SARBHANG

… and yet, they comprise just 10 per cent of what sells, indicating the huge potential for farmers to produce and oust imported greens

M B Subba GELEPHU.

Eight o’clock in the morn­ing at vegetable market in Gelephu.

There is a lot of hustle and bustle in the lower corner of the market, just outside the street. Some vendors are still untying their bamboo baskets and sacks to display their produce. These are not the bargain hunters. Week­end shoppers are rushing to buy the fresh vegetables from Tsirang.

The famed vegetables from Tsirang are the first items in the shopping list for civil servant Karma. “I came early to get my share of fresh veg­etables from Tsirang before the others mop them up,” said he.

Prices of Tsirang’s produce are at par with the imported vegetable. But on the basis of quality, taste and fresh­ness it is far better than the imported ones, Karma in­sists, and is echoed by many other buyers. Dollo chilies at Nu100, beans at Nu 50 and radish at Nu15 from Tsirang are some of the produce that sell like hot cakes in Gelephu.

About 20 vendors from vil­lages like Dhajay, Beteni and Mendrelgang regularly bring their produce to Gelephu every weekend, vendor Nima

Dorji said. Many reach here by Friday evening to sell their produce on Saturday at the best prices. “Some reach on Saturday and even on Sunday.”

In the absence of enough sheds, vendors display their produce under the temporary plastic sheds on the ground.

However, despite the fame of Tsirang’s vegetables, there is also a complaint that ven­dors are often passing off In­dian vegetables as local stuff. One customer told BHUTAN TODAY that he had been sold some imported vegeta­bles dubbed as produce from Tsirang.

Hence, Gelephu is the best alternative market for Tsir­ang’s farmers after Thimphu. Though their produce may fetch higher prices in the na­tional capital, transportation cost to Gelephu is minimal, to vendors say.

With more farmers taking up vegetable cultivation com­mercially, cooperative farm­ing has also become one of their needs. “I collect vegeta­bles from my neighbours on Thursdays and bring them here and earn some profit,” a vendor said.

This shows there is a lot of scope for our people to make livelihood from vegetable cultivation, an observer said. Farmers too have noticed the changes it has brought in their standard of living.

It was very difficult to earn any cash in the past.

“Just a few years ago we had to work for a whole day in the field of our other farmers for Nu 50, but now vegetable cultivation has become our cash cow. And today poor farmers are less dependent on their rich neighbours,” a Tsirang farmer said.

In the context of Gelephu, while there is a huge demand for the locally produced stuff, Tsirang’s produce just ac­counts for about 10 per cent of what the market needs. Rest of the vegetables are imported from India.

And that is perhaps the best indicator of what farm­ers can achieve for them­selves if this 90 per cent gap is closed with local produce, some observers say.

From Bhutan Today

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