Bhutan - Agrarian Society

The people of Bhutan are closely connected to the land. In this, the culture's social customs and values as well as it's collective belief in folk wisdom enhance GNH's conservative, respectful view of the land. The land is also the source of sustance and economy.
I cannot give you solid, impressive facts about farming in Bhutan but I can tell you about the field above that was directly beyond my hotel in Punakha.
What you see in the picture directly above is perhaps a fourth of an enormous field that was in various stages of cultivation at the time. There were no fences but it was clear that this land belonged to several different families.
The first people I met there were the men plowing rows behind the oxen. I was in Punakha at the very earliest stages of the summer monsoon and the soil was moist. The men walked steadily behind these formidable animals through the muddy rows in bare feet.
Beyond the various rows being plowed, the above young man moved staked calves and cows from one part of the field to another. I am not sure of the purposeof this way but I think it may have been a clearing process prior to plowing.

The brignt green rows in the picture of the field above are of barely. The barely was being harvested by the man in the top picture and his daughter. It is this family that I will tell you about tomorrow.

Oh, in case you are wondering, there is no zoom lens at use in picture #2!