Monggar Gewog Administration’s intervention to restore irrigation canal came as a blessing for many farmers in the gewog. Some 13 households in Themnangbi village under Monggar were able to revive the paddy cultivation practice after over a decade.
Of the 32 households, less than half of the population of Themangbi village used to cultivate both maize and rice before. However, due to the shortage of irrigation water, farmers were compelled to cultivate only dryland crops like maize and vegetables.
Dawa, a farmer in Themnangbi, shares how the government’s intervention helped the farmers in his village, “we used to do paddy transplantation in the earlier days. But due to shortage of irrigation water, the terraces were left fallow for almost twelve years. Only one or two households have been continuously doing the paddy transplantation. But the government provided high-density polythene pipes to connect irrigation water before last year. And currently, there are two different irrigation water supplies. There is a water supply from above the village and another one from below the village.”
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers of Themnangbi are also expecting to remain rice self-sufficient due to the revival of paddy cultivation in their chiwog. Some of the farmers were compelled to leave their lands fallow for a long time and were buying rice from the market for self-consumption.
Pem Choki, also a farmer in Themnangbi, says the irrigation canal has helped them in producing rice enough for themselves. She hopes to continue the paddy cultivation from next year too.
Similarly, locals there share their interest in keeping the practice alive and not waste the effort put in by the government in restoring the irrigation canal.
Monggar Gewog Administration allocated over Nu 100,000 to the chiwog to buy high-density pipes to restore the irrigation canal and to revive the paddy cultivation. Having restored the irrigation water, some farmers were able to do paddy transplantation in over five acres of land.
Sonam Tshering
