June 25, 2025
LHUENTSE – In Berpa in Khoma Gewog, Lhuentse, 25-year-old Karma Wangdi is redefining youth-led agriculture by venturing into integrated agri-business.
As the only commercial mushroom grower in the area, Karma’s goal is not just to build a livelihood but to keep his ancestral land alive and productive.
His journey is supported by institutional backing from the dzongkhag administration and the Commercial Agriculture and Resilient Livelihoods Enhancement Programme (CARLEP), which has helped him sustain and gradually expand his family-run enterprise.
Karma’s ambitions go beyond mushrooms. He plans to invest in integrated fruit crops and kiwi cultivation alongside new mushroom varieties. But his vision is rooted—literally—in home soil.
“I do not want to leave the homeland and lease another land,” he said. “If we leave this land, our ancestral land will turn fallow—which is difficult to revive.”
After completing Class XII in 2018, Karma was unable to pursue higher education due to financial constraints. In 2022, he established Karmic Farm, co-managed with his mother. The initial investment of Nu 100,000, contributed by his mother, went into 500 shiitake logs and 90 bags of oyster mushrooms. But the first attempt failed.
“Just a few kilograms grew. Maybe because of my limited knowledge, the start-up business failed,” he recalled.
Instead of giving up, Karma turned to online learning. “I learnt better techniques and lessons from social media and have been working to improve.”
He also credits the Samsara Integrated Agricultural Farm in Kalapang—a model farm in eastern Bhutan—for inspiration and technical guidance.
Today, Karmic Farm has over 1,000 mushroom bags in operation, with more than 400 bags already showing early signs of yield.
With support from CARLEP at the end of 2022, Karma built a shed equipped for high-tech farming. The programme provided materials such as net houses, drums, a pump set, a chaff cutter, syntax tanks, and flexible pipes.
“Under the 30:70 cost-sharing model, the total expenditure was Nu 300,000,” he said. “I also received hands-on training in mushroom cultivation and management in 2022.”
Karma credits the support as vital: “Had CARLEP not assisted, the idea—which my brother had proposed—would have died in its early stage.”
While his first production season in 2022 was unsuccessful, 2023 and 2024 brought earnings of Nu 51,000 from mushroom sales. Between March and May this year alone, his gross income has already reached Nu 204,000—and continues to grow.
Looking ahead, Karma is keen on community-led agricultural innovation.
“New variety support is essential. It can help us research new options in the community,” he said.
For now, he barters straw with farmers from Babtong village, exchanging mushrooms for the raw material used in cultivation.
Karma’s farm is also digitally connected. With IoT (Internet of Things) technology provided free by CARLEP, he monitors and manages farm conditions via smartphone. The Dzongkhag administration also contributed by providing CIGA zinc sheets for the shed.
However, he noted that Khoma Gewog has shown limited involvement in supporting his efforts, despite him being the only commercial farmer in the gewog.
Karma supplies between 20 and 50 kilograms of mushrooms in each order to three schools in the gewog and delivers 50 to 60 kilograms to a nearby dratshang.
Despite increasing demand and institutional support, logistical challenges persist. Chief among them is road access.
“The mushroom cultivation house is located about one kilometre downhill from the farm road connecting the village,” he said. “We are managing the steep climb for now, but a better-connected road would greatly ease the burden on farmers like us.”