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

Interviews with elderly farmers and a review of government data, policies, and programs reveal that farmers in the Bumthang District of Bhutan have transitioned from cultivating a diversity of subsistence grains through swidden farming with no external inputs in the 1980s to intensive monocropping of potatoes utilizing fertilizers and tractors in 2011. During the same time, household diets changed from locally cultivated buckwheat and barley to make greater use of purchased rice. The primary underlying driving forces noted by farmers for the changes were improved road and market access, and government prohibitions against swidden agriculture. Farmers also stated that climatic conditions have changed; however, temperature and precipitation data do not reveal significant change, although the variability of mean monthly precipitation has increased. Understanding the site- and time-specific ways in which farmers respond to underlying forces is essential to the identification and development of effective agricultural policies, research, and development.