Fire destroys the processing plant of the Khengrig Namsum Cooperative (KNC)

On 16 February 2024, a fire destroyed the Cooperative’s processing plant and reduced the building including all machinery to rubble and ashes during the night. KNC lost several drying and packaging machines as well as its entire stock of turmeric powder in just one day. During our visit in March this year, we could see for ourselves the extent of the devastation. In cooperation with our sister association Bhutan Network we want to help KNC to resume their work.The most important item that needs to be bought to rebuild the plant is a multi-purpose heat pump dryer.

PLEASE HELP US! Donate HERE. Each contribution, be it large or small, is a building block for the reconstruction.

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Visit of the Project “Mini-Motor-Ploughs for Women Mountain Farmers”

Successful project completion

The project targeted female mountain farmers in the districts of Lhuentse and Trashigang in Bhutan, most of whom have to manage the work in the fields on their own. The aim of the project was to enable 35 economically disadvantaged female mountain farmers, who only practise subsistence farming, to increase their agricultural productivity and thus their income opportunities by mechanising the extremely costly and labour-intensive cultivation of their fields and terraces through access to microloans.

With the financial support of the City of Vienna and with the help of Tarayana Foundation/Tarayana Microfinance, all 35 women mountain farmers were equipped with mini-power-tillers. The joint effort has fundamentally changed the lives of the beneficiaries and enabled a significant step towards sustainable livelihoods and prosperity.

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Khengrig Namsum Cooperative (KNC)


A successful agricultural cooperative in Zhemgang, central part of southern Bhutan
Thinley (r.) together with Friends of Bhutan

On 30 September 2023, Mr Thinley Wangdi, chairman of the Khengrig Namsum Cooperative (KNC), visited the Friends of Bhutan Association in Vienna *. He reported on his work in the Cooperative, which he founded 9 years ago after having promised his father not to leave his ancestral home in remote Kheng Bardo and not to let the land fall fallow. Thinley quit his good job as an employee in the capital Thimphu and started the Cooperative with 16 young farmers.

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