The Bhutan government has recently written to the Government of India, to extend onion import for another three to four months. The Indian government approved the monthly import of 150 metric tons of onions from October till this month as a special exemption.
The Department of Agricultural Marketing and Cooperatives (DAMC) under the agriculture ministry is hoping that the Indian government will consider the request. “We are hoping that we will not have a disruption in the supply,” said Leki Tenzin, the Officiating Chief Marketing Officer of DAMC.
Bhutan faced acute shortage of onions when India banned onion export in September. India stopped export after heavy rainfall affected the production. This led to a shortage and increased the price across the country.
And to curb such a shortage in the country, the ministry is working on scaling up local production. “The agriculture ministry has initiated winter vegetable production program but since the onion is a tropical crop, it is quite difficult to get the production in the winter,” said Leki Tenzin.
He added that “by April, we are hoping the production will be successful and there will be enough supply in the market. Otherwise, people will have to depend on onion leaves.”
For many Bhutanese, onion is an essential ingredient in most of the dishes. Sangay Buthri, a vendor of Centenary Farmers Market (CFM) said, “even during the lockdown, people bought onions despite the price hike. If we don’t have onions, it will affect our business.”
Currently, a kilogram of onion costs around Nu 80 to 100.
Choni Dema
