Stories

When exports of dried pineapple resumed at the beginning of May, after the lockdown, Jean Damascène Hakuzimana, President of the Tuzamurane farmers’ cooperative, was relieved.

Despite the lush greenery that surrounds Ngarpongtang village in Thangrong, Bhutan, until recently, it was impossible to grow vegetables there. “I used to have to go to other villages to exchange pinewood for vegetables,” says Wangdi, a 54-year-old farmer. “We couldn’t get vegetables to grow here.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us just how vulnerable agricultural value chains are to external shocks – and how much more we need to do to build the sector’s resilience.