With the Government of India lifting the restrictions on the export of onion to the neighbouring countries, the Agriculture Minister said the shortage of onion in the country will no more be an issue hereafter. However, Lyonpo said farmers in the country should continue with the local production.
“What is important for our people to know is that we are also trying to produce onion in accordance with the agriculture contingency plan. And as winter vegetables, we are targeting more on local onion, chilli and tomato productions. But onion does take some time to harvest. So hopefully by the end of March or early April, we should be able to start harvesting our onion and accordingly as we have our local production we will have to control import depending on how much we can produce and how much we have to import,” said Yeshey Penjor, the Agriculture Minister.
India stopped onion export from September last year after heavy rainfall affected the production there, which led to a shortage and huge price rise of onions across the country. However, the Government of India has approved the export of 150 metric tonnes of onion per month to Bhutan till the end of last year.
Earlier the agriculture ministry wrote to the Government of India, requesting for the extension of onion import for another three to four months. The Indian government approved the monthly export of 150 metric tonnes of onions to Bhutan from October till December last year as a special exemption. And the government again wrote for an extension for importing the spice. “We have put requisition for January month and the requisition was approved but by then the Government of India has relaxed the restriction of the export of onion to all the neighbouring countries,” Lyonpo added.
The vendors and customers welcomed the news.
“During the first nationwide lockdown, we got a limited stock of onion for sale. We sold onion for Nu 130 to 140 per kg. Now the price has drastically gone down,” said Dawa Zangmo, a vegetable vendor in Olakha in Thimphu.
Currently, a kilogram of onion cost Nu 60 per kilogram in the market.
Choni Dema
