As a small, poor country with a population of less than 700,000 on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, Bhutan has long been known for its emphasis on sustainable development and once ranked eighth on the “World Happiness Map.” By banning the sale of insecticides and pesticides and relying entirely on its own animal and agricultural waste as fertilizer for fully organic farming, Bhutan has in recent years shown an inclination to push sustainable development to the extreme. Particularly noteworthy is that the Bhutanese government hopes to export high-quality food ingredients to countries including China.文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11456/
Choosing the path of fully organic agriculture is, for Bhutan, based on both practical and philosophical considerations. As Gyamtsho, Bhutan's Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, said: “Bhutan has a mountainous terrain. When we use chemicals, they do not stay only where they were originally applied, but affect water and vegetation... We pursue harmony with nature. Animals have the right to live, and we are also willing to see plants and insects happy.”文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11456/
Of course, becoming fully organic takes time. The Bhutanese government has not set a clear deadline for completing the task, but instead plans to achieve it crop by crop and region by region. At the same time, Gyamtsho also said: “We use traditional farming methods in the vast majority of places, so in fact we are already largely organic.”
Reprinted from21st Century Business Herald文章源自FOFCC-http://www.fofcc.org.cn/en/11456/