Scaling Up Agroecology Through the Use of Feebates : The Case of Rice in Bhutan

The Kingdom of Bhutan aspires to move to 100 percent organic agriculture and improve self-sufficiency in its most important cereal crop, rice. Unfortunately, simulations conducted by Feuerbacher et al. (2018) suggest that a full conversion to organic agriculture as currently practiced in Bhutan would result in diminished self-sufficiency in cereal crops. Widespread adoption of agroecology, which improves yields by building soil organic matter and nurturing ecosystem services, could potentially achieve both 100 percent organic production and improved self-sufficiency in cereal production; however, perceived costs and risks may impede farmers’ willingness to adopt agroecology. In the current research we develop an integrated systems model to explore policies for bringing agroecology to scale, focusing specifically on rice production in Bhutan. Simulations show that a feebate (fee and rebate) policy coupled with promotion and training in agroecological farming methods could incentivize widespread adoption of agroecology, achieving both 100 percent organic production and greater self-sufficiency for rice in Bhutan. The model developed for this research can readily be adapted to examine various feebates or other policies for incentivizing agroecology for other geographies and crops