Keiji Nishioka

In 1966, Nishioka, along with three apprentices, established an experimental farm in Bondey in Paro dzongkhag.[1][4] In this farm, Nishioka grew rice and vegetables such as peas, radishes, pumpkins and cabbages using seeds he had brought from Japan.[6] The farm was successful, growing in size and profitability, even supplying food to guests at the 1974 coronation of the Fourth Druk Gyalpo (King) of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck.[2] Nishioka's contributions helped improve paddy cultivation and the use of greenhouses.[1] He also encouraged farmers to sell their food in the open market, including in places outside Paro like Thimphu and Phuntsholing.[2]

Nishioka, along with ten apprentices from the Bondey farm, went to Panbang in the Lower Kheng region of Zhemgang dzongkhag in March 1976, as a part of an Integrated Development Project for Zhemgang.[1][2] The natives of this region mostly practised shifting cultivation in the forests, with no permanent settlements. Nishioka worked to make the region more developed. He ordered the clearing of forests and the settlement of the shifting cultivators in villages in the cleared areas.[7]

The region around the present-day village of Sonamthang in Zhemgang was converted from forest to 146 acres of paddy fields on Nishioka's orders. At the end of Bhutan's Fourth Five-Year Plan, 65 households whose members had contributed to the clearing and cultivation of the region were awarded land there, creating Sonamthang village.[7] Other villages created this way were Thinleygang, Laling, Marangduth, Tunkudema and Pantang. Nishioka also introduced the cultivation of agarwood and cardamom trees for use as cash crops.[8]

Nishioka's efforts led to an increase in the standards of living of people in Zhemgang, reportedly improving communities' self-sufficiency in foodgrains.[7]

Nishioka was active in the field of infrastructure development in Zhemgang. He oversaw the building of 17 suspension bridges and mobilised people's participation in the construction of canals, roads and health clinics.[1][2]

Nishioka is remembered as the 'father of modern agriculture' in Bhutan.[11] In Panbang, he is remembered as 'Japan sahib' among the elderly. A suspension bridge in Panbang—the Nishioka zam—is named after him.[12]

In Paro, a Buddhist stupa called the Dasho Nishioka chorten, is dedicated to Nishioka.[13] In June 2014, on the completion of fifty years' cooperation between Japan and Bhutan, a museum was inaugurated in Paro in Nishioka's memory.[9][14]