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Triumphant journey from Farmland to Foreign land


It was never in his wildest dream – the coveted opportunity to fly in the plane and explore the land beyond his imagination. He possessed no pre-requisition of availing such prospects of travelling on the metal bird. All he has is seen and heard others speaks of exhilaration of such journey overseas. He vied for the journey but chances stood ever slim.  But it was piously nullified when he was nominated as one member for the CFMG study tour/visit to Nepal.
Mr. Sonam Norbu, Chairman of Zhasela Community Forest in Minjay under Lhuentse Dzongkhag has spent past 37 years of his life languishing within four horizons in his farmland. He has rarely strayed beyond the confinement of his village minus occasional visit to the dzongkhag. The acute shortage of working hand in his farm land permitted few of such travel and herded him selfishly in his own community.
This is to prove wrong when under the sponsorship of Participatory Forest Management project (PFMP), the Social Forestry Division of the Department of Forests & Park Services organized CFMG study tour/visit to Nepal. Representing the community forest he headed, he embarked on the tour/visit to Nepal from 13 – 22 March 2011 for the duration of little less than a couple of week. The visit enabled him to visit many successful CF program and gather numerous knowledge on effectively managing the chunk of Government Reserved Forests handed over to the community with ownership rights for sustainable utilization and management.
Still reeling in disbelief in the first day after his return, Sonam confided, “I never believed there are world outside our country. My journey not only exposed me to such outside world, it also enriched me with tactics of governing CF successfully”. Still thrilled by his buoyant journey on plane, he excessively thanked the sponsor and organizer for realizing undreamt dream of a humble farmer.
For the last 10 days, they were guided to different locations in Nepal introducing and familiarizing them on success stories of CF.  “Nepal is far more advanced in terms of community forests and no other destination would have been appropriate,” chipped Sonam. He added that Nepalese strength of being able to derive maximum avenues for income generation and managing forests as pro-poor resource convinced him of replicating same here in Bhutan.
Among the loads of knowledge and experiences he has imported, he is seriously contemplating embracing briquette making techniques. He divulged that it is simple method and has lots of benefits in the way that tree branches, lops & tops, off cuts and other debris from tending operations serve as raw materials. “Conventionally, such resources are wasted when they can be put into judicious use,” he concluded before taking leave to attend presentation on their trips to sponsor and organizer at Hotel Dragon roots in Thimphu. But certainly not forgetting to emphatically thank the sponsor and the organizer.

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