain fields and won’t work on the steep terrains, therefore, the farmers have to hire help by paying Nu 400 per hour. It normally takes 6 hours to plough all the steep terrains.
Tsamang Gup shared that the government has provided the farmers with electric fencing, and it has been more than a decade, and the last phase of distribution was done in 2023. However, since most of the farmers are not taking care of it, the fencing is not in working conditions anymore.
He said that though the government has plans to provide the farmers with chain-link fencing, the farmers won’t be able to work since it needs hard labor force.
Firstly, the fencing is only possible in areas where there are no motor vehicle roads, and in instances where there are roads then they need to build gates and for that, individuals would need to be present guarding every time, since it cannot be kept open which will give entry to wild animals.
Even if raw materials, such as cements and pebbles to be used half a meter below and above the fence, are provided by the government, still farmers would not be able to do the work force.
The only possibility here is if the fencing work is given to contractors, and work force help provided by the farmers. This presents a challenge as farmlands in Mongar are mostly situated in the forest areas or steep terrains.
The farmers also lose their crop to birds, and as of now, there is no solution to guard against the birds, unless the fields are covered by nets, which is expensive.
The dzongkhag agricultural officer shared that in order to increase the productivity, this year the dzongkhag has supplied 10 metric tonnes of improvised maize seedling from Yangtse in Mongar, supplied by Druk Seed suppliers.
The officer shared that the issue with getting the highbred seedling from India is that there is a requirement of ordering a 10 metric tonnes, whereas the demand does not fulfill it. Also, it is a bit expensive costing Nu 250 per kg.
Though a few Tengma processing farmers are willing to purchase, but it is not meeting the overall demand order. They are discussing on collaborating with other dzongkhags so to meet the overall demand.
Every after 3 years, farmers have to change the seeds which depends on the budget, and most farmers are not willing to change, which hampers in production.
Dietary habit has also changed, and people prefer rice over maize and rarely mix.
With 30 percent wildlife damage every year, the Department of Agriculture has kept a provision for a budget to buy chain-link fencing nationwide. This activity will be covered as per demand. The Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogchung (DYT) will be given the delegation power for selection of gewog or locations on need basis. DYT is formed by gups from each gewog of the dzongkhag, headed by Thrizin and Dzongda.
Farm labour shortage and marketing is an issue since maize products pricing is relatively low.
The dzongkhag, in plans to make diverse products of maize, has already proposed for assistance from Japanese volunteers through JICA.
The Ministry of Agriculture said that, as of now, they have developed one hybrid variety called Wengkhar HTM-1. In order to supply hybrid maize seeds to farmers, their research centers are in the process of developing adequate quantity of foundation seeds.
These seeds have to be further multiplied by the National Seed Centre as certified seeds and supplied to the farmers eventually.
Also, the government has planned to support chain-link fencing in the 13th FYP. For maize crop alone, the ministry has allocated a substantial amount. The preliminary idea on implementation modality is the farmers have to contribute labor for the installation of the chain-link fencing, and will be guided by the technical staff of the ministry to install it.
The ministry said that chain-link fencing may not be the ultimate solution for the human-wildlife conflict, and as for monkeys, there is no proven technology to ward them off from the farms.
