To promote farming practices and encourage greater participation in agriculture, local leaders of Samtse have requested for the establishment of an agriculture research and development centre, ARDC. They said having a centre like that would promote innovative farming practices and also help farmers. The request was made during the recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu.
Recognising the significance of having an agriculture research development centre, the Pemaling Gup made a request, to the district agriculture sector to consider the possibility of setting up such a facility within Samtse.
According to the gup, the centre would greatly enhance the production of crops such as cardamom, orange and ginger in the district.
“Going by the size of the district and the number of people here, Samtse is one of the largest districts in the country today. Moreover, of the 15 gewogs, 12 are mostly engaged in agriculture,” said Khem Raj Ghalley, Pemaling Gup.
Responding to the request, the district agriculture officer said that a prior attempt to establish such a centre had been made a few years ago.
“We have been requesting our ministry for the need for a separate agriculture research centre in Samtse for some time now. We also started to look for a space for the construction of the facility in and around town areas. We needed a minimum of 50 acres of land. But we could not find space and the project had to be left out,” said Chogyal Norbu, district agriculture officer, Samtse.
He added that because of the ongoing reforms in the civil service, getting an agriculture research and development centre in the district will be a bit difficult.
“I don’t think we will be able to get a research centre now given the current reforms in the RCSC. In fact, from what we have heard, a few of the research centres are already being clubbed and brought together like the centres in Tingtibi, Panbang and Sarpang,” said Chogyal Norbu, district agriculture officer, Samtse.
Currently, the residents of Samtse have to rely on the ARDC office in Sarpang for farming and research-related support.
The official recommended exploring the option of requesting the relevant department to permit Samtse district to get such services from the ARDC branch office at Yusipang in Thimphu, instead of the one in Sarpang.
The office in Sarpang is quite far from Samtse and requires travel through Indian routes to access services.
The Dzongkhag Tshogdu decided to write to the relevant ministries, urging them to explore the feasibility of establishing a similar facility in Samtse.
Passang Dorji, Samtse
