The Hon’ble Secretary Dasho Thinley Namgyel, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MoAL), Royal Government of Bhutan, participated in a two-day Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment and Promotion (SHEP) International Workshop held from 4–5 March 2026 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The workshop was co-organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
The Hon’ble Secretary was accompanied by officials from the JICA Bhutan Office under the iNTECROP Project and representative from the National Seed Centre. The SHEP approach has been introduced in Bhutan through the iNTECROP (Integrated Temperate Crops Promotion) JICA Project, which aims to improve production environment including farm infrastructures and facilities at the National Centre for Organic Agriculture (NCOA), Yusipang, and the National Seed Centre, Paro, capacity development for quality fruit production, orchard management and Market Oriented Research Outreach SHEP approach promotion. The core principle of SHEP — “Grow to Sell” — emphasizes production based on market demand, rather than conventional practice of “Grow and Sell,” where farmers produce first and search for markets later, often facing significant challenges.
Department of Agriculture, MoAL
