Tsamdro (Rangeland) as a Source of Livelihood to the People of Bhutan

Abstract

Tsamdro plays an essential role in providing resources for the survival of yaks, cattles and horses as these animals provide continuous support to herders in Naro, Merak and Logchina gewogs. There has been numerous change in land tenure system of ownership in tsamdro since 1960s of the ownership of tsamdro. However, in Land Act 2007; it was stated that tsamdro will be nationalized and policy will be implemented by 2017, yet the policy has not been implemented and herders still use the tsamdro as used earlier, where the owners had to obtain written permits from the Dzongkhag authorities to graze one’s livestock on one’s own grazing land by paying an annual grazing permit fee. This study aimed at determining whether tsamdro is a source of livelihood for the herders in Naro, Merak and Logchina gewogs. It was carried out in Naro, Logchina and Merak subdistricts (gewogs) of Bhutan. It employed a quantitative method by distributing questionnaire survey. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and the data was collected from a convenience sampling method of (N=75) herders through moderation analysis. The moderation analysis showed that tsamdro is a source of livelihood (land asset 571.526*** and livestock 37.670***) to herders. Further research is limited to study area and findings are likely to hold good for similar area only. Further research to find other sources of livelihood and their socio-economic impact on herders is recommended.