Tsirang is known for its quality oranges, but orange orchards in the dzongkhag are not producing as great a yield as they once used to. Worms have been attacking the oranges, causing them to drop off before ripening.
The orange yield has been falling for 63-year-old Bakhu Drukpa from Kilkhorthang village. In 2011, Bakhu Drukpa earned about 1,00,000 and in 2012, he earned just a little over Nu.50,000. He is not very optimistic about this season’s yield either.
“I don’t know if can earn what I earned last year, as I think the yield is going to be even less, this season. Worms have really affected my oranges”
Dorji, 61, from Gosarling village has more than four hundred orange trees but he says worms have damaged 90 percent of his orchard. He complains that the District Agriculture Office has done nothing, this year, to address the problem.
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“We even paid the District Agriculture Office to buy fermented tap before the season, but agriculture officials told us that they could not get any. The oranges are falling off too early; I think we are in big trouble”
The District Agriculture Officer, Pema Chophyel, maintains that orchard owners in Tsirang still do not know how to manage their orchards properly, despite awareness programmes. He did, however, say the fermented tap is an effective way of controlling the worms.
“We get the fermented tap from a dealer in Siliguri, India. We call him for our supplies. I don’t know what happened, last year, but our dealer said the product was out of stock. I empathise with our farmers but there we could really not to anything to help them.”
Orange is one of Tsirang’s main cash crops, but for how long? If the worms are here to stay, Tsirang’s oranges are in danger of perishing.
