Phurpa Lhamo  | Gasa

About 50 acres of land in Gasa’s Khatoed and Khamoed gewogs have been revived since the dzongkhag’s land development initiative started in 2018.

The dzongkhag today has over 400 acres of fallow land and about 430 acres of cultivated land.

Laya gewog has the highest—over 200 acres of land fallow, followed by Khatoed gewog with over 100 acres of land left fallow.

According to Gasa’s dzongkhag assistant agriculture officer, Choeki Wangchuk, around 30.2 acres of land was revived in Khatoed and around 20 acres in Khamoed. A majority has been converted to wetland.

Choeki Wangchuk added that the objective was to increase agriculture production and to engage individuals in commercial farming. “We provide support by providing of machinery, poly houses, greenhouses, bio-fertilizers, and seeds.”

In Khatoed, the Gasa Soechu team cultivated around two acres. The 14-member team will sharecrop the land owned by the Gasa dratshang. The team has planted beans on over one-acre land.

The dzongkhag agriculture sector has provided the team with machines for land development and has supported with materials for electric fencing.

“We hope to employ more people and keep agriculture work running,” Dorji, a team member said.

Today, Gasa Soechu is closed due to lack of materials such as bottle caps and cartons. Its employees receive the Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Kidu.

Gasa’s focus has been on beans, cauliflower, tomatoes, chilies and onion production. The dzongkhag is also expecting to see a major increase in wheat and buckwheat production.

Over 11.8 metric tonnes (MT) of buckwheat harvest is expected from 38.68-acre land cultivated in Khatoed and Khamoed. Similarly, about 17.8MT of wheat harvest is expected from 21.88-acre land.

The dzongkhag agriculture sector will also receive two milling machines through the National Organic Programme to process buckwheat produced from the two gewogs.

Choeki Wangchuk said almost all the households in Laya and Lunana had achieved self-sufficiency. There are 150 poly houses in Laya and 138 in Lunana.