The Kingdom of Bhutan, a constitutional monarchy bordering India and China, has set itself the ambitious task of becoming the world's first 100 per cent organic nation.

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The small country has gained a reputation for its humanistic aspirations in recent years; in 2006 it was voted the 'happiest country' in Asia and the eighth-happiest worldwide. Bhutan is home to just over 700,000 people and the country’s development policies are focused on ensuring the wellbeing of its inhabitants and protecting the environment.

The Bhutanese government has recently announced that it will phase out the use of synthetic chemicals in agriculture over the next eight years. Around two-thirds of the country's inhabitants depend exclusively on agriculture, and 80 percent of the population derive most of their livelihood from farming. Bhutanese farmers produce wheat, potatoes, rice, apples, oranges and other fruits and spices.

Last week, Agriculture Minister Pema Gyamtsho told Agence France-Presse, "Bhutan has decided to go for a green economy in light of the tremendous pressure we are exerting on the planet. If you go for very intensive agriculture it would imply the use of so many chemicals, which is not in keeping with our belief in Buddhism, which calls for us to live in harmony with nature."

The minister told AFP that the majority of Bhutanese farmers are already growing organically and that no more than 3 percent of the predominantly forested country’s land is used for agricultural production.

The drive for transformation first came about in 2008; it was devised by the Ministry of Agriculture. Bhutan is a predominantly Buddhist country, and the ministry claims the decision to do away with synthetic chemicals is in keeping with the Buddhist tradition.

Although the policy's aim is to promote wellbeing, health and sustainability, it has been suggested that the small country lacks the quantity of available labour to cover the shift. Nevertheless, as civil engineering works such as road building are mostly undertaken in conjunction with labourers from neighbouring India, there may be a solution at hand, though in the policy’s early stages the traditionally inward-looking kingdom may have to seek help from outside its borders.

Speaking during Organic September in the UK, broadcaster and Soil Association president Monty Don expounded on the need for deeper structural change in agricultural policy across the rest of the world. He said the "Unbridled arrogance of the 60s and 70s and… patterns and systems that it created for remorseless profit-based food production are [now] in the tight fist of huge corporations that have no respect or care at all for humanity. Capitalism cannot change track. It is condemned to measuring success and failure in terms of profit and loss. Governments have less and less power and chase after more and more control. But we can change things for the better."

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