Farmers of Goenmkha-Mendrelgang Chiwog in Toebisa Gewog of Punakha are disappointed with the low price for radish. They have been growing the taproot vegetable as a profitable crop for around a decade. But this year, they are unable to market the vegetable due to a drop in both demand and price. Without a good market, some of the farmers have started discarding the radish while some have left the taproot vegetable unharvested.
Farmers cultivate radish in November and the vegetable is ready for harvest by February. Farmers of Goenmkha-Mendrelgang chiwog began cultivating radish on a commercial scale more than a decade ago. It has been about half a decade since they started cultivating the hybrid variety.
Farmers say they enjoyed a good market until last year, adding they could earn around Nu 700 for a sack of 25 kilograms.
However, according to the farmers, the price this time dropped to Nu 300.
“When we contact our buyers, they say the crop doesn’t fetch them a good price due to the availability of imported radish at a lower price in the market. Now, we are feeding the vegetable to cattle while some are left unharvested in the field,” said Pema Thinley, Goenmkha-Mendrelgang Tshogpa.
“Since there is no buyer, we will ultimately have to feed it to our cattle now as we will have to prepare the field for paddy cultivation soon. Even cattle won’t be able to eat all of the radishes. I am thinking of uprooting by ploughing the field with a power tiller as there is no one to buy it now,” said Kinley Zangmo, a farmer.
According to the farmers, the quality of the taproot vegetable is poor this season affecting the market. The farmers say they buy seeds of the hybrid variety from one of the seed-selling agents in Thimphu.
But the agent says it has not received such complaints from other places so far. Each household in the chiwog cultivates radish on at least 50 decimals of land.
“Until now, the production was good and fetched us a good price as well. But this time, we are facing challenges in marketing the vegetable as the quality is not up to the mark. I don’t know whether it is the quality of the seed,” said Karma Chophel, another farmer.
“Until last year, I used to fetch up to Nu 40,000 by selling radish. But I think I will barely get even Nu 5,000 as there is no buyer and even the quality is not good this time,” said Karma Yangki, also a farmer.
The Gewog Agriculture Extension official says rainfall during the harvesting time could have affected the quality.
The official says the problem could have also been caused by nutrient deficiency and overuse of fertilizers adding that the farmers have not used the seeds from the National Seed Centre.
In addition, the Gewog Agriculture Extension recommends farmers use the certified seeds and harvest the crop on time to avoid losses.
Almost 90 per cent of farmers in Toebisa Gewog cultivate radish but the Gewog Agriculture Extension Office says it did not receive such complaints from other places in the gewog. Goenmkha-Mendrelgang Chiwog has around ninety households.
Changa Dorji, Punakha
Edited by Phub Gyem
