Food
Solution by: Mountain Hazelnuts Group
Hazelnuts Improving Livelihoods and Landscapes This hazelnut-growing enterprise delivers improved economic opportunities to farmers in remote parts of Bhutan while restoring eroded and hilly landscapes.
TE C LI M A IT F BENE
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SOCIAL With their additional earnings from hazelnut sales, farmers and their families can improve their quality of life.
THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
ENVIRONMENTAL By planting millions of hazelnut trees in the Himalayan foothills, this solution helps to reverse deforestation and soil erosion.
The Mountain Hazelnuts Group (MHG) is a triple bottom line company working to improve the livelihoods of Bhutanese farmers as well as the condition of the surrounding environment. By planting millions of hazelnut trees in the overgrazed and deforested foothills of the Himalayas, the enterprise will increase forest cover by 22,000 acres to produce large quantities of the high-value crop for export. MHG distributes hazelnut tree seedlings to thousands of farmers, who plant them on their land after receiving business training and advice from the company. MHG also establishes demonstration farms where farmers can learn about planting techniques. When the hazelnuts are ready for harvest, individual farmers sell them back to the MHG, which gaurantees a minimum price. WHY A SUSTAINIA100 SOLUTION? More than half of Bhutan’s labor force is engaged in agricultural work growing mostly rice, corn, and root crops. Many are drawn to cities in search of improved economic opportunities. In this context, MHG stimulates rural economies in a way that also protects the environment, which reduces the allure of urban areas and stems movement away from the land.
ECONOMIC MHG brings new economic opportunities to farmers. It claims it will double the income of 15% of Bhutan’s population.
The MHG provides farmers with technical support using Android smartphone management solutions.
DEVELOPED IN ...
USA AND BHUTAN DEPLOYED IN ...
BHUTAN
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