The Building Resilient Commercial Smallholder Agriculture (BRECSA) Project, in collaboration with the World Food Program (WFP) and Tarayana Foundation, continues to make significant strides in promoting nutrition-sensitive and climate-resilient farming practices through the establishment of Nutrition Model Gardens across its project areas.

As part of the WFP Technical Assistance (TA) activities, a new Nutrition Model Garden was successfully established at Darchgang, Rangthaling Gewog in Tsirang Dzongkhag on 16 October 2025. The initiative aims to enhance household food and nutrition security by promoting diversified agricultural production and sustainable organic practices. The garden serves as a demonstration site to:

• Promote sustainable and organic farming through integrated approaches;
• Improve dietary diversity by cultivating nutrient-rich crops; and
• Build farmers’ capacity in composting, waste management, and the use of organic inputs derived from locally available materials.

The model garden support was extended to Mr. Romesh Rana, a 27-year-old youth farmer residing with his family, including a 10-year-old child with disabilities. Through BRECSA assistance, Mr. Rana received materials for constructing a poultry shed with three hens, a mushroom shed, and various vegetable seeds to establish the garden. The initiative was implemented through strong collaboration among Sonam Jabchorpas of Tsirang, led by a Tarayana Field Officer. The effort also involved the active participation of local leaders including the Gup, Tshogpa, community members, and B.Sc. Agriculture students from the College of Natural Resources (CNR) who were on a study tour.

Meanwhile, a related Nutrition Model Garden Program was successfully conducted on 14 October 2025 at Khempagang Village under Samtenling Gewog, Sarpang Dzongkhag. The event aimed to promote household-level nutrition security by encouraging the cultivation of diverse and nutrient-rich crops through model home gardens. Practical demonstrations were conducted on garden layout design, soil health management, composting, and selection of nutrient-dense vegetables.

The program was graced by Senior Field Officers and all Sanam Jabchorpas of Sarpang Dzongkhag, whose active participation and technical guidance ensured the success of the initiative. The event emphasized the importance of continued community collaboration and knowledge sharing to sustain nutrition-focused gardening practices.

To date, Tarayana Foundation, as an implementing partner to WFP for the BRECSA project, has established a total of ten Nutrition Model Gardens across the four project Dzongkhags—Sarpang, Tsirang, Trongsa, and Zhemgang—serving as key demonstration sites for scaling up integrated and sustainable farming systems.

The successful implementation of the Nutrition Model Garden initiatives reflects strong community engagement, institutional partnership, and a shared commitment to improving nutrition, household income, and climate resilience among smallholder farmers.