Abstract
The present chapter is an attempt to study the association between immigration and the loss of agricultural land with increasing urban pressure and the rapid land use conversions in Thimphu from the rural countryside. The focus of this study is on the rural-urban migration in the capital city of Thimphu of Bhutan over a period of 50 years from 1960 to 2010. Due to the heavy influx of rural immigrants to Thimphu, agricultural land was converted into housing zones and agricultural production has decreased to the extent that it is no more able to provide for the growing population of the city. However, the people also depend mostly on market supply for the rest of the year. Results of the survey provided insights into the changing agricultural landscape and consequent dependency on expensive food imports. This study seeks to inform urban policy makers to consider the protection of urban land for urban food security in future planning for Bhutan.
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Acknowledgement
This chapter is the revised version of the paper “Social ecology of immigrant population and changing urban landscape of Thimphu, Bhutan” published in the Journal of Urban and Regional Studies on Contemporary India, 4(1): 1–12 (2017). It is reprinted with kind permission of the copyright holder, who retain the right of reproduction: The Center for Contemporary India Studies, Hiroshima University: home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/hindas/index.html. This chapter is however the updated and changed version according to the framework of the present book.
The author is highly grateful to Mr. Jurmey Lotey, Karma Yanmgzome, Kinga Norbu, Thinley Wangmo and Rinzin Lhamo, the student of BA Geography/Economics III semester, Sherubtse College Kanglun, Royal University of Bhutan, who collected field information for the present research in 2010. This work would not have been undertaken without the field support extended by them during my tenure as the Colombo Plan Professor from India to the Royal Government of Bhutan from 2008 to 2010.
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Chand, R. (2020). Changing Agricultural Landscape and Immigrant Population in Thimphu, Bhutan. In: Urban Food Democracy and Governance in North and South. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17187-2_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17187-2_15
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