The villagers of Samrang Gewog in Samdrup Jongkhar who started growing mangoes are hoping the fruit will earn them good income.
The mango farming in the gewog first started in 2014 with about 10 households planting 272 mango saplings. 30 more households joined them this year by planting about a thousand more saplings.
The mango cultivation in the gewog was initiated by the Dzongkhag Agriculture Office with support from the RNR Research and Development Centre (RDC) in Wengkhar, Monggar. The aim is to make Samrang a mango village.
“Samrang Gewog has favorable climatic condition and topography for mango cultivation,” said Sonam Phuntsho, the Dzongkhag Agriculture Officer. “The other aim, of course, is to help provide farmers a source of income.”
“It’s been three years now since we planted the saplings and if everything goes well, we plan to set up a small mango juice factory,” said Kishore, one of the farmers.
“Some mango trees have started bearing fruits,” said Ran Maya Rai, said another farmer. “We hope to be able to make some money from it.”
The group of farmers that planted mangoes in 2014 is expecting to reap their first mango harvest by next year.
