Ginger is cultivated by every household in Tarithang Gewog. It is harvested during winter and stored for a few months before it is sold off at the Gelephu FCB auction yard.
However, many people in the gewog could not sell their harvest this year because finding a porter to carry the ginger all the way to Gelephu is difficult. The swollen Mao River adds to the problem. “All our produce was rotting. We had no option but to throw it away,” said a resident of Tarithang, Sangay.
In the past, a kilogram of ginger fetched between Nu.50-60. But the price has gone down this year. “It fetched only Nu.8-9 a kilogram,” said Thinley, another villager.
The Manager of the Gelephu FCB auction yard, Ugyen Choidup, said the price of ginger started falling from last year. He said so far a kilogram of ginger fetched between Nu.15-21. He attributed the low price to the bumper harvest in India, low quality of the local ginger and the frequent strikes across the border.
At the moment ginger is the only source of income for the people of the gewog.
