DRIVERS AND CONSTRAINTS OF CONVERSION TO ORGANIC FARMING IN THE KINGDOM OF BHUTAN

Organic farming is one of the several approaches towards environmental conservation and aims to increase agricultural production and household income for small-scale farmers to enable them to come out of poverty and improve livelihood. The objective is to investigate the key drivers and constraints in conversion to organic farming for domestic organic certified and non-certified but organic farmers and provide policy recommendation to government and relevant agency. The survey data of 146 respondents comprising of certified organic (n=47) and non-certified (n=99) were collected from Gasa district of Bhutan during the month of October 2017. The data analysis includes the use of descriptive statistics and the study recognize the drivers and constraints in conversion to organic farming according to the ranked order of importance by the farmers.The respondents were also asked to prioritize the factors, drivers and constraints for organic practices. The result suggests that both the certified and non-certified but organic farmers has identified environmental awareness, health benefits, economic benefits, education and employment benefits as the predominant drivers for organic production. The constraints experienced by both the groups include low productivity, market aspects, education and research aspects and economic and financial aspects. To promote organic farming the Bhutanese government, non-governmental organization and farmers has significant role to play. The government should support non-certified farmers through information and awareness, product certification, capacity building and formation of groups and cooperatives and support the certified farmers through research & development, market intensification, policy support and infrastructure development. The non-governmental organization should support non-certified farmers through adult education, training program and input supply and certified farmers through implementation of projects, agricultural shows and provide linkages with research institutions. The non-certified farmers are highly recommended to form groups, cooperatives and associations, self-organize in terms of farm machineries and tools and labors and carry out off farm activities. The certified farmers should diversify products, choose better cropping practices and techniques and attend short-term courses.