Attaining food self-sufficiency for women through Organic farming during COVID-19 situation in Chubjekha
Chubjakha village under Hungrel Gewog is one of the smallest villages under Paro Dzongkhag. The village is located at an altitude of 2,800 meters above the sea level. Chubjakha has a population of about 200people in 24 households. Currently there are about 10 households who live in the village, and rest of the households come there seasonally. Poor access to water, human wildlife conflict, poor access to market etc. are some of the reasons why people do not live there regularly.
Chubjakha community owns a total of 50.922 acres of dry land, of which only 20.393 acres are currently under cultivation and more than 30 acres of land are left fallow due to multiple issues such as competition for water from the neighbouring villages, human wildlife conflicts and poor access to the farm products. In the past farmers were heavily dependent on the orchard (apple) for their livelihood, however due to non-availability of water and pest infestation, the yield from the orchard has dropped drastically over the years, therefore community members are already reconsidering their dependence on orchard.
Chubjakha community has already been experiencing early sign of climate change such as; droughts, crop loss to outbreaks of diseases and pests, erratic rainfalls and hailstorms etc. As a result of it, the community faces challenges of shortage of water, crop loss to wildlife and poor harvest due to loss of soil nutrients. Chubjakha community will otherwise have the opportunity of growing variety of variety of crops such asapple, walnut, peach, potato, wheat, mustard, cabbage, radish, turnip, broccoli, beans, which would enhance their livelihoods. Traditionally, Chubjakha community used to be the key area for potato, primarily because the community hardly use chemical fertilizers and mostly in an organic manner. People around Paro often depend on the community for their potato seeds. However, people for some time had not practised such thing. The people are now interested to come back to organic as they were more sensitized on the advantage of it. The Gewog Agriculture Sector has also encouraged on this scheme and it is now a joint effort of the community and Gewog to conduct a project on organic farming.
Chubjakha community owns a total of 50.922 acres of dry land, of which only 20.393 acres are currently under cultivation and more than 30 acres of land are left fallow due to multiple issues such as competition for water from the neighbouring villages, human wildlife conflicts and poor access to the farm products. In the past farmers were heavily dependent on the orchard (apple) for their livelihood, however due to non-availability of water and pest infestation, the yield from the orchard has dropped drastically over the years, therefore community members are already reconsidering their dependence on orchard.
Chubjakha community has already been experiencing early sign of climate change such as; droughts, crop loss to outbreaks of diseases and pests, erratic rainfalls and hailstorms etc. As a result of it, the community faces challenges of shortage of water, crop loss to wildlife and poor harvest due to loss of soil nutrients. Chubjakha community will otherwise have the opportunity of growing variety of variety of crops such asapple, walnut, peach, potato, wheat, mustard, cabbage, radish, turnip, broccoli, beans, which would enhance their livelihoods. Traditionally, Chubjakha community used to be the key area for potato, primarily because the community hardly use chemical fertilizers and mostly in an organic manner. People around Paro often depend on the community for their potato seeds. However, people for some time had not practised such thing. The people are now interested to come back to organic as they were more sensitized on the advantage of it. The Gewog Agriculture Sector has also encouraged on this scheme and it is now a joint effort of the community and Gewog to conduct a project on organic farming.
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Project Snapshot
Grantee:
Chubjekha Women Group
Country:
Bhutan
Area Of Work:
Climate Change Mitigation
Grant Amount:
US$ 34,900.00
Co-Financing Cash:
US$ 6,089.70
Co-Financing in-Kind:
US$ 276.90
Project Number:
BHU/SGP/OP7/Y1/CORE/CC/2021/03
Status:
Satisfactorily Completed
Project Characteristics and Results
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SGP Country office contact
Ugyen Lhendup
Email:
Address
UN House, Peling Lam (Street), Kawajangsa, Thimphu, P.O. Box No. 162
Thimphu, Bhutan, 11001
Thimphu, Bhutan, 11001
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