Inside Bhutan’s Bold Move: Agroforestry As Its Next-Decade Strategy
As Bhutan expands agroforestry to boost incomes and resilience, the next decade becomes its testing ground. Learn what shapes this commitment to land restoration.
Bhutan is not treating agroforestry as a good side project. It is pitching it as a working bridge between food security, rural jobs, and climate resilience. The next decade matters because 2026 launches a national push that blends farming with trees so slopes stay productive and households have more than one harvest to rely on. For a country with limited arable land, every hectare needs to do double duty.
The Strategy Behind Bhutan’s Tree Based Farming Play
Bhutan has approved its first National Agroforestry Strategy and Action Plan, scheduled for January 2026 to December 2035, to mainstream agroforestry across its agroecological zones. The idea is straightforward: trees on farms can reduce erosion, protect water, and diversify income through fruits, nuts, fodder, timber, and medicinal plants.
It links to wider restoration and climate commitments. Kuensel has been tracking Restore Bhutan, a drive to revive degraded forests, farms, and urban areas over the next decade using tree based solutions. Bhutan’s latest climate plan flags agroforestry within forestry and land actions as well.
What Farmers And Landscapes Get Out Of It
Agroforestry fits Bhutan’s small plots and steep terrain, and it can bring fallow land back into use. Bhutan Ecological Society’s farm and forest restoration plan targets 2,200 hectares over the next decade and frames the trees as long term assets, even “community carbon banks”.
The Quiet Economic Angle
By pairing orchards and multipurpose trees with cash crops, farmers can smooth income between seasons and cut risk from erratic rain. It also helps Bhutan keep its premium “green” food narrative credible inside the wider Agrifood Sector Strategy 2034.
