Commercial farmers in Sarpang are embracing technology to pursue year-round farming. The District Agriculture Sector is supporting them with smart irrigation technology and materials to expand their greenhouses. Smart irrigation systems use sensors to accurately monitor and control temperature, humidity, and moisture inside a greenhouse. The initiative is intended to boost organic vegetable production for the upcoming Gelephu Mindfulness City Special Administrative Region.
Farmers of Sarpang are usually unable to farm during summer due to extreme heat.
The District Agriculture Sector is now trying to change this farming pattern and enable farmers in the district to cultivate crops throughout the year.
Agriculture officials are helping farmers by providing materials to increase the height of their greenhouses to adopt smart irrigation technology.
Smart irrigation technology has features to irrigate the field with the required amount of water without human intervention.
The farmers will be using misting system, which plays a crucial role in controlling the climate inside greenhouses.
In misting system, farmers will use mobile apps to spray water on crops to regulate the temperature and humidity levels in greenhouses.
Through the provision of such technological support, the agriculture sector is targeting unemployed youth in the district to take up commercial farming.
“Sarpang lies in the low altitude area, the district receives too much rainfall. As a result, farmers cannot grow vegetables and are forced to import or buy from other districts. In preparation for the Gelephu Mindfulness City, we have to create awareness and provide necessary support and training to encourage them to grow crops throughout the year in mega greenhouses,” said Kinley Namgay, Sarpang’s district agriculture officer.
Pema Lethro, one of the commercial farmers in Jigmiling of Dekiling Gewog, has increased the height of his greenhouse to 16 feet to use smart irrigation technology.
He said the use of such technology will help them increase their crop productivity for the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
“During a sunny summer day, if the surrounding temperature is 35 degrees Celsius, the temperature inside greenhouses increases to about 50 degrees Celsius. As a result, crops inside greenhouses can die due to exposure to high temperature. To prevent the crops from dying, we have installed fans which will help regulate the temperature,” said Pema Lethro, a commercial farmer in Dekiling Gewog.
“We are aware that a lot of people from other countries will come to Gelephu. There will be demand for green and organic crops and that is what we want to focus on. We see a prospect in it and have accordingly planned and planted a variety of crops such as cucumber, bitter gout and other leafy vegetables,” said Deepak Chettri, another commercial farmer in Samtenling Gewog.
Currently, there are around 10 commercial vegetable farmers in Sarpang.
The smart irrigation technology is supported by the Food Security and Agriculture Productivity Project of the agriculture and livestock ministry.
Karma Wangdi, Sarpang
Edited by Phub Gyem
