44-year-old Samten from Barkazor village, Udzorong Gewog in Trashigang has made horticulture a successful venture.
Samten started a sapling nursery in his village in 2010 soon after completing a basic training from the Agriculture Research and Development Centre (ARDC) Khangma. Since then, there has been no turning back.
Samten grows grafted fruits saplings of walnut, peach, persimmon, pears, and asparagus saplings in his nursery. The annual income from the sales of the saplings, which started at around Nu 600,000 has now reached a whopping Nu 1.1 M this year.
Besides attending various training in horticulture, Samten also completed an advance level training in 2015 from ARDC Wengkhar in Monggar.
Today, Samten is not only a successful horticulturist in his village but also a certified trainer. So far, he has trained four people in his village and one of them has also started a nursery and is doing well.
The saplings are supplied to the agriculture extension offices in the six eastern Dzongkhag and also sold directly to farmers. The fruits saplings are sold at a price ranging from Nu 100-170 while asparagus saplings are sold at Nu 4 per sapling.
Sonam Darjay
