One of the main cash crops in the southern districts is areca nut or Doma. But the cash crop is failing to live up to its name after the exporters started facing difficulties in exporting it to India. Exporters in Samtse say they are running into losses since last year after the export issue started.
Almost everyone in Tashichhoeling Gewog in Samtse grows doma, today. According to Tashichhoeling Gup Kunzang Peljor, the gewog produces about 500 tonnes of the addictive nut every year. They used to export it to India in the past.
But since last year, the nut has either gone to waste or has been sold out at a relatively lower price due to the market issue with their Indian counterparts. And the story is the same this year too. Most of the areca nut either have not been harvested or have dried due to the ongoing market issue.
“We have been facing a tough time in dealing with the Indian Customs and SSB in exporting our produce. As such, we are still unable to sell the nut that we have bought from the local growers here,” said Jeewan Kumar Chhetri, a Doma Exporter in Samtse.
Given the market issue, some of them have even tried to value-add and sell fermented Doma within the country. However, that has also not gone well with the presence of imported Doma from India in the market.
“Given the recent Doma market issue to India, we have tried to sell our Doma within the country. However, we are finding it very difficult to sell the local Doma since people have access to imported doma, which are bigger in size,” added Tenzin Sherab, also an exporter.
Local traders in Samtse are now requesting the government to allow them to export via the Jitti border in the gewog.
“It will be much easier for us to export Doma via the Jitti border here. Our Doma dealers across the border have also been telling us to export Doma via this route,” Jeewan Kumar said.
“Exporting Doma via Samtse main gate is not very profitable as it incurs more expenditure on labour and transportation. If we are allowed to export Doma via the Jitti border with a temporary ICP, it will benefit seven gewogs,” the Tashichhoeling Gup said.
Meanwhile, according to the Samtse district administration, the export issue emerged last year after the areca nut was found not to be on the import list of the government of India. However, the administration says they have been facilitating the export whenever possible.
Of the 15 gewogs in Samtse, almost 12 gewogs grow areca nut today. In a year, Samtse alone is estimated to produce about 6,500 tonnes of areca nut on average.
Passang Dorji, Samtse
Edited by Sonam
