It is sad that I have to see this during my lifetime – the Royal Government of Bhutan being forced to step in and take over farming from the farming communities of the country. Obviously the Bhutanese farmers have lost their farming skills – causing the government to step in and rescue them from their core competence – agriculture production. For me, it is an insult at a personal level – I had always held the view that farming came naturally to the Bhutanese farmers – obviously that is no longer true.
Bhutan is supposed to be an agrarian society with farming and farm production as the mainstay of the majority of our livelihoods. If the Farm Machinery Corporation Limited (FMCL) of the Ministry of Agriculture has been forced to step in into the domain of the farmers – like the civil service – it is clear that the farmers have failed the country. So they deserve what is due to them – the BOOT!
I wish the FMCL all the best in their endeavors. Their success will translate into food security for the Bhutanese people – an aspiration that we have long pursued – something that obviously the Bhutanese farmers could not deliver. As an agency of the RGoB with superior financial muscle and technical competence, no one should be in doubt of the stupendous success that FMCL will bring, for the benefit of the Bhutanese people.
Given the financial resources and technical competence at their disposal, and being mindful of the country’s commitment towards environmental conservation, we expect that the FMCL will behave more responsibly then the illiterate farmers, and ensure that their farming enterprises do not cause damage to the environment. My worry stems from the fact that they plan to grow their farm produces inside plastic/poly sheet Green Houses. It is my belief that they would use biodegradable plastics/poly sheets for the hundreds of Green Houses they promise to install across the length and breadth of the country. And, in fulfillment of the government’s commitment to achieve 100% organic status by 2035, no doubt the FMCL, as a government agency, would do away with the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. We expect them to be more responsible than the illiterate farmers.
I am sorry for the country’s farming community - for being managed out. For sure the government would have determined that the farmers were incompetent at their jobs – if they were not, the government’s preferred option would have been to plough in the available funds - to strengthen the competencies of the farming community through mechanization and improved methods of farming and diversification of farm produces – rather than take the unprecedented step of the government taking over the jobs of the farmers.
Let this serve as a warning to the country’s farming community – that if they don’t buck up, there may come a day when the government may be forced to consider nationalizing farming activity!
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