Geleychu Sustainable Land Management Project
Background
Geleychu is a small village located on the right bank of Puna-tshang-chu with 19 households under Tshangkha Geog in Dagana Dzongkhag. It had a total population of 176. These farmers originally belonging to Dagapela resettled in Geleychu sometimes in 1960s. Geleychu is about four and half hours walk from the nearest Tsirang-Wangdue highway. This village is one of the remotest and the poorest village in the Geog. The villagers have to trek for three to four hours to reach the geog centre, which has health and educational services.
The prominent land use type is dryland cultivation with maize as the staple crop. The average slope of the area is 60-70 percent. The average land holding of the farmers is approximately 3 acres. Due to sloppy landscape, their fields are very vulnerable to degradation due to human activities over the years and natural climatic conditions. Problem of land degradation, declining crop yield and low household income have led the farmers into a vicious circle. Therefore Geleychu Sustainable Land Management Tshogpa (GSLMT) was formed specifically for land management, as land is their prime source of livelihood. The planned activities of this project will contribute towards the national goal of food self-sufficiency for rural farming community through natural resources management and conservation.
Objectives
The project aims to rehabilitate and protect the farmland to sustain agricultural productions through community efforts and for sustainable utilization of available land resources:
- To build the capacity of the community for sustainable land management and
- To improve the land productivity and enhance rural livelihood.
Achievements & expected results
- Capacity building of the farmers to mainstream land management techniques as part of their regular farming activity.
- Increase in income and overall improvement in the living standard of the farmers in Geleychu.
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Bhutan
