Bhutan Farmers Bet on Hazelnuts to Stop Mudslides and Earn More

Bhutan, a small mountain kingdom in the Himalayas, is betting on an unusual crop: hazelnuts. A social enterprise called Mountain Hazelnuts started in 2009 as the country's first agriculture project funded entirely by foreign investors. It recruits local families and gives them hazelnut trees to plant on their land, then buys the nuts they grow.

So why hazelnuts? Two reasons. First, the trees' roots grip steep hillsides, which helps prevent mudslides that threaten villages and roads during heavy monsoon rains. Second, hazelnuts are a luxury snack sold around the world, so they fetch much higher prices than the rice and vegetables farmers currently grow mostly to feed their own families. For people with little cash income, that difference matters a lot.

The change is personal. Farmer Pema Dema, 58, had never heard of a hazelnut when recruiters first approached her. "I wondered what sort of a nut it was," she said. Today she has more than 140 trees on the slope above her home and even adds the nuts to suja, Bhutan's traditional salted butter tea. She is one of thousands taking part. More than 40 per cent of Bhutan's workers farm for a living, but almost all of it is subsistence farming — growing just enough to survive, not to sell.

The catch is patience. Hazelnut trees take years before they produce a harvest, so families must keep farming other crops while they wait. Global nut prices can also rise and fall, and mountain weather is unpredictable. Still, growers say the steadier soil and better prices make the long wait worth it — a slow fix for two problems at once.