The good orange season has been benefitting not only farmers but students as well in Pema Gatshel. A group of students from Gashari village in Norbugang Gewog are getting temporary jobs in orange orchards as fruit pickers. Besides meaningfully utilising their vacation time, the children are also earning money which they plan to use to meet their educational expenses.
The orange harvest season has just started in Gashari village and will end early next month.
About 20 middle and high school students are engaged in picking the oranges.
So far, they have picked around six truckloads of the fruit.
With a good yield this season, the students are hopeful of being able to earn a good income. Last season, they earned about Nu 20,000, but this time, they are expecting to get about Nu 5,000 more.
The children are paid based on the number of oranges they pick.“We are hoping to earn more this time because the orange yield is better. When we work, we do not have to rely on our parents to meet our expenses. We can do the shopping from our earnings,” said Karma Loday, a student.
“We get the payments on time. So, it reduces the burden on our parents. The amount is enough to meet our school expenses,” said Sonam Lethro, another student.
Likewise, the parents are also expecting a good income through the sale of oranges. Orange is the main source of income for the villagers of Gashari village in Norbugang which is one of the highest orange-producing gewogs in the district.
Thinley Dorji, Pema Gatshel
Edited by Tshering Zam
