Farmers in Rizor in Udzorong Gewog of Trashigang are looking forward to growing paddy. About 40 acres of fallow land were revived and made suitable for cultivation. The fields were left fallow for more than three decades without road connectivity and limited manpower. The Gewog initiated the land development works for two consecutive years since 2019.
Most farmers are growing Kidney beans today. It is their main source of income. They have also planted Napier grass along the newly developed terraces to improve soil fertility and prevent soil erosion.
“My grandparents used this land but it remained fallow for many years. The gewog has levelled the land and this year I have cultivated kidney beans. I will cultivate paddy in the future,” said Karma, a farmer in Udzorong.
“Most of our land is on a slope. Since it was not suitable for cultivation it remained covered in thick bushes and trees. After they deployed machinery, it is now turned into arable land,” added Tenzin Dema, also from Udzorang.
The land development project was aimed to boost paddy cultivation.
“From next year, we will cultivate paddy as we were instructed. We understand that it is not good economically to depend on imported rice too much,” Wangchuk, a farmer said.
“This land is developed to encourage paddy cultivation; we are also looking forward to doing that only if we don’t face water problem. The irrigation water here is not very reliable,” added Tenzin Dema.
Meanwhile, the Udzorong Gewog Agriculture Extension officer said work to expanding and maintaining the existing water supply is underway.
The land development work is supported by the Commercial Agriculture and Resilient Livelihoods Enhancement Programme or CARLEP with a budget of Nu 1.4 M. The project also includes 12-km solar fencing work.
Sonam Darjay, Trashigang
Edited by Sonam
