The export of potatoes through Phuentshogling comes to an abrupt halt after Indian officials across the border stopped the good from entering India citing that it’s not in the export list submitted by Bhutan. Potato is one of the main cash crops for farmers across the country.
Usually, at this time of the year, the truck parking in Phuentshogling is seen busy with truckloads of potatoes readying for export to India. But these days, the area remains silent.
According to sources, there is a high demand for potatoes in India this time. But the issue from the ‘export list’ which was not much of an issue earlier stopped the export. Some also claim that since potatoes exit through Phuentshogling, which is a high-risk area, might be the issue.
“We face lots of challenges in exporting the potatoes. The government officials and Sashastra Sema Bal (SSB) has stopped the entry of our potatoes in India. Until a few days back, we could anyhow export few truckloads daily. But since the day before, the export has completely come to a halt. I have stored half of the potatoes in the godown now,” said Lungten Wangdi, an exporter at Phuentshogling.
“The traders in Jaigaon informed us that we need to make negotiations with Indian officials regarding the export as there are some issues with it. We had to stop export for a few days now. We submitted a report regarding this issue to the government. We are hoping that the two governments will discuss these issues and we will be able to continue the export in a week or two,” said Dorji Tashi, the Director for Department of Corporate Business with the Food Corporation of Bhutan.
Meanwhile, the government is working with the Indian government and adding five more crops in the export list. According to Agriculture and Forests Minister Yeshey Penjor, only cardamom and asparagus are in the registered export list.
“The government has been working on it for the last two years. Negotiations take time and just now the government of Bhutan is working in five major items that are apple, mandarin, areca nut, ginger, and of course potato. So the formal negotiations are almost in the final stage. The final negotiations mean we have submitted a list of items to the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO). And NPPO had some feedback on it and we clarified those. We had three rounds of interaction, and finally, it is submitted from the Royal Government of Bhutan through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the embassy of India, yesterday,” Lyonpo said.
The Agriculture Minister also said until now there was no issue on exporting potatoes as there was a mutual understanding between the governments.
“Although the list of potato is not formally registered with NPPO, the export has been on mutual understanding and it has been ongoing smoothly. In between, of course, there has been disruption mainly due to some local factors. From the state, central, district, and at the government level, there is not so much of a problem. The problem arises from local issues,” Lyonpo added.
For the first time, this year the private individuals were also allowed to export the potatoes. Since mid of last month, private traders exported potatoes worth nearly Nu 110 M. And FCB exported potatoes worth more than Nu 20 M.
Sonam Penjor/Tsherin gzam
