In spite of the despairing narratives, the COVID pandemic presented a lot of opportunities. The majority of the opportunities are in the agriculture sector. In Paro, a cold storage facility owned by a private individual is doing brisk business.
Established on almost 30 decimal land at Satsham, the cold store belongs to 40-year-old Dorji Khandu. He had set up the facility following a recommendation from the National Post Harvest Center in 2019. The facility has four units and is designed to store apples. But with the ongoing pandemic disrupting all exports, farmers come to the facility with other products as well.
More than 200 kilograms of cabbage are currently stocked up in the cold store.
“Last year the apple season coincided with lockdown in the country. But people availed the cold storage facility and their worries were solved,” said Dorji.
Meanwhile, the farmers say the cold store facility help them buy some time in finding customers at a time when exporting the products are difficult.
“Last year when export and import were disrupted, we got a good price for apples. First I bought apples from others and stored them in the storage here. Then I sold a box or few whenever there was a demand for apples and I could fetch Nu 2500 for each box. I heard some were able to fetch even more,” said Pempo, a farmer from Tsento Gewog.
Should everything go well, Dorji is planning to start a fruit waxing service. Fruit waxing is the process of covering fruits with artificial wax to improve durability and maintain freshness.
Namgay Wangchuk, Paro
