Farmers of Sergithang Gewog in Tsirang are expecting a good income from the green chillies that they harvested recently. This year, they have managed to harvest the local green chillies, two weeks earlier than last year. This is the second time that Tsirang Dzongkhag has been able to produce early Bhutanese green chillies since the commencement of the early chilli cultivation project, last year.
Given the success of the project in the district, around 60 farmers tried their hands on growing the local chillies in more than 15 acres of land this time. Last year, only nine households tried growing the local chilli early.
“Only around nine households took part in the early chilli cultivation project last year. But they made a good profit from the chillies. And farmers didn’t face any marketing issues. This has encouraged more farmers to grow the early chillies this year,” said D.B Ghalley, the Agriculture Extension Officer of Sergithang Gewog.
Farmers and agriculture officials recently harvested around 100 kilograms of chillies to be supplied to Thimphu. Rinchen Phuentsho, the Tshogpa of Sergithang Gewog thanked the Tsirang District Administration for supporting and encouraging farmers.
“We received good support from the district to grow the early green chillies and this encouraged our farmers to work harder. Moreover, there is no report of any major disease affecting the chillies. My fellow farmers are happy at the moment since they are expecting a bountiful chilli harvest,” he said.
The promising harvest this time has set high hopes for farmers to make a good income.
“I am expecting a good income from Bhutanese green chillies since we have import difficulty amid the pandemic. I am hopeful that our fellow Bhutanese will buy our local chillies,” said Bhim Subba one of the farmers of the gewog.
“It is a lucrative business for us. I heard some vegetable vendors are willing to pay higher prices than what we actually expect from a kilogram of green chilli. And what matters for us is a good price, so we are ready to supply our chillies,” added Rudra Lal Sanyasi another farmer.
Meanwhile, the district agriculture officials have requested farmers to sell green chillies at a minimal price to make the fresh chillies affordable and available to everyone.
“To solve price escalation of the green chillies in the markets, we have fixed a standard price for the green chillies to benefit both farmers and consumers since the Bhutanese green chillies started hitting the markets. We have requested our farmers to sell green chillies at Nu 350 per kilogram,” said Dorji Gyeltshen the District Agriculture Officer.
However, there were some complaints of chilli plants dying before fruiting. To this, agriculture officials said that for now, they are closely monitoring the issue and putting every effort to resolve the matter.
Pema Tshewang, Tsirang
