Most businesses in the border areas have to compete with their counterparts in neighbouring Indian towns. So is the case with the watermelon business.
Dhanmoti Subba is one of the farmers in Langchenphu Gewog in Samdrup Jongkhar who started growing watermelon since last year. She has grown the juicy fruit in about an acre of land this time.
The fruit will be ready for harvest in about two months. The yield looks promising but Dhanmoti Subba is worried over whether she would be able to sell all of them or not.
Her fears are not unfounded, but stems from past experience. Last year, she had a tough time selling the fruit. About two sacks of the fruit went bad in the end, she says.
“We have to compete with watermelon sellers from across the border and they apparently use chemicals to enhance production,” she said.
“They sell the fruit at a very cheap rate of Nu 5 for two kilograms. So, Bhutanese people prefer to buy from them. They are not willing to buy from us at Nu 20.”
She added sometimes they have been forced to sell at a rate cheaper than theirs. “It’s better to sell at a lower price than to let the fruit go bad. Watermelon grown in India looks better but ours taste better.”
About seven households in Langchenphu Gewog cultivated watermelon.
Phuentshogthang is the other gewog that started cultivating the fruit. The two gewogs together produced about 5,000 kilograms of watermelon last year.
