Young Organic Farmer in Bhutan

Small Grant for Organic Farming

July – December 2021

Objective:

To empower rural youth with livelihood skills and to curb rural urban youth migration
To support youth during land preparation, planting, harvesting, and post harvesting in order to grow safe food for their community.
To encourage other youth in community to be involved in organic farming and organic production.

Organic Vegetable Production:

Vegetable plays an important in human diets, WHO addressed that reducing of fruit and vegetable consumption is linked to poor health and increased risk of noncommunicable disease (NCDs). Organic vegetable in agriculture is an important undertaking because unlike other agriculture commodities. Organic vegetable is a safe food and good for healthy diet, also it has been realized that it can be practically profitable in both large-scale and small-scale production where youth can raise reasonable for themselves and also demonstrate and encourage other youth to get involved in organic farming and vegetable production.

In our community we are facing with many problems such as youth migration, increasing of importedvegetable and health issues. So, we have started this project to work on organic agriculture and food security, focusing on youth unemployed and giving an equal opportunity for both educated and uneducated youth. And the project objects are below.

We aim to give an opportunity to the youths to understand and connect with the mother earth. Moreover, where they can learn and explore themselves. We will support young people and solve community problems on migration, livelihood by promoting organic farming and vegetable production base on the four principles are.

Principle of Ecology: Production systems and farming activities should fit within the living ecological system in order to improve the environmental quality by conserving the resources; achieved through reducing, re-using and recycling of the resources by efficiently managing materials and energy

Principle for Health: Health of all living beings, soil and environment be enhanced and sustained; these entities are one and indivisible. Humans cannot maintain a good health, if their ecosystem is not healthy and vice-versa; Manage and control the adverse effects on the health of the ecosystem by avoiding the use of toxic synthetic chemicals, including drugs and additive. Whatever we produce, it should fit into the ecological cycle.

Principle of Care: Adoption of production systems should not jeopardize, but protect the health of the environment and the wellbeing of the present and future generation; can be achieved by reviewing the production technologies and by being responsible towards the health of other live forms and the environment.

The principle of fairness: Common environment and life opportunities should be shared base on relationships that ensure equity, respect, justice and decency; farm workers be paid commensurate to their work, working conditions be good, animals be housed and cared for according to their natural behaviour and needs, the natural resources be managed in a socially and ecologically just manner and so on.

Activity Progress:

Project activities carried out so far