Growing food out of water in Bhutan

Self-reliant woman adapts hydroponics to country’s farming context

What began as a simple interest soon blossomed into a profound passion. She attended online trainings and saw that this innovative technique was also full of promise for addressing the challenges of food security and land fragmentation in her landlocked Himalayan homeland.

Hydroponics uses less water and is more productive than soil-based agriculture and can be carried out all year round. Though hydroponics can be expensive and difficult to install, all it requires at its most basic level is the plants, water, a container and a source of light.

To save on the cost of importing hydroponics systems, she learned extensively from international experts and customised their approaches for Bhutanese farmers.

Using her previous experience as a contractor, undertaking everything from plumbing to electrical jobs, Kinley, who also currently runs a hardware shop, leveraged her skills and self-taught know-how to build a hydroponics system using the deep flow technique, which catches and recycles water using pipes. The system is low-cost, efficient and made using readily available materials.   

It’s also easy to maintain, making it accessible and practical for small-scale farmers in Bhutan’s rugged terrain.

Kinley started Bhutan Hydroponics in a small-scale greenhouse in the Changzamtok area of the capital, Thimphu, back in 2020.

In early 2024, Kinley was one of the 30 recipients of funding support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as part of its Peri-urban and Urban Farming project in Bhutan, implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.

The project helped her with land development, equipment and materials for the farm, as well as seeds on a cost-sharing basis, and technical support with installing the greenhouses, garden structures, irrigation systems and digital equipment she needed for the venture.

Her vision is steadily taking shape with the establishment of three spacious greenhouses.

"The main benefit of hydroponics is that it helps plants and vegetables grow faster than traditional soil farming, and it takes up less space," Kinley explains. "In a greenhouse, we can control everything to make sure the plants grow well.” 

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