Attachments
Highlights
WFP Bhutan welcomed its new Representative and Country Director Peter Rodrigues. He met with Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay to affirm WFP’s commitment to supporting Bhutan.
Operational Updates
Building Resilient Commercial Smallholder
Agriculture
- The Building Resilient Commercial Smallholder Agriculture Project (BRECSA), led by Tarayana Foundation with WFP’s support, conducted a qualitative behaviour study throughout March to explore factors affecting dietary diversity among four groups of women in target districts. Through key informant interviews and focus group discussions, the study identified seasonal production gaps, market and transport issues, cost barriers, and meal patterns. Findings will guide a social and behaviour change (SBC) plan focused on promoting affordable, nutrient-rich foods, aligning messages with local crop cycles, and involving community mobilizers to improve dietary diversity. This will help improve diets, stabilize household food security, and reduce micronutrient deficiencies.
- Following community mobilization training in early 2025, sanam jabchorpas (SJs) (community mobilizers), in collaboration with gewog (village groups) officers and local leaders, held consultations across target gewogs from March. These meetings focused on community engagement, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, and project planning. Participants mapped resources, identified challenges (poor soil, climate, water, transport), and promoted BRECSA’s nutrition work. They also documented youth and women’s groups and home garden communities. These insights will inform garden site selection, training, and social and behaviour change messaging. Participating households are now more likely to establish and sustain nutrient-rich gardens, improving on-farm availability of diverse foods and reducing household spending on markets.
- The BRECSA Stakeholder Workshop held from 26–29 March, brought together 41 participants to plan and coordinate project activities. Key goals included validating a spice market study, agri-food hub guidelines, and assessing climate-smart agriculture technologies. A key focus was developing the second version of Agriculture Resilience Plan by WFP in close collaboration with International Fund for Agriculture and Development and the project management unit, by December 2025. The workshop strengthened collaboration, addressed challenges, and set the course to improve nutrition, food security, and climate resilience in target dzongkhags (administrative units).
Farm2Go
- Farm2Go, a digital solution developed by WFP, connects smallholder farmers with local buyers and offers insights into agricultural best practices. Aimed at introducing a digital business approach for farmers with limited access to modern technology, the platform leverages existing WFP programmes. WFP and the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Cooperatives conducted a user training programme for traders and aggregators of Chukha and Samtse districts, including Department and district officials. Forty-one (41) participants including 15 women were trained on using Farm2Go, grouped as farmers, aggregators, and traders. They practiced registration, posting produce, negotiating, and making transactions using the platform. Farm2Go will support smallholder farmers to enhance their production and income generation.
- WFP and the Ministry of Education and Skills Development held the School Meal Planner (SMP) Plus training from 2-6 March for school officials and cooks in Trashigang, Trashiyangtshe, and Pemagatshel to improve school meals for the National School Feeding Programme. Seventy (70) participants, including 7 women, participated in the training. By automating the menu creation process, SMP PLUS helps schools save time, reduce costs and improve the quality of meals for children.
Logistics Capacity Assessment
- WFP, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, and Desuung collaboratively conducted a comprehensive review and validation of district-level logistics capacity assessments (LCA), addressing identified gaps through engagement with district focal points and standardizing the format for consistency. The Ministry will leverage these refined assessments to finalize the national LCA. This robust LCA framework will equip the government with critical data to inform timely emergency logistics decisions and establish a mechanism for regular assessments, ensuring swift and effective food delivery to populations affected by emergencies.