Reflections from the Field: Ag. Experiences in Thimphu, Tsirang & Sarpang

December 16, 2013

Agricultural Experiences and Reflections from Thimphu, Tsirang and Sarpang

At the Organic Research Center outside Thimphu, I learned that they share space with livestock, piggery, BAFRA (Bhutan's regulatory authority), and mushroom development units.  The Center is 100 acres that has been totally organic since 2004, mainly for demonstration and experiments.  They are cultivating high altitude horticultural crops such as apple, pear, plum, walnut, hazelnut, chestnut and some vegetables and principal activities include apple breeding and germplasm preservation.  They are crossbreeding using traditional breeding methods (no hybrids) and grafting for the apples and fruit plants.  In developing new varieties, the criteria includes: yield, resistance to pest and disease, and taste.  As it is closely associated with the Forestry Department, there are also community forestry projects efforts for reforestation.  They are performing feed and fodder field tests before giving varieties to farmers (crops include oat and foxtail millet).  I learned that alternatively to a plastic greenhouse, a shade net is often better because it can adjust heat, moisture, and evaporation, protecting seedlings from direct sunlight.  I also saw what they call “SALT – Slope agricultural land technology,” which was brought in from Nepal.  SALT involves terracing, proper spacing, legume tree cultivation, and intercropping with vegetables, mainly for soil conservation and to prevent erosion.

Nursery

At an organic research farm - SALT (Slope Agricultural Land Technology)

While at the organic research center, I made the acquaintance of a young entrepreneur who received agricultural training in both the U.S. (7 years at Chefs’ Garden in Ohio) and Switzerland (3 year organic farming internship).  He is the founder of his own business, Himalayan Chef’s Garden, a two year old private herbal plant and specialty vegetable operation.  He grows and markets culinary herbs to high end hotels and one of the advantages is that he provides micro greens and specialty crops such as multi-colored carrots and garnishes.  The government is supporting him by providing cheap land (only $640/year for 1 acre), but he acquires all other inputs, including seeds, from outside.  He’s using neem oil for pests; manure and leaf mold for nutrients (buys manure from farmers), and in the future, he is hoping to scale up to ideally 15-20 acres in the form of a lucrative commercial business.  He also has a vision to help train farmers in the future, provide them with seedlings, inputs etc. and then market their produce.  I saw an interested technology he is using that involves lining the frame of his wooden greenhouse with plastic bottles, which will heat up during the day and then slowly cool down at night, maintaining an ideal temperature.

With a young entrepreneur who founded ¨Himalayan Chefs Garden¨

Threshing

At a roadside market

Ministry colleague at the market

The phallus is an auspicious sign painted on many buildings

Apple orchards

Vermiwash

Rotational compost

Biopesticides

I also met an older woman who runs a small shop/bar/restaurant and sells seeds and chemical inputs.  Farming is not her main livelihood and source of income because of labor shortages (has 4 acres, sometimes leasing land to itinerant farmers) and instead, she has 30 years experience in selling seeds, which are much easier and cheaper to transport than fruit.  She is also a commission agent who is selling inputs on behalf of the government (e.g. urea, SSP, MOP, Suphala), from which she makes 10% profit.  She is using chemical fertilizer in her apple orchards, which is “more practical for commercial scale operations.” And according to her, “If we don’t use chemical fertilizer, there will be no production, no market, or income for the family.  The soil has become used to it.  Before it was okay when fertilizers were not here, but now we need them to get yield.”  I discussed with the manager of the farm that there is this common misconception of farmers who have started adopting synthetic inputs – a dependency mentality that can only be remediated through education and sensitization.  This renders education and technology transfer of utmost importance.

 

Nursery

 

Local materials for erosion control and terracing

 

 

New government organic farm outside Thimphu

 

Traditional technology - bamboo for irrigation pipes. I also saw this in Tanzania

 

New post harvest storage center outside Thimphu

After time in Thimphu, I transitioned to the southern Dzonkhags of Tsirang and Sarpang for a week of farmer homestays. 

Practical skills observed and learned in the field:

• Milking cows
• Making butter and cheese
• Weeding the vegetable patch with hand tools
• Harvesting grass for fodder with a small scythe-like knife
• Harvesting pole beans by hand
• Observing the hydro-powered traditional mill/thresher hybrid used to separate the chaff from the grain for millet and rice (which later needs to be sifted or cleaned)
• Seeing the water wheel stone mill for grinding maize and other grains into flour
• Cleaning millet by sifting it through a hand woven basket
• Organic technologies such as vermicompost, vermiwash, biofertilizers, green manuring, botanicals, biopesticides 
• Learning how to maintain vermicompost on the farm (mixing cow dung, vegetable scraps and greens; sifting the finished compost and sprinkling on fields)
• Preparing the field/bed for planting by digging with spades and pulling out paddy straw and rocks
• Preparing mixture of cow dung, urine, and ash, which then gets filled into holes before transplanting seedlings (this liquid fertilizer/microbial culture is good for leafy vegetables because it increases moisture retention, whereas traditional compost dries it out; this liquid, however, will burn crops like garlic and onion)
• Transplanting seedlings to the field
• Transferring compost and planting seeds in the nursery (rows and watering)
• Harvesting vegetables (cutting cauliflower heads, lettuce, peeling onions, pak choi, arugula etc.) and packing them for the marketing (making bouquets of lettuce, tying bunches of onions, etc.)

Moreover, it seems that the story of the agrarian crisis is virtually the same worldwide.  I don’t know if this should be disturbing or comforting but basically, small farmers everywhere seem to be struggling with the same plights.  This year could not be more fitting for me, as the UN has declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming.  Across the board so far in Tanzania, India, and Bhutan, small farmers are either struggling on the production end (e.g. input challenges, lack of knowledge and implements such as machines, lack of irrigation facilities, pest and disease problems, livestock or manure shortages for natural fertilizing, labor shortages, crop losses in the field from a number of factors including wild animals, poor yield, conflicting knowledge about seeds, poor extension services that may be lacking entirely, mixed messages and support from the government etc.), environmentally (depleted soils, water shortages, changing and erratic weather patterns from climate change, contributing to climate change through burning of crop residues etc.), economically/financially (e.g. land fragmentation, cannot qualify for credit, struggle to get remunerative prices for their produce, can barely break even as input costs exceed output profit, forced to take out loans that many times they cannot pay back, get stuck in a debt trap, and in some cases, this leads them to commit suicide), and in post-harvest and marketing (e.g. lack of cold storage, underdeveloped supply chain infrastructure, poor roads inhibiting transportation, lack of processing equipment for preservation and value addition, lack of access to markets in general, especially more lucrative export markets, inability to get certified if organic because cost may be prohibitive, lack of privatization and investment in the supply chain etc.).

I have also come to understand that in my quest to marry traditional knowledge with modern technology and techniques, organic agriculture may be one of the most promising solutions. 

“Contrary to critics who jibe that it’s going back to farming like our grandfathers did or that most of Africa already farms organically and it can’t do the job, organic farming is a sophisticated combination of old wisdom and modern ecological innovations that help harness the yield-boosting effects of nutrient cycles, beneficial insects, and crop synergies. It’s heavily dependent on technology—just not the technology that comes out of a chemical plant.” – 2006 World Watch Report

I remember when one Indian PhD student pointed out to me that organic farming today is not what it used to be in the past and that organic is not synonymous with traditional.  She said that organic today may use similar principles as the past but it requires certification. 

Moreover, Dr. Tarak Kate of the Wardha-based NGO Dharamitra said, “It’s not we want to just go back to the traditional system, we want to go one step ahead: agroecology is a modern branch of science (holistic and based on ecology)…it says we have to recycle resources and emphasizes biodiversity, optimum productivity (not “maximum productivity”) with efficient use of inputs from local resources, also talking about higher yields.  Challenges between traditional farming and [modern] agroecology were different – in the past, the land:man ratio –  the population was less and land was more.  Now we have to go for more intensive farming as the traditional system had some fallow land during rotation and now we can’t do that.  We are moving toward permaculture – intensive and ecological: the old system was horizontal, now we have to look at vertical, multi-tier cropping because the challenge today is how to grow more in same area with local inputs.” 

So basically, organic farming (or agroecological, low external input sustainable agriculture, whatever you want to call it) is a knowledge, time, and labor intensive system that utilizes modern science through ecologically sound technologies and techniques.  As I may have shared in a previous post, Dr. Kate compiled and disseminated a package of 17 non-chemical techniques to hundreds of farmers in Vidarbha: 

1.       Raising of soil bunds

2.      Preparation and use of Farm Yard Manure

3.      Preparation and use of vermi-compost

4.      Incorporation of agro-waste in the soil instead of burning it

5.      Conducting seed germination test

6.      Treatment of seeds with the mixture of cattle dung, cattle urine and ant hill soil

7.      Sowing across the slopes

8.     Leaving weeds on the farm for in situ composting during rainy season instead of putting it on the bunds

9.      Use of different mixed cropping patterns

10.  Deep hoeing accounting for rainwater harvesting

11.   Use of Sanjeevak (or jeev amrit) - a fermented product of cattle dung, cattle urine and jaggary which acts as growth promoter

12.  Use of vermiwash as growth booster

13.  Use of cattle urine and neem leaf extract for pest management

14.  Use of trap crops for pest control

15.   Use of bird perches for pest control

16.  Introduction of perennials in the system in the form of planting of tree saplings

17.   Development of farm ponds for rainwater harvesting and watershed development

The holistic, diverse, nuanced, and cost-effective system of organic agriculture is in stark contrast to the capital-intensive chemical or conventional farming system that utilizes modern technology in the form of synthetic fertilizers for nutrient management, petrochemical pesticides and herbicides, high yielding varieties of improved hybrid or GMO seeds, and large-scale machinery such as tractors and combined harvesters.  Organic production also results in food that is safer for consumption (e.g. petrochemicals that cause cancer among farmers), potentially more nutritious, and does not damage the natural environment through pollution, contamination, overexploitation of soil and water resources etc.  So in this way, organic farming may be the answer I was looking for all along – it utilizes traditional indigenous wisdom such as “knowledge of farming practices and the physical environment, biological folk taxonomic systems or use of low input technologies…ecological features of traditional agriculture, such as the ability the bear risk, production efficiencies of symbiotic crop mixtures, recycling of materials, reliance on local resources and germplasm, exploitation of full range of micro-environments etc.” (from the National Organic Program “Training Manual: Organic Production Technologies in Bhutan”) and infuses it with modern science (i.e. ecology) to be more environmentally sound, climate resilient, and productive while also ensuring less risk and more control/self-sufficiency for the farmer through dependence on on-farm inputs rather than inputs and implements purchased externally from the market.

The farmers of Tsirang and Sarpang with whom I lived, worked, and interviewed were largely organic farmers and were benefitting from their engagement in farmers’ group in terms of government support.  I had nine interviews and to set the scene, something I really noticed was a perceived lack of expression and emotion: Bhutanese farmers replied in a simple, non-elaborate manner; it almost felt like I was pulling teeth to get them to answer.  Of course, the language barrier and translation difficulties might have been the issue.  In contrast, I felt like many farmers in India were very effusive, opinionated, dissatisfied with the government, gung-ho about chemicals, and aspired to improve their lot.  Bhutanese farmers, however, are all very aware of the negative effects of chemicals on health (and didn’t even want to experiment with them for yield increases); they all agree with organic (perhaps from lack of exposure); and generally seemed very content.

Traditional technology - greenhouse made from mostly local materials. With one of my homestay dads

Agricultural extension officers and weeding a mixed plot :)

Preparing the bed for planting then transplanting cauliflower and broccoli

One of my translators

A couple who is growing oranges on a contract basis

Incredible Bhutan

Our taxi got stuck

More cozy cats

Looking at the new bio gas scheme

Transplanting

Into a mix of cow dung, urine, and ash

Another homestay in Sarpang

Cats and Buddhist prayer flags

Summary of farmer interviews in Tsirang and Sarpang:

• Mostly all small landholdings (~3.5 acres average, sometimes less than 1 acre with 7 on the high end) with mixed cropping (like a larger backyard garden really because of small scale and lack of mechanization) – very diverse (up to 30 different crops on only one acre), integrated systems with generally lots of livestock (around 10 cows and some have goats, chickens, and pigs)
• Most are selling at least ½ of produce and some dairy products to the market (only one contract farming scheme with oranges and cardamom seems to be the only “cash crop” but it’s fairly recent since it was reintroduced following a massive crop failure many years ago) – sometimes not enough surplus to sell
• Paddy/rice yield (using traditional seed) is around 6-12 quintals per acre (1/4 of Punjab, which was 30 quintals per acre)
• Income varies but on the low end: $300/year and high end: $1800/year with average around $500-600 (largest expense seems to be transportation, school fees, groceries such as spices/oil/paddy)
• Labor is mostly family (few household members such as 2-3 parents) with village exchange – some noted labor shortage as a limitation to cultivating more land
• Benefit of the group is free seeds, greenhouse for nursery, access to extension services – the Tsirang group is able to give 1% interest loans to farmers
• Seed:
• Farmers prefer hybrids because of high yield and better germination (don’t have to pay because freely provided by government) – except for local saag (mustard greens), which is better tasting and sells in local market
• However, for about 6 years, Druk Seed Company was privatized and they were selling low quality OPVs to farmers.  After the re-nationalization process, as of last year, the National Seed Corporation began giving out improved hybrid vegetable seeds to farmers along with greenhouses (per the Horticulture Department) to promote commercial vegetable production and try to fix the previous situation – thus farmers only have bad OPVs to compare the hybrids to, when in reality, hybrids often perform the same as good OPVs
• In my opinion, hybrid seeds being freely provided by the government is giving farmers a false sense of security – they don’t feel pressure to use local seeds, which would actually be cheaper because they can be saved, but instead, farmers are becoming used to the good yield and germination of hybrids without thinking about the actual cost.  This does not seem like a sustainable system and it doesn’t promote seed saving.
• Nutrient management: heap compost or FYM/cow dung, some experience and training in vermicompost but huge cultural barrier because Buddhists don’t want to kill earthworms
• Pest, disease, and weeds: nothing or mixing some cow urine, ash, Artemisia etc., broadcasting ash, planting marigold, garlic, or onion on border areas
• Mostly progressive farmers (all part of group, so biased data) – are receiving government support and extension training (e.g. vermicompost and biopesticides) but learn best from other villagers or from personal experience (e.g. making observations and inventing own methods for pest and disease control, nutrient management through mixtures, catching pig waste etc.) – most progressive is the farmer who took the initiative to construct biogas and carefully track his own expenses
• Few water problems (e.g. doesn’t seem to be any shortages except for a few months before the monsoon) but lack of widespread irrigation limits crops (e.g. can’t cultivate paddy) – some farmers have invested their own money in water tanks and piping for storing rainwater and irrigating own fields with sprinkler
• All ploughing with bulls, some would like a power tiller but barriers are expense, topography, and poor roads
• Farmers would generally prefer a vehicle for transportation to the market (progress of development seems to be roads and electricity before agricultural implements), though some want power tiller (but not suitable because of terrain)
• Farmers are very satisfied with government support but the most important thing they want is electricity, also water storage tank (“expects” from government – phrasing that implies how accustomed farmers are to government handouts)
• All farmers agreed with organic farming and are aware of human health effects of using chemicals (but are not aware of Bhutan’s 100% organic plan) – little connection with environmental impact of chemicals
• Challenges: poor roads and transportation difficulties (though one progressive farmer group got a farm road constructed last year which turned a 3.2 km 3 hour walk into a 5-10 minute drive or 30 min walk), wild animal damage, erratic weather, labor shortages
• Hopes for the future: larger land holdings, more commercial activity
• Satisfaction levels: most farmers seem happy with what they are doing even though few are actually making any profit since expenses are high (mixed feelings about children being farmers – not the same stigma around farming as in India and although most want to educate their children, there seems to be the idea that they will eventually return to farming to inherit the land) – perhaps this happiness comes from lack of exposure to alternatives (e.g. conventional agriculture, western development and culture)

Other notes:

• The local agriculture extension officer prefers working with the upper village because the farmers are very cooperative and listen to the government advice.  In contrast, the lower village has poor turnout (only about 50% of farmers) at meetings and they mostly ignore the advice.  They are difficult to convince (she’s tried using the idea that government is pouring in a lot of money) because they are only in the early stages of commercialization.  The reason for lack of cooperation could be that there are plans to turn it into a town, so there may not be as much incentive to invest in agriculture.  Moreover, the climate is hotter so people don’t want to cultivate vegetables.
• “Progressive farmer” can be defined, according to the extension officer, as those individuals who cultivate crops in a larger area or follow government advice (e.g. bed formation in nursery, mulching, manuring, irrigating and other good management practices), producing and marketing independently.  In contrast, before joining a vegetable group or becoming a “progressive farmer,” an individual may only be cultivating a small kitchen garden, not following government advice, or using poor management practices.
• Some farmers used to sell cardamom to the Food Corporation of Bhutan (FCB) for export to local market sales.  Each geog or block has an FCB warehouse but today this one is not being used because lack of product to sell, since several years ago, they had a huge problem with a disease outbreak so they terminated the commercial cultivation.  Now they are taking it up again, slowly.