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Bhutan's focus on wellbeing and the
environment has caught the UN's eye |
NEW DELHI — The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, famed for
seeking "happiness" for its citizens, is aiming to become the first
nation in the world to turn its home-grown food and farmers 100 percent
organic.
The tiny Buddhist-majority nation wedged between China and
India has an unusual and some say enviable approach to economic development,
centred on protecting the environment and focusing on mental well-being.
Its development model measuring "Gross National
Happiness" instead of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been discussed at
the United Nations and has been publicly backed by leaders from Britain and
France, among others.
It banned television until 1999, keeps out mass tourism to
shield its culture from foreign influence, and most recently set up a weekly
"pedestrians' day" on Tuesdays that sees cars banned from town
centres.
Its determination to chart a different path can be seen in
its new policy to phase out artificial chemicals in farming in the next 10
years, making its staple foods of wheat and potatoes, as well as its fruits,
100 percent organic.
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Two-thirds of Bhutan's 700,000
strong population depend on farming |
"Bhutan has decided to go for a green economy in light
of the tremendous pressure we are exerting on the planet," Agriculture
Minister Pema Gyamtsho told AFP in an interview by telephone from the capital
Thimphu.
"If you go for very intensive agriculture it would
imply the use of so many chemicals, which is not in keeping with our belief in
Buddhism, which calls for us to live in harmony with nature."
Bhutan has a population of just over 700,000, two-thirds of
whom depend on farming in villages dotted around fertile southern plains near
India and the soaring Himalayan peaks and deep valleys to the north.
Overwhelmingly forested, no more than three percent of the
country's land area is used for growing crops, says Gyamtsho, with the majority
of farmers already organic and reliant on rotting leaves or compost as a
natural fertiliser.
"Only farmers in areas that are accessible by roads or
have easy transport have access to chemicals," he explained, saying
chemical use was already "very low" by international standards.
In the large valleys, such as the one cradling the sleepy
capital Thimphu, chemicals are used to kill a local weed that is difficult to
take out by hand -- a challenge compounded by a lack of farm labour.
Elsewhere, the fertiliser urea is sometimes added to soil,
while a fungicide to control leaf rust on wheat is also available.
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Bhutan has been determined to phase
out artificial chemicals in farming |
"We have developed a strategy that is step-by-step. We
cannot go organic overnight," Gyamtsho said, describing a policy and
roadmap which were formally adopted by the government last year.
"We have identified crops for which we can go organic
immediately and certain crops for which we will have to phase out the use of
chemicals, for rice in certain valleys for example."
Bhutan's only competitor for the first "100 percent
organic" title is the tiny self-governing island of Niue in the South
Pacific, which has a population of only 1,300. It aims to reach its objective
by 2015-2020.
Nadia Scialabba, a global specialist on organic farming at
the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, says the organic food market and
its premium prices are attractive for small countries and territories.
"This is happening in very small countries who are not
competitive on quantity, but they would like to be competitive in
quality," she told AFP.
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The country's staple foods of
wheat and potatoes are 100-percent organic |
The global organics market was estimated to be worth 44.5
billion euros (57 billion dollars) in 2010, according to figures from the
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture and the International Federation of
Organic Agriculture Movements.
Bhutan sends rare mushrooms to Japan, vegetables to upmarket
hotels in Thailand, its highly-prized apples to India and elsewhere, as well as
red rice to the United States.
By shunning fertilisers and other chemicals, the country
also stands to gain by reducing its import bill -- a particular concern for a
country short on foreign currency.
Peter Melchett, policy director at Britain's organic Soil
Association, says the main benefit of becoming 100 percent organic is an
assurance of quality to consumers.
"Because there won't be pesticides or other chemicals
on sale in the kingdom, they would be able to offer a high level of guarantees
that products are organic," Melchett explained.
In countries like Spain, for example, there is a problem of
contamination when organic farms are next to highly industrialised producers
using large quantities of artificial chemicals, Melchett said.
"It's difficult for organic farmers in those
circumstances to keep their crops and supply-chain free of contamination."
Bhutan's organic policy would "start to give the
country a reputation of high quality organic food which in the long-run would
give them a market advantage and the possibility of price premiums," he
added.
Jurmi Dorji, a member of the 103-strong Daga Shingdrey
Pshogpa farmers' association in southern Bhutan, says his fellow members are in
favour of the policy.
"More than a decade ago, people realised that the
chemicals were not good for farming," he told AFP. "I cannot say
everyone has stopped using chemicals but almost 90 percent have."
(Source)
(Source)
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