All farmers in the country will be registered under the Farmer Registration System within the next two months. It is a digital platform designed to record essential information about farmers, their farmlands, and farming activities. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock rolled out the system across the country yesterday.
Agriculture extension officers across the country have now begun registering farmers into the Farmer Registration System, or FRS. The registration will continue until the end of September.
Till today, more than 1100 farmers across the country have been registered in the system.
“Even if we own acres of land, much of it is not arable. But once our land is registered in the system, the government might support us with land management in those areas. I believe this will benefit us,” said Guna Tshering, a farmer from Dungmin Gewog in Pema Gatshel.
Developed by Dragon Coders, a private software company, the system will serve as a source of farm-related data for the country and address the issue of data mismatches from multiple sources.
“We have administrative data at our headquarters, and with our district extension people and agriculture officers. There are also data released annually by the National Statistics Bureau. Due to this, there are certain mismatches of data. To resolve these mismatches, to rectify and validate this data, and get all agriculture-related data from one platform, we have developed this system,” said Rinzin Wangchuk, the chief agriculture officer with MoAL.
By October, the ministry expects to have a clear picture of the number of farmers and their farming activities.
The agriculture department says the system will also help improve service delivery and enable more efficient resource distribution.
Deki Lhazom
Edited by Tandin Phuntsho
