Farmers of Khangma village in Yurung Gewog, Pema Gatshel haven’t been able to sell ginger harvest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today they are waiting for the officials from the Food Corporation of Bhutan (FCB) to buy their produce. The Gewog Agriculture Extension official had told them that the FCB will buy the surplus produce through the government’s ginger buy-back scheme.
They normally sell the surplus produce to India which is now impossible because of the coronavirus pandemic. With no market, currently, the farmers have buried the produce in a pit while some have piled the harvest in their house. Some farmers chose not to harvest the produce altogether. They have not been able to plant new ginger.
Ugyen Dorji who grows ginger said the farmers may not be able to plant ginger this year as they have a lot of surplus unsold. “We heard that FCB is going to buy and so I didn’t dig because it gets spoiled once dug. Even if we store the produce in a pit, it rots in the soil.”
“Last time our agriculture extension officer told us that the FCB will buy the gingers. So, we are still waiting. It will be a huge loss for us if it is not taken early. I have almost 20 surplus sacks. We are hoping it will be taken soon,” said Gyembo Dorji.
“Now it’s time to plant again. The gingers are sprouting but we don’t have enough land to plant that many gingers. It is encouraging to work only if there is any buyer. We are hoping the government to buy the produce. It is also announced on the BBS that they will pay Nu 45 per kilogram,” added Cheten Chezom.
The farmers fear that their income will be badly affected if the government doesn’t intervene on time.
“We will be in trouble if there is no buyer. The price of cardamom is reducing every year. And now there is nobody to take our ginger also. We don’t have a vehicle to take the produce to Samdrup Jongkhar and now with the lockdown in place, we cannot do that even if there is a vehicle. If the government could kindly identify a location to collect in Pema Gatshel, we can reach the product by ourselves and it would benefit us,” said Cheten Chezom.
The district agriculture sector said that an arrangement has been made whereby FCBL officials will come to collect the gingers after a week. The government initiated the buy-back scheme for the ginger growers in March of this year. The Department of Agriculture Marketing and Cooperatives(DAMC) wrote to the FCBL requesting the agency to buy ginger from the farmers at Nu 45 per kilogram.
Khangma chiwog alone harvested more than 20 tonnes of ginger. Farmers of Pema Gatshel produced almost 300 tonnes of ginger last year.
Thinley Dorji, Pema Gatshel
