Come 2026, farmers in Sergithang Gewog’s Tashithang Chiwog in Tsirang will have adequate irrigation and drinking water. The Tsirang District Administration began an integrated water supply and irrigation scheme in the chiwog last month. Currently, certain parts of Tashithang Chiwog are dealing with severe shortages of both drinking and irrigation water.
Thanks to its favourable climatic conditions, the chiwog is known for producing spring chilli, a native rice variety known as Chotay, winter chilli, and other vegetables among others.
However, due to the lack of a reliable water supply, farmers have to rely on this shallow irrigation water source causing them inconveniences especially in winter to grow vegetables and other winter crops.
As a result, farmers say acres of fertile land have been left fallow. However, the new water supply scheme is expected to address the problem.
The new integrated water supply will not only benefit 85 households with 300 acres of farmland but is also expected to bring 85 acres of fallow land under cultivation.
The new supply will be drawn from Khar Pani located over eight kilometres from the chiwog.
“In the past, we had two water sources catering to adequate drinking and irrigation water for our fields. But over time, we have been facing a shortage of irrigation water. As a result, we couldn’t carry out farming work as expected. The new water supply project will benefit us immensely,” said Bal Krishna Sanyasi, a resident of Tashithang.
“It has been very challenging for quite a few years without adequate irrigation water. We are hopeful that we will have sufficient irrigation water supply within the next one to two years. The same problem applies to our drinking water sources which have dried up. We often have to fetch drinking water from distant places on our backs,” said Ganga Ram Sanyasi, another resident of Tashithang.
“It is not much of a problem for settlements located close to the water source but those farther away hardly get any water supply. Once the new water supply is completed, we will be able to grow all types of vegetables and crops like Chotay rice,” said Krishna Lal Sanyasi, also a resident of Tashithang.
The water project in Sergithang Gewog is valued at Nu 97 M and is among four water schemes backed by the project “Advancing Climate Resilience of the Water Sector in Bhutan” with a total funding support of USD 8.9 M from the Global Environment Facility and United Nations Development Programme.
Pema Tshewang, Tsirang
Edited by Sonam Pem
