There was a time when fallow fields were a common sight in Khatoed and Khamaed Gewogs in Gasa Dzongkhag. Today, the same fields are bustling with agriculture and farming activities, thanks to land management work initiated by the Dzongkhag agriculture sector.
Through this initiative, excavators were deployed to clear bushes and level lands in the two gewogs. Farmers were given access to power tillers and farming machinery. This has motivated locals to take farming in their fields. The Dzongkhag agriculture sector has completed about 95 percent of land management works in Khatoed Gewog and about 60 percent in Khamaed Gewog.
According to the Dzongkhag Agriculture Officer of Gasa, Karma Tenzin, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests is focusing on land management works in the current Five Year Plan. “The main objective of land management works is to improve land fertility and develop crop production. Fields are being made more accessible to deploy farm machinery, which addresses labour shortage in the villages and makes agriculture farming easier,” he said.
Speaking to BBS, Kinzang Thinley from Khatoed Gewog said that although he owned an acre of land, it was left fallow, as the land was located on a slope. “I am happy that the land management works have made my land easily accessible and convenient for farming.”
Another villager, Dechen Pelden, who has started planting potatoes in her field said, “Earlier our land remained fallow since there was no road and access for power tillers to our fields. But it’s convenient now as the government helped us to clear our land by deploying machines.”
Tshechu, a farmer from Khatoed Gewog, who has been cultivating paddy in his fields for the last three years, said that the yield has been increasing every year, from around 250 kilograms in the first year to 450 kilograms in the second year. “This is my third year and I am expecting more than 600 kilograms,” he said.
The Dzongkhag Agriculture Officer, Karma Tenzin, however said that some farmers are not interested as it takes time for the land to become fertile. “The fertilizers on the topsoil disperses during the initial time of land management works but will improve gradually,” he added.
He said that the agriculture sector has been sensitising and convincing farmers about the benefits of land management.
The land management works in the gewogs are carried out with financial support from the government, Dzongkhag Grant Fund and Organic Flagship Program.
Changa Dorji
