February 17, 2022

A hearty congratulations to the Gakhil Sang Group of Shingkhar in Bumthang for selling their first batch of Sang (incense) products!

The people of Shingkhar have been harvesting local high-altitude herbs for Sang by hand for their personal consumption for ages. Recently, they decided to initiate the Gakhil Sang Group of Shingkhar to mechanize the Sang production. After more than a year of working on this project with support from the Bhutan Foundation, the community of Shingkhar in Bumthang is excited to see the production unit running for the first time. It is equipped with the necessary machinery for drying, grinding, and packaging items. They recently sold their first batch of products to the nearby markets. 

The project engages around 32 people from the community to collect raw materials. There are five full-time employees and two school drop-out youths in the production house. Within a month of their production, the group sold around 151 units to the nearby markets. The proceeds from the sale of the products will support the monks in their community monastery and other needy school-going children. 

The main objective of this community initiative is to be self-sufficient and uplift their livelihoods through gainful employment. They hope this would also discourage people from their community from leaving for other urban centers. 

Mr. Kencho (62) from Shingkhar said, “With the new Sang production unit in the village, people like us can earn some income to purchase essential food items by selling the harvest to the group. At this age, it is very difficult to walk up to the hill to collect Sang for every ritual event. We can now use the powdered Sang produced by the group. We thank the group for such initiative and Bhutan Foundation for funding support.”