With declining potato yield, farmers in Bumthang are looking for an alternative to earn cash income. It is the sunflower. Our Bumthang reporter, Komal Kharka, says a large number of farmers in the Dzongkhag have taken up sunflower cultivation as the best alternative cash crop.
Sunflowers were planted in April and now it is almost time to reap the yield. Some of the farmers tried cultivating for self-consumption. However, over the years they have started doing it on mass scale. “Most people these days cultivate sunflower in 50 to 60 decimals of land. It is a good income and it involves less work compared to other crops,” said Sonam Rinchen, a farmer.
The seeds are packed and sold in the market. The average price per packet of seed is Nu. 15 but some farmers say it depends upon the yield. “If the flower is big we get around two to three kilogrammes of seeds and if the flower is small we get around half a kilogramme of seeds,” says Namgay, another farmer doing sunflower business. “If we sell the seeds ourselves we can get around Nu. 20 per packet but if we sell the seeds to shopkeepers we get about Nu. 10-15 a packet,” he added.
Most farmers say they do not even have to go to market to sell their produce as people from as far as Thimphu come looking for it. Some farmers have ventured into sunflower cultivation for over ten years and they say the business has been lucrative over the years.
“I got around Nu. 60,000 from selling sunflower seeds last year. I have planted sunflower in one acre of land altogether. It is a lucrative business as we do not have to fear of animals damaging the crops like in other cash crops,” says Dema.
Farmers say they are expecting better yield this year. However, there were some damages to the crop due to continuous rainfall and also due to the army-worm outbreak in the Dzongkhag earlier this year.
