A lack of proper irrigation channels makes paddy cultivation difficult because it directly limits the water supply, a necessity for growing rice. In Gomdar Gewog’s Chidungkhar Village in Samdrup Jongkhar, residents are calling for the construction of an irrigation channel to help revive more than six acres of fallow paddy fields and reduce their reliance on imported rice.
For Dorji Penjor, a farmer from Chidungkhar, these fields once produced enough rice to feed his family of four for a year. But without irrigation water, he stopped growing paddy more than seven years ago.
“With the road construction, the irrigation channel was damaged, and the water source has also dried up. We now depend on imported rice, but we need to cultivate our own. However, without water, we are unable to do so,” said Dorji Penjor, Farmer, Gomdar Gewog, Samdrup Jongkhar.
“If the irrigation channel is reconstructed, we are interested in cultivating paddy again. Some imported rice is not of good quality. Here, we can grow our own rice organically, without using chemicals,” said Rinzin, Farmer, Gomdar Gewog, Samdrup Jongkhar.
“I stopped cultivating paddy because others in the village did not, and it was difficult to protect the crops from wild animals. But if everyone starts cultivating again, I’m interested in doing it too, just like our forefathers did,” said Samten Zangmo, Farmer, Gomdar Gewog, Samdrup Jongkhar.
Meanwhile, the Gomdar Gewog administration is working to provide an irrigation channel from a new water source at Nakaphu. An official added that survey work will be carried out soon.
“The Bhutan Trust Fund is supporting us with Nu 500,000. The total support is Nu 1 M, but they have asked us to begin the work first. The remaining Nu 500,000 will be released once the work begins,” said Karchung, Gomdar Gup, Samdrup Jongkhar.
For now, farmers like Dorji Penjor, who have stopped growing paddy, can only wait for the new irrigation channel.
Once built, it will help them revive their fields, grow their own rice again and reduce their reliance on imported rice.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Sonam Pem
