Agricultural Change in Bumthang, Bhutan: Market Opportunities, Government Policies, and Climate Change

Wangchuk, Sangay; Siebert, Stephen F.; Gompa, Lamai

doi:10.1080/08941920.2013.789575

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…A number of factors have been contributing to this shift, including a growing recognition of niches for high-value crops, such as fruits, vegetables, and spices like ginger, turmeric, and cardamom (Tulachan 2001;Chand et al 2008;Adhikari 2014). The shift to high-value crops has also been facilitated by other factors, such as improved road networks providing market access for previously isolated communities, growth of remittance inflows, expansion of cooperatives, increased presence of NGOs, and targeted government activities (Kreutzmann 2006;Yi et al 2007Yi et al , 2008Wangchuk and Siebert 2013;Khattri 2012).…”

Section: From Subsistence Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Bhutan, traditional crops such as buckwheat, sweet potatoes, millet, wheat, naked barley, and green beans have been replaced with potatoes. Intensively cultivated potato fields are heavily fertilized with agrochemicals, and handheld traditional farming tools are substituted with small tractors (Wangchuk and Siebert 2013). A study revealed that the majority of households in the Bumthang village of Bhutan derive most of their income from the sale of potatoes, which is then used for purchasing imported rice from India (Dorji 2011).…”

Section: From Subsistence Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding and Tackling Poverty and Vulnerability in Mountain Livelihoods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Gioli

Thapa

Khan³

et al. 2019

The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment

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Section: From Subsistence Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: From Subsistence Farmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding and Tackling Poverty and Vulnerability in Mountain Livelihoods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Gioli

Thapa

Khan³

et al. 2019

The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment

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“…The average land use data from 2010 to 2014 in some of the major facultative wheat districts shows a considerable increase in the area sown with potato and decrease in wheat area (Table 5). A survey by Wangchuk and Siebert (2013) in Bumthang, one of the major wheat growing districts, reported that farmers have voluntarily shifted from wheat to potato cultivation owing to better market opportunities. The same trend of potato and vegetables displacing wheat was also reported by Katwal et al .…”

Section: Socio-economic Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and Prospects of Wheat Production in Bhutan: A Review

Tshewang¹,

Park²,

Chauhan

et al. 2017

Ex. Agric.

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SUMMARYBhutan is a small country in the Himalayan mountains where subsistence agriculture is practiced due to small land holdings and undulating mountainous terrains. Due to diverse altitudinal and agro-ecological environments, many food crops are cultivated. Wheat is currently a secondary cereal, grown over an area of 1,964 ha with a total production of 3,465 Mg. While there are enormous opportunities to increase wheat production in Bhutan, it is challenged by numerous biotic and socio-economic factors such as labour shortage and low economic return. Among the biotic constraints, stripe rust and leaf rust are the most important diseases. Stem rust has not yet been reported. Poor crop nutrition, both through low soil fertility and inadequate external supply, also results in low productivity. In addition, better remunerative crops and affordable-imported products discourage wheat production. However, the availability and accessibility to higher yielding disease-resistant varieties, fertilization (both organic and inorganic), appropriate seed rate, optimum planting time, mechanization, rotation with legumes and expansion of wheat area are some measures that will play a crucial role in managing sustainable wheat production in Bhutan. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of the current scenario of wheat production, discuss the constraints and provide strategic guidance to improve wheat production in Bhutan.

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“…28,29 Differential social and ecological impacts along elevation gradients add complexity to these interactions. Although data is limited, road building appears to have greater environmental impacts at higher elevations.…”

Section: Interactive Drivers Of Change In the Asian Highlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…27 Though household incomes in many places have increased due to this trend, upland soil loss and runoff from croplands have also grown with unknown downstream effects. 28,29 Differential social and ecological impacts along elevation gradients add complexity to these interactions. Although data is limited, road building appears to have greater environmental impacts at higher elevations.…”

Section: Interactive Drivers Of Change In the Asian Highlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building ecosystem resilience for climate change adaptation in the Asian highlands

Grumbine

2014

WIREs Climate Change

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The Asian Highlands, the vast mountainous area from Pakistan to China including the Hindu-Kush Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau, have considerable global importance; they are the source of most of the major rivers of Asia, which sustain billions of downstream dwellers, are part of four Global Biodiversity Hotspots, and support rich cultural diversity. However, climate warming in the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau has been greater than two times the global average, and regional climate appears to be shifting with potential to trigger large-scale ecosystem regime shifts ('landscape traps'). A host of other drivers-urbanization/infrastructure development, land-use/agricultural practices, upstream/downstream water management and ongoing nation-state security conflicts-interact with climate signals to produce complex changes across ecological and social systems. In response, highlands people are evolving hybrid forms of adaptive capacity where 'bottom-up' behaviors are mixing with 'top-down' state and market policies. To increase ecosystem and livelihood resilience to future change, there is a need to link upstream and downstream conservation action with local climate adaptation. While the key problem is that institutional and government capacity for coordination is low, we present four general strategies to move forward: application of cross-sector coordinated planning, strategic integration of science-based conservation with developing local-level hybrid knowledge, recognition of the critical role of governance in support of change, and increased emphasis on environmental security. We discuss these strategies for each driver of change in the region. How to cite this article:WIREs Clim Change 2014Change , 5:709-718. doi: 10.1002 INTRODUCTION Into the 21st century as human alteration of Earth's lands and waters continues to expand, less developed regions such as the Asian Highlands are increasingly subject to ecological and social * Correspondence to: j.c. transformation. The highlands, the vast area of mountains and high plateaus above 1000 m stretching from Pakistan to China and including the Hindu-Kush Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau, have considerable global importance; they are the source of most of the major rivers of Asia (Figure 1). This 'Water Tower of Asia' directly sustains approximately 150 million people and has impacts on the lives of several billion downstream dwellers.1 The Asian Highlands also host parts of four Global Biodiversity Hotspots: the Himalayas, Indo-Burma, Mountains of Southwest China, and Mountains of Central Asia. The region has some of the highest species endemism in the world. In addition, the highlands' great variation in topography and elevation gradients supports rich cultural diversity This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. expressed in multiple langu...

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Agricultural Change in Bumthang, Bhutan: Market Opportunities, Government Policies, and Climate Change

Cited by 13 publications

References 18 publications

Understanding and Tackling Poverty and Vulnerability in Mountain Livelihoods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Understanding and Tackling Poverty and Vulnerability in Mountain Livelihoods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Challenges and Prospects of Wheat Production in Bhutan: A Review

Building ecosystem resilience for climate change adaptation in the Asian highlands

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