In Bhutan agricultural co-operatives are making a difference by empowering small-scale farmers, particularly women. Co-operatives play an important role on the agenda of Bhutan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF), which aims to boost agricultural production and address the country’s poverty rate of 12%.
In 2001 Bhutan enacted the Co-operatives Act, which provides a legal framework for co-operatives and farmers’ groups. The act was amended in 2009 and the responsibility to implement it was taken up by the MoAF. Over the last years, the government has been encouraging farmers to set up co-operatives while providing them with advice and support.
There are currently 170 farmers groups and 34 registered co-operatives in Bhuthan. Agricultural co-operatives are represented by the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Cooperatives (DAMC) under the MoAF.
The department has linked these groups and co-operatives with schools, hydropower projects and other offices to help them market their products. One of these initiatives has been the Bhutan co-operative shop, abbreviated as the B-coop shop, opened in May in the capital city of Bhutan, Thimphu.
The shop was designed to help co-operatives and farmers’ groups market their products without the interference of middlemen. It sells a variety of products including dried fruits, fermented cheese or paper plates, all produced by farmers.
The shop not only markets the products, but also showcases them and sets an example of selling standard quality goods with proper packaging and labelling. B-coop will be managed by the DAMC for a year, after which it will be handed over to a co-operative or farmers group. Should the shop prove to be successful, the Ministry aims to replicate it in other town.
Although it aims to achieve self-sufficiency by boosting the agricultural sector, Bhutan is faced with two big challenges – the lack of technical expertise and financial aid.
The government of Bhutan is working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to address these challenges and to strenghten agricultural co-operatives. The UNDP project in Bhutan, called Food Security through Sustainable Agriculture began in 2010.
One of the beneficiaries of this programme is 44-year-old Karma Choeni Dema, member and chair of Shershong Cooperative in Mongar. A single mum with seven children, she says the money earned every month ($100-120) from the milk and dairy products she sells to the co-operative helps keep her children in school.
“I am self-sufficient and don’t depend on anyone. I make enough money to send all my children to school,” she explained.
In order to support the DAMC in the implementation of cooperative projects, the UNDP provided $30,000 in 2011 to procure equipment for the remote diary co-operatives in five eastern districts. The equipment helped improve the dairy products and market them. The UNDP has also co-ordinated trainings and orientation sessions for local farmers, introducing them to the structure and organisation of co-operatives and the basics of running a small business.
According to the UNDP, by 2012 opportunities for generation of income and employment had increased in targeted poor areas. For 2013 the UNDP allocated $120,000 to enhance food security in Bhutan by promoting water saving technologies, improving crop yields and forming co-operatives and farmers groups.
“The UNDP supported the government in its endeavours to promote co-operatives and farmers groups. Our projects targeted the most rural communities,” explained Sonam Tsoki, of UNDP.
Photo: Karma and members of her diary co-operative in Bhutan (c) Sonam Tsoki Tenzin, UNDP Bhutan.
