On May 11^th, 2017, a group of 17 youth (16 female and 8 male) who had recently took up the commercial vegetable farming at Gulibi in Menjey geog of Lhuentse Dzongkhag visited ARDC (Agriculture Research Development Center), Wengkhar and its sub-center at Lingmethang.

The exposure visit was organized by ARDC in collaboration with the Agriculture sector of Lhuentse under CARLEP-IFAD’s financing to showcase the research technologies, skills and the available farming materials that the research center is equipped-with. It was also to expose the young farming entrepreneurs to various options in commercial farming and to backstop them with every way possible on the farming programme they have recently started.

With the win-win intentions of helping the parents back at home and earn the side-by-side income from farming, a group of 23 youth who have left schools mostly after 12^th standard has started a ‘Commercial Organic Farming’ in a pilot site of 15 Acres of land in Gulibe.

The project which was started as ‘His Majesty’s People’s Project-Use right system pilot Project’ was launched on 8^th March 2017. Today, in this project site, the youth entrepreneurs have cultivated chili, upland paddy and soybean. They have the plan to plant the potatoes and the high value crops like asparagus with the fruit trees and the passion fruits along the sloppy areas. The associated inputs and the technical assistances are provided by the ARDC and the Dzongkhag Agriculture Extensions.

Thus, the ‘Exposure Visit’ to the agriculture research centers will add-value to the commercial vegetable farming that the youth entrepreneurs of Gulibe have switched-on.

-Reported by: Karma Wangmo (GKMO)

-Pictures and information credit: ARCD’s facebook page.