Many people who lost their jobs returned to their villages after the pandemic hit the country. Most of them ventured into farming. However, not everyone has a success story to share.
31-years-old Shankar Regmi from Dhaminey village under Duenchhukha Gewog in Samtse tried his hands on mass chilli cultivation after he returned to his village earlier this year. Despite a promising yield, Shankar could not find a good market and is now struggling to guard his chillies against wild animals and pests.
Shankar revived over eight acres of fallow land to grow chillies. And his hard work paid off, at least in terms of yield.
However, it wasn’t to be a fairy tale. The market is already flooding with chillies and the price is not good enough. They are waiting for the market to improve. And the wait is proving very costly. Of late, the chillies have started to rot and die.
His nightmare does not end here. He is now sacrificing his sleep, after a tiring day at the field, to protect his chillies from wild animals, especially wild boars. He claims over three acres of chilli fields have been damaged by the boars.
“The wild animals did not affect us much in the beginning. But recently, wild boars have started to come into our fields. They uproot our chilli plants and they also destroy the mulching plastics that we have used to grow the chillies,” he said.
He is not alone, his neighbours are also dealt the same fate.
“No matter whatever we grow, wild boars come and damage them. They come every time. We guard our crops till 3 AM but it is of no use,” said Lal Bahadur Rai, also a farmer from the same village.
Although entitled to electric fencing, Shankar did not receive one due to the vast area and also due to the location of his field which is partly forest. But he believes proper electric fencing is the only feasible solution to his current difficulties.
“I have done some research using the internet and I found out that electric fencings are quite effective in solving the human-wildlife conflict. It will not harm the wild animals and at the same time our crops will be safe from them,” said Shankar.
“My son started the mass chilli cultivation hoping that it will benefit us. He has worked very hard. But going by the current situation, it is hard for us. I think things will improve if we get electric fencings from the government,” added Mukti Nath Regmi, Shankar’s father.
While Shankar waits for the gewog to provide him with electric fencing, he is also looking at the possibilities to add value to his chilli. Shankar now plans to make chilli pickles.
“We plan to make chilli pickles too. We are currently talking with a few of the pickle jar suppliers. If we can do that, for a kilogram of chilli, we are expecting to make about Nu 150.”
Meanwhile, the Deunchhukha Agriculture Sector said that the provision of electric fencing to Shankar was delayed due to the pandemic. They are currently procuring the required items and are hopeful to issue them by the end of this month. The gewog will also provide pesticides.
While many would be licking their wounds and it will be quite some time before they recover, Shankar remains optimistic and says he has had the experience which taught him things that will only help him move forward in life.
Passang Dorji, Samtse
Edited by Sonam
