The Punakha-Wangdue valley is vast, fertile and full of potential to grow all-round-the-year crops. Cash crops in winter and food crops in summer provided more than enough for farmers, often to the envy of those on study tours from other dzongkhags.

Recognising the potential, including the closeness to capital city (market), a lot of intervention, initiatives and ideas were explored to encourage farmers to cultivate their land and make a decent living. Punakha and Wangdue farmers would win prices for their innovation and hard work in leading in agriculture.

Blessed with the right conditions to grow rice ike Ngabja, Tan Tshering, Bondey and  Khamtey, growing paddy  alone is a golden opportunity for farmers to live a decent life. Farm drudgery is reduced with a member of the family in Australia helping parents to invest in power tillers, threshers, rice mills and even boleros (vehicles) to market the produce.

However, basic but crucial needs for farming is leading to a decline in agriculture yield. Rice production in Punakha declined by 299 metric tonnes in just one year, according to available data. That is roughly about 30 truckloads of rice, assuming a truckload carry 10 metric tonnes. For tiny Bhutan dependent on import, it is a huge decline.

What is more concerning is that the decline in paddy yield is attributed to the impact of climate change. Paddy needs water from the time is transplanted until harvest. Farmers are feeling the heat. Climate change is attributed to drying of  water sources, reduction in irrigation water, irregular  rainfall patterns, windstorms, droughts, and the emergence of new pests and diseases.

While our development priorities are changing in tandem with global trends, what is happening in our own backyard is concerning. If our agricultural is the backbone of the country’s rural economy, it is facing significant challenges.  Itdemands urgent attention.

Agriculture is not as complex as the problems. There are ways to adapt to the changes, including what we recognised as Climate Smart Agriculture. There are researches done, solutions identified and budget earmarked. We have heard of the agriculture ministry  placing great emphasis on utilising available real-time climate data to evaluate and assess technologies such as weather and climate services to leverage the information to enhance crop production.

However, if the reports on the grounds are to be believed, there is a gap between the idea and implementation. More and more farmers are leaving their fields because of uncertainties. We talk of efficient water resource management in offices even as farmers abandon their fields to look for odd jobs in towns and thromdes. Only about 26,000 acres of wetlands are currently under cultivation out of the registered 70,000 acres because of water shortage.

Places like Punakha and Wangdue are urbanising at a great pace. Given a choice, farmers would want to divide their paddy fields into plots and sell them. If we want agriculture to be the backbone of our rural economy, reduce dependency on import and discourage rural-urban migration or fallowing of scarce agriculture land, we need to act now and act smart.