Besides its rice production, Punakha is also known for growing varieties of vegetables. Today, about 1500 acres of land in the dzongkhag is used for cultivating vegetables.
Farmers produced about 3,400 metric tons of vegetables last year. They produced about 1,301 metric tons of chilli from the 568 acres of land followed by beans, broccoli, leafy vegetables and cabbages.
Soon after they harvest the paddy, farmers start to vegetable cultivation. Vegetables are one of the main sources of cash income.
“In the past, we use to cultivate vegetables on a mass scale but stopped in between. We again started cultivating vegetables for commercial purpose from last year,” Choden from Sirigang, said.
“Our Gewog Agriculture Extension Officer advised us to cultivate cabbage and the yield was good and the cash income was good too as compared to other vegetables. We sell Cabbage for Nu 100 a kilo in wholesale.”
“I cultivate cabbage in 25 decimal of land and chillies in half an acre of land. Chillies and cabbage are our sources of income” Tshering Yangden, from Wakoo Damchhi, said.
However, the major challenge faced by the farmers is wild animals damaging their crops.
To address this issue, about 1,069 acres of wetland has electric fencing and it proved to be successful.
“We would again like to request the government for more electric fences for our fields,” Sigay Dem, from Lingmukha, said.
Marketing their farm produce is not an issue.
“Farmers here work hard and the income they get at the end is also good. We didn’t hear any farmers complaining of not having access to the market since they sell their products to vendors from Thimphu and Phuentshogling,” Phurpa Tshering, the Assistant District Agriculture Officer, said.
Punakha also produced 16,649 metric tons of rice from about 7,700 acres of wetland last year.
