Of birdflu and food self-sufficiency

In the wake of the ban on the import of poultry products from India following the bird-flu scare in February 2006, chicken and eggs virtually disappeared from Bhutanese dinner tables. Is there something positive we can learn from this experience? I think there is. Why can't we learn to produce enough of our own?
We are an agricultural country with the agriculture providing the livelihood to the majority of our people. Why can't we produce enough chicken and eggs for our domestic consumption? We are not talking about producing our own TVs or cars. Will producing enough chickens and eggs be too difficult a task to achieve?
Encouraging poultry farm business among the Bhutanese can not only overcome a situation such as this, but also provide employment to our unemployed youths. Most of us would not get into the poultry business for religious reasons, but there are many Bhutanese who would not mind doing this business. They should be encouraged to take it up. Of course, there will be stiff competition from Indian poultry products when there is no ban on import from India. But with a good strategy of branding and concentrating on quality, this competition will not be too hard to overcome.
Lately, the Ministry of Agriculture has taken a lot of initiatives to improve the livelihood of the rural people by providing better opportunities to market and sell their products more effectively and efficiently. Such initiatives are indeed laudable. As is one of the strategies of the ministry, Bhutanese farmers should concentrate on the quality of their products, either in terms of being more organic or being pesticide-free, to capture the market. Many consumers would not mind paying a little extra for a product which is perceived as more healthy.
Our experience shows that there will be enough market for our local produce. It is a common knowledge that many people in Thimphu prefer Wangchutaba chicken over Indian chicken, local pork over imported pork, and local eggs and vegetables over imported eggs and vegetables even though the local produce cost more. With a good branding and marketing strategy, there is surely enough room for more farm based businesses to grow in Bhutan and even compete in the markets of India and Bangladesh as well as beyond. Organic fruits and vegetables are highly prized in many developed countries.
As is the global trend, most of the city-dwelling Bhutanese consumers are increasingly conscious of the health risks that may be posed by what they consume. Many Bhutanese have expressed concern about what the pigs and chickens are fed and how much chemicals are sprayed on the vegetables and fruits before being exported to Bhutan. We could only guess. But today's KOL article 'More pesticides in edibles' reports that most food items imported from India contain dangerously high levels of chemicals.
In developed countries such as Japan and the USA, agricultural inspectors test fruits and vegetables for various pesticides and the defaulting farmers if any are penalized severely. The tests are so sensitive that they can detect a pesticide to the scale of a pinch of salt in a swimming pool. If a chemical was used, its residue is inevitable. However, if it is below the allowable limit, they pass the inspection. In the absence of such strict regulation and testing in our region, we cannot be sure about what we are consuming. As a precaution, rinsing fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly under running water, peeling off the covers, throwing away the outer leaves of leafy vegetables, and cooking them are said to reduce pesticide residues.
The good thing is that we still trust that the produce of our farmers are safe and healthy. There lies the competitive advantage of our farmers in our domestic market. Tapping on this advantage, our farmers should produce more, whether it is chicken and eggs or vegetables and fruits. We all like to buy local. Don't we?
And the next time, we have a ban on the import of poultry products, let our dinner tables show no dearth of chickens and eggs. This will also take us one step closer to our cherished policy of food self-sufficiency.