Community forest management is not only about the protection and sustainable utilisation of trees and plants. There is a wide range of opportunities to generate income from natural resources available within the community forest. And this is exactly what the members of Tashi Dargay Community Forest in Dagana are doing. A Menchhu or a medicinal hot stone bath in the community is now commercialised to benefit the members.
The Menchhu facility, located around ten minutes drive from Drukjeygang Gewog Centre towards Pangserpo Primary School, is opened to the public recently. The medicinal water is piped from its source to tanks and boilers. The boiled water is then connected to bathtubs. Hot stones are also added to retain heat inside the bathtubs. The village elders believe that the Menchhu cures multiple illnesses.
“My brother fetched the Menchhu for me once. After sprinkling it on my knees, the recurring pain in my knees subsided. Some of my neighbours told me that the Menchhu also cured them of heart disease, gastritis, and urinary tract infections (UTI),” said Dechen Dema, from Pangserpo under Drukjeygang Gewog.
The villagers also say that the Menchhu will benefit them since they don’t have to go to faraway places like Gelegphu and Gasa to soak in Menchhu. “The new soaking facility will benefit us immensely and save expenses,” one said.
The Tashi Dargay Community Forest members constructed the Menchhu facility with financial support from the World Wildlife Fund or WWF. The community forest spreads over 370 acres of land with 54 members
“Ecologically the forest is very good but economically the forest doesn’t have trees which can fetch good prices. The good trees from the forest hardly meet timber demand for its members for construction. So we helped them to explore other alternatives like tourism, hot spring and Menchhu like this,” said Tashi Wangchuk, the Deputy Chief of the Social Forestry and Extension Division at the agriculture and forests ministry.
He also said the presence of such natural resources in the community forest will help its members in making an additional income without having to cut down trees for commercial purposes.
For now, the Menchhu is leased out to the community forest’s chairperson for five years and that will earn the community forest members Nu 20,000 annually. According to the chairperson of the Tashi Dargay Community Forest, Sangay Choden, the income will be deposited in the community forest’s account. She said it will be disbursed as an interest low loan for the members who are in genuine need. “And later, we may divide the savings among the members,” she added.
With proper road connectivity and people’s strong faith in the healing power of such Menchhu, the members are expecting a good turnover for them to sustain the business in the long run.
Pema Tshewang, Dagana
Edited by Sonam
