The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Agriculture and Forests Minister Yeshey Penjor said many individual households and commercial farms are working hard all over the country, and Tsirang is dominant in the agricultural front.
“In fact, Tsirang is continuously doing very well, but the only thing is, now in some places, we need to support them with the irrigation canals. And if we do that, people are very much willing to work and produce more,” Lyonpo said.
During the lockdown, Tsirang not only supplied its farm produce to Thimphu and Gelephu, but also contributed substantial quantities of produce to the various monasteries and institutes.
Lyonpo said that there is a need of irrigation canals, especially in Mendrelgang and Toed gewog in Tsirang.
“I have discussed with the dzongkhag administration and gewog to prioritize the irrigation canal support in this fiscal and next fiscal year,” Lyonpo said.
Lyonpo added, “If all the dzongkhags can produce like Tsirang then we will definitely have excess surplus to export. And even if we have five dzongkhags like Tsirang, our country will easily meet the self-sufficiency goal in terms of vegetable production.”
Tsirang is one of the most productive and agriculturally-rich districts in the country. The second pilot project on improving and expanding water supply was started in Dangreygang in Tsirang by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests in partnership with the Desuung National Service.
As an integrated scheme, the project is expected to alleviate the current drinking water shortage as well as provide water for irrigation. The scheme will supply drinking water to 69 households, benefiting about 300 people, and provide water for dry land irrigation to around 70 acres of farm land in Dangreygang Chiwog.
The vegetable self-sufficiency percentage of the country stands at 85% but MoAF is targeting to make the country 100% self-sufficient in vegetables in one and half years from now.
