The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The CARLEP office has been forming Water User Association (WUA) in villages across the country to effectively utilize water resources for farming and drinking.
Such association is intended to enhance agriculture production in the villages by addressing the issue of insufficient water for paddy and vegetables.
The remote villages of Jeri and Lemi under Trashigang dzongkhag are the ‘Targeted intervention’ sites to be supported under CARLEP.
According to the Gender and Knowledge Management Officer with CARLEP, Karma Wangmo, the WUAs are formed to protect and manage the water source for irrigation among farmers with wetland.
Such association is also to ensure equal distribution of the water among users.
The association in Jeri and Lemi has 26 farmers who own and depend on the wetland. They have now become the founding members of the Mindrupling WUA.
She said that the WUA will now manage the two sources of Khodordrang and Samayey irrigation water located at 1km and 0.5km respectively from the village center.
The group will now ensure efficient and equitable water distribution in 10.609 acres of farming wetland in the two villages.
The members were trained on management of irrigation water prior to the operation of the UWA last month.
The Agriculture Extension office of Khaling gewog under Trashigang Dzongkhag facilitated the formation of Water User Association (WUA) in the village.
According to the Agriculture Extension Officer of the gewog, Pema Wangchuk, “The formation of the WUA in the village is backed-up by the plans to grow the import banned vegetables.
Pema Wangchuk said that this initiative would encourage farmers in practicing commercial farming. Further the office also intends to help farmers bring fallow wetland under cultivation in winter.
The WUA formation and the user training were supported through the funding of CARLEP-IFAD to the concern Dzongkhag.
