It has been two years since the sweet buckwheat from Denchhi Chiwog in Samdrup Jongkhar’s Gomdar Gewog was exported to Japan. With such an initiative, marketing the sweet buckwheat has never been a problem for the villagers. Indeed, it has become one of the main sources of income.
Ugyen Lhamo checks her sweet buckwheat seeds once a week to make sure there are no pests.
This year, she earned Nu 25,000 from selling the sweet buckwheat.
In Denchhi Chiwog, sweet buckwheat is cultivated in September and harvested in January.
“Compared to the past, people are cultivating sweet buckwheat on a large scale. Earlier, even if we cultivated it, we used it for self-consumption. Now, we are earning income from it.”
It has been about three to four years since the villagers started growing the crop.
According to villagers, they used to grow the crop in the past. However, due to the easy availability of imported rice in recent years, they did not cultivate the sweet buckwheat on a large scale until a few years ago.
“Earlier, we did not cultivate sweet buckwheat as we were not able to earn anything from it. Now, with the help of the government, we are cultivating the crop on a large scale. It is profitable. In a year, villagers earn Nu 10,000 to 40,000 from selling buckwheat,” said Karma Gyeltshen, a resident.
“I cultivated sweet buckwheat on a small scale in the past. But now, we are earning from it. So, that’s why I am cultivating it on a large scale,” said Sangay Choden, another resident.
With support from the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Cooperatives, and the National Post Harvest Centre, the gewog agriculture office exported 10 metric tonnes of sweet buckwheat to Japan about a month ago.
A kilogramme of sweet buckwheat earned Nu 70 while exporting. The same fetches low price when sold in the country.
The district agriculture office is planning to produce value-added products such as cookies, puta, and flour to encourage the cultivation of the crop.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Tshering Zam
