Farmers of Chapcha, Geling and Bjabchhog Gewogs in Chhukha now have a proper place to sell their farm produce. Thanks to the newly built Sunday vegetable market in Tsimalakha, which was inaugurated on Sunday.
Up until now, the farmers had to sell their farm produce along highway apart from taking it to the markets in Phuentshogling and Thimphu.
“Until now, we sold most of our produce in Chapcha and sometimes we took it to Phuentshogling and Thimphu,” said Gyeltshen, a farmer from Chapcha.
“The vegetable market here will benefit us immensely. We can now sell our vegetables when it’s still fresh.”
“We are very happy with this initiative,” said Dechen Mo, a farmer from Bjabchhog Geowg. “Going by the number of customers that showed up on day one, we feel the business will be good. We are going to work harder and produce more. We are very encouraged.”
“The vegetable market here will benefit the civil servants too,” said Namgay Wangchuk, a civil servant based in Tsimalakha. “We are happy that we now can buy locally grown vegetables.”
The market has a space for over twenty farmers. Now that they have a market space, the farmers are expected to double their vegetable production, which will help reduce import of vegetables.
The market shed was constructed at a cost of about Nu 5 m. It was funded by the government of India.
