Areca nut growers in Sarpang are witnessing a drop in both demand and price for the areca palm fruit this season. The farmers say while the harvest this season is bountiful, the price drop came as a disappointment. Areca nut is one of the main cash crops for the residents of Sarpang. The district which is considered as one of the largest producers of areca nut in the country produces more than 5,000 metric tonnes of the nut annually.
Areca nut growers in Sarpang say the production this time has almost doubled. However, the price dropped by around Nu 1,000 per quintal compared to the previous year. They added that last year, they fetched around Nu 5,000 for a quintal of the nut.
“The yield is better this year. The production from a decimal of land has increased to a hundred quintals this season from about 60 to 70 quintals last year. However, the price has decreased. Last year, we fetched more than Nu 5,000 per quintal but this time we can earn only Nu 4,000,” said Sangla, a farmer from Umling Gewog.
“The yield has almost doubled this time. But the price has dropped,” said Lhadrup, a farmer from Dekiling Gewog.
“This time, the yield is very good but the price has dropped by Nu 1,000 per sack,” said Bom Badhur Monger, also a farmer from Dekiling Gewog.
Some of the vendors exporting areca nuts say that not many Indian buyers turned up this time. They added that this could be because the Indian buyers have an additional supply of areca nuts from Myanmar this year.
There are eight areca nut growing districts in the country with over 11,000 growers. The country produced over 11,000 metric tonnes of areca nut in 2022.
Karma Wangdi, Sarpang
Edited by Phub Gyem
