Farming families at work in the terraced fields of the Valley of Thimphu in the central highlands of Bhutan. Helping one another transplant and harvest the rice crop is an ancient tradition among Bhutan farmers. The same plots will be used for growing wheat, barley, potatoes and vegetables. - - Forestry and Agriculture Development. Bhutan, a small, landlocked, mountainous Himalayan Asian country between China and India, was all but closed to the outside world until about ten years ago. Its 1.2 million inhabitants are mostly subsistence farmers and poor rural folk who live mainly off the products of the vast forests. Thimphu, the capital, has but 20 000 inhabitants. Yet, Bhutan is rich in natural resources and could become a prosperous nation. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is helping the Kingdom to develop its resources and, in 1985, had over 20 projects there providing aid and training to farmers and livestock owners, establishing modern forest industries, training extension workers, improving food security and commercial food processing and restocking the many inland lakes and rivers with hardier fish species.