Commercial Agriculture and Resilient Livelihoods Enhancement Programme

The goal of the Commercial Agriculture and Resilient Livelihoods Enhancement Programme (CARLEP) is to sustainably increase smallholder farmers' incomes and reduce poverty. The objective is to ensure increased returns for smallholder farmers through climate resilient production of crops and livestock products. This will be achieved by facilitating the transformation from a subsistence-based rural agricultural economy into a sustainable value chain and market driven sector.

CARLEP builds on prior and on-going IFAD-funded interventions focused on increased agricultural production. This intervention will place attention on marketing and climate resilient farming practices. It aims to:

• Sustainably increase agricultural production
• Enhance agricultural production systems to absorb climate-induced shocks
• Institute value chain and marketing systems for vegetable and dairy products

The programme will be implemented initially in six southern and eastern districts. There will be differentiation between the dairy and vegetable value chain areas with some overlap. Scaling-up interventions after the mid-term review will allow an additional four districts in the central and southwest to participate.

The programme supports the Royal Government of Bhutan's 11th five-year plan focusing on climate-resilient agriculture production, value-chain enhancement and policy dialogue to boost agriculture commercialization.

Poverty in Bhutan is overwhelmingly a rural phenomenon as nearly 95% of poor people live in rural areas. The programme will benefit 28,975 smallholder households, of which 7,115 households will directly benefit from vegetable and dairy value chains.

Source: IFAD