With orange trees dying every year, farmers in Samdrup Jongkhar have now resorted to growing other fruit crops such as Mango, Avocado and Litchi among others.
At one point of time, orange dominated the fruit farming in Samdrup Jongkhar and minted good money for the farmers. However, over the past couple of years, orange trees had been infected by a disease known as ‘citrus greening.’ It is one of the most serious citrus plant diseases in the world and once a tree is infected, there is no cure.
Villagers are now trying out cultivating mangoes, litchis and avocadoes on a large scale.
“I have planted 70 litchi saplings of that 45 were provided by the government. I hope it gives me good returns,” said a farmer named Gyeltshen Wangdi.
Such mass fruit cultivation has been possible with the help of the dzongkhag agriculture sector. The office distributed over one million fruit plants to 10 gewogs in Samdrup Jongkhar.
“Our aim to increase production in the country and reduce import. To fulfill this aim, we have distributed mango, avocado and litchi saplings to farmers,” said Dorji Gyeltshen, the Dzongkhag Agriculture Officer.
Farmers will have to wait for another five years to see if plants bear fruits.
