An inauguration ceremony for the “Project for the Renovation of Irrigation Channels in Mongar Gewog, Mongar”, under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects (GGP), will be held on 7th June, 2016, at Mongar, Bhutan.

The ceremony will be attended by Mr. Ugyen Sonam, Governor, Mongar District and relevant officials from Mongar District, as well as Mr. Takuma Hisanaga, First Secretary, from the Embassy of Japan in India.

The Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Project scheme was established in 1989 to meet the diverse basic human needs in developing countries. The Government of Japan has supported in Bhutan such projects as construction of bridges and school buildings, as well as provision of fire engines and compactor trucks.

Through this project, funding assistance amounting to 110,189 US Dollars was utilized for the renovation of two existing old earthen irrigation channels into concrete ones, in order to improve their efficiency in supplying agricultural water in Mongar Gewog, Mongar Dzongkhag, in eastern Bhutan.

The two irrigation channels, constructed around 15 years ago, were originally made as simple earthen canals by digging the soil only. For this reason, the project area was not being supplied with sufficient irrigation water, leading to most of the land being currently left fallow because of the inability of current channels in supplying enough agricultural water to the land, owing to permeation of water into the soil through the channels, and the low efficiency of the water supply.

Through this project of renovating the previous earthen channels into concrete ones, agricultural productivity can be improved by enhancing the supply of sufficient irrigation water, as well as expanding the area to be used as farming land.

The Government of Japan hopes that the stable agricultural production will improve the life of the people in Bhutan, as well as further develop the relations of friendship and cooperation between Japan and Bhutan.