Building Resilient Commercial Smallholder Agriculture

About the Project

In Bhutan, $13 million in funding will commercialize the value chains of select agriculture commodities to contribute to post-COVID-19 economic recovery and the development of resilient food systems.  

This project will build upon existing programs in Bhutan that have successfully supported the production and commercialization of agriculture. Including the GAFSP-supported Food Security and Agriculture Productivity Project (FSAPP). The project will directly address systemic barriers in the agriculture sector; and post-COVID challenges and priorities identified in Bhutan’s Renewable Natural Resources (RNR) Strategy, and food self-sufficiency policy. The project will work through an inclusive value chain development approach to address the gaps between producers, traders, and consumers that are posing a challenge to the sustainability and resilience of Bhutan’s food and farming systems. The interventions will focus on the commercialization and diversification of farm systems; strengthening of existing value chains and development of new ones; and financing enabling small-scale infrastructure (on-farm water and soil conservation, aggregation centers, cold storage, milk chilling centers, etc.). Additionally, the project will also support post-harvest processing and ensure products meet internationally recognized food standards; capacity building and support to youth, cooperatives, and other producer organizations for climate resilience agriculture practices, the establishment of youth enterprises for provision of organic inputs (biochar, soil stimulants, bio-fertilizer, and bio-pesticides); and facilitating business linkages between producers, buyers, financiers, and local public stakeholders through multi-stakeholder platforms and business interactions meetings (B2B) to meet local, national, regional and global consumer demand. 

The project aims to boost equitable employment and income-generating opportunities for smallholder women, men, and youths through capacity building and investment support to small-holder farmers on production, marketing, and better access to services for engaging in profitable value chains as vegetables, dairy, livestock, poultry, and high-value crops. In doing so, the project will seek to stimulate post-COVID-19 employment opportunities for women and youth, the adoption of climate-resilient and market-oriented nutritious food products, and facilitate inward investment for the production and marketing of high-quality and high-value home-grown Bhutanese agricultural products. Lessons from the FSAPP (the first GAFSP project) and good practices from CARLEP will be built into the proposed project for increasing impact.