GTZ Project Document No. 51 Report on Nahi Baseline Survey

Nahi Baseline Survey April- May 2001their produce or commodities from the market. However, in general maximum farmersstill depend on horses and their back for transportation of commodities.2.7.4 Market constraintsIn general the new approach road has partially improved the market access for almost allthe households in the geog. However, in contrast to the findings of RNR Census, somefarmers still consider limited access to market as a critical constraint in marketing theirfarm produce. For example, farmers in the upper Nahi still continue to use the market inThimphu as it is much easier and nearer as well, while some farmers even from the lowervalley especially in Tshokothang village reported of still using the old route and theirhorses for transporting their products from farm and commodities from market.2.8 Farm Labour and sourceThe labour represents an important input for various production activities carried out on asubsistence farm. As in most subsistence farms, household is the single most importantsource of labour for any farm and non-farm activities for the households in Nahi valleycomplemented by the labour exchange system with neighbours and relatives.The farm family is the main source of labour for all the households in the upper andlower Nahi. Although there are 3.3 persons on the farm consisting of all age groups, buton an average each household has only 2.7 members (between the ages of 16-59)permanently available on the farm for carrying out various farm and off farm activities.The relatives and the neighbours represent an important source of labour (for exchangesystem) for almost all the households (87%) in the valley especially for the cropproduction activities. The labour exchange system commonly practiced by the farmers isthe only way to meet their labour requirement during the peak seasons.To assess the household labour availability, the farm family members are divided into sixdifferent age categories (Table 2.15). The age 6 and below, age 10 and below and age 60and above categories are considered as the dependent group while the group with age 15and below are considered as a potential growing labour source if they are farmers and ifstudents some contributions are expected while they are on the farm. The 16-49 categoryis considered as the most active and fit group, while the 50-59 category is an importantbut considered as declining source of labour on the farm. In general in all the categories,there is almost a 50:50 male female ratio with slight variations in some groups.Irrespective of occupation in the 16-49 age category, there are about 333 persons (167men and 166 female) almost with an equal male female ratio. About 64% (213) of thetotal people in this category are farmers with 75 male and 138 female farmers, clearlyindicating less availability of male labour on the farm compared to the femalecounterpart.From the total male population of 167 men, only 45% are available on the farm while18% are in monk, 20% are in civil service, 7% in School and about 5% in the armed forcerespectively. On the other hand from the total women population of 166 female, about25