Farmers of Pangserpo village under the Drujeygang Geog in Dagana (Bhutan) strongly believe in “Rang go Rangdo” (self-sufficiency).
Farmers reported that their grandparents used to cultivate different varieties of mustard which have vanished over time. Ap Pema Dorji, a village farmer, says: “Our parents never had to buy oil since we could produce our own oil.”
Most elderly farmers are disappointed to see the decline in the cultivation of mustard, which is the most important oil crop of the village. The main reasons for the decrease in mustard production are easy availability of cheap oil, low yield of mustard, unavailability of good quality seeds, and absence of an oil expeller facility in the village.
Farmers estimate that an average household spends around Nu.5000 (USD 74.50) per year only on the purchase of edible oil.
Pangserpo is popular for dryland farming. Each farmer has an average landholding of less than three acres. The climate is very suitable for the cultivation of cereals, oil crops, and horticulture crops.
Mustard is mostly cultivated as a second crop after rice in the Chhuzhing (wetland), and after maize in the Kamgzhing (dryland). It is a rain-fed crop that depends entirely on seasonal rains.
To keep the farmers’ hope of oil self-sufficiency alive, the revival of mustard cultivation was initiated with 12 farmers. It started as a small initiative under the Biodiversity Conservation and Utilization Asia Program (BUCAP) project.
The work started by supplying 210 kilograms of mustard seed to the farmers who planted them on about 11 acres of dryland. Apart from the seeds, the researchers from the Research and Development Center in Tsirang provided the technical support on mustard cultivation.
The harvest was assessed by measuring the production in each farmer’s field. The average yield recorded was 658 kilograms/acre. This yield was almost double the national average yield of mustard which stands at 300 kilograms/acre. In the same season, 12 farmers were able to sell 920 kilograms of good mustard seed to the National Seed Centre (NSC) at Nu. 60 (USD0.89) per kilogram which earned them Nu. 55,200.00 (USD822.48).
The success of the project in the initial years motivated more farmers in the Geog to take up mustard cultivation. With the project support, it was planned that the area for mustard cultivation would be increased in the coming season.
The Geog Agriculture sector approached the National Oilseed Program of the Department of Agriculture (DoA) to supply seeds of new and high-yielding mustard varieties. One of the biggest constraints of the farmers was the lack of an oil expeller in their community. We told the communities that if their dream was to get an oil expeller, they have to increase the area and production of mustard.
In the meantime, it was apparent that with this initiative of reviving mustard cultivation, Pangserpo farmers’ dream of achieving household oil self-sufficiency was not too far.
The target of achieving oil self-sufficiency will largely depend on the interest and hard work of communities. According to the estimation of the DoA, the current national oil self-sufficiency was only 11 percent. The Agriculture Extension of the Geog would be introducing more mustard varieties in collaboration with the National Oilseed Program of the Research and Development Center of Yusipang. [Ends]
Lifted from
HARVESTS: Farmers’ Success Stories
Copyright 2016 Bhutan National Biodiversity Center and Ministry of Agriculture and Forests