Guided by its national philosophy of Gross National Happiness, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan aims to achieve food self-sufficiency by 2029 under its 13th five-year plan. However, the rugged, landlocked nation faces challenges in the form of steep terrain and logistical bottlenecks, chef and restaurateur Bleu Tshering Dorji told host Mike DiGirolamo on a recent episode of the Mongabay Newscast.
“We are a mountainous landlocked country, and only a small percentage of our land is, I think, actually suitable for agriculture,” Dorji said.
Bhutan’s five-year plan seeks to dramatically boost domestic production of key commodities while supporting smallholder farmers.
Agriculture employs more than 40% of Bhutan’s 800,000 citizens, but arable land is extremely limited, and remote farms struggle with unpaved roads and a lack of cold storage.
Dorji said the biggest challenge for farmers is getting their produce from farm to market due to the rugged terrain. “Every extra hour in transit affects quality and freshness.”
Labor is also increasingly scarce as young people leave agriculture. “We need our young Bhutanese people to be able to see farming as not a last resort, but as a profession that you could be proud of,” Dorji said.
To counter these issues, the government is investing approximately $180 million under the plan, with $139 million targeting smallholder farmers, the majority of whom in Bhutan are women, according to the five-year plan.
Sonam Wangchuk, an executive specialist at Bhutan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, told DiGirolamo on the newscast that under the current five-year plan, the government is prioritizing youths and women.
“Just to take an example, in farm machinery, previously, we had this huge power tillers where those power tillers are used on the farms, and it could be operated only by the men,” Wangchuk said. “But now the government has taken the initiative to introduce a smaller-capacity power tillers where it can be operated by women.”
Farmers also deal with human-wildlife conflict, Wangchuk said, partly due to strict conservation laws that protect wildlife. To protect crops, the government is building 3,400 kilometers (2,100 miles) of fencing — a strategy that’s been criticized by Wangchuk. “We need to have different strategies for different kinds of wildlife,” he said.
For restaurateur Dorji, the path forward requires embracing the relationship between people and nature. She said farming isn’t just an industry, but a pillar rooted in coexisting with nature.
“Our food system isn’t just about producing food,” Dorji said. “It’s about sustaining our landscapes, our communities, and our culture.”
Listen to the full conversation with Bleu Tshering Dorji and Sonam Wangchuk here.
Banner image: A village in Wangdue Phodrang. Almost 60% of Bhutan’s people live in rural areas, some of them in protected areas. Livestock roam freely, making them easy prey for tigers. Image by Baron Reznik via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
