Meat shops in Gelegphu are not able to operate their business as usual and have remained mostly closed due to a shortage of supply from their local suppliers.
The shop owners said that the rising demand for meat from other dzongkhags and higher price offer has resulted in local suppliers selling it to vendors outside Gelegphu.
They said that people from other dzongkhags are visiting local poultry and piggery farms around Sarpang Dzongkhag and offering farms higher price than the regular clients of Sarpang Dzongkhag.
A meat vendor in Gelegphu town, Tekbadhur Gurung said, “People from Thimphu, Paro, Wangdue, Punakha, and Bumthang are offering a high rate. If farm rate remains low we can afford but with farmers demanding high rate we cannot buy from them.”
Another meat seller, Vijay Pradhan said farmers were selling meat for Nu 300-400 per kilogram to vendors from outside but not supplying to local meat shops. “In the past people from the same farms came to sell their meat products to us and we accepted. Now in the current situation, they have stopped supplying to us.”
However, Basant Rai, a piggery farmer from Dawathang village denied supplying to other dzongkhag at higher rates and said local meat production was never sufficient and over 75% of the meat available in the market was imported prior to the ban. “We could be self-sufficient in meat items if imports from other countries are restricted. Farmers are not willing to venture into mega farming due to fear of incurring loss with the market filled with imported meat.”
There are 23 piggery farms, 27 poultry farms and around 10-broiler farms in Sarpang dzongkhag and 20 meat shops.
The market-approved rate for chicken in Gelegphu is Nu 195, Nu 220 for pork, Nu 270 -350 for beef, and Nu 250 for fish.
Karma Wangdi
