Cardamom is slowly becoming one of the preferred cash crops for the farmers of Silambi Gewog in Monggar. The villagers said due to the good yield and price, they are encouraged to grow more cardamom. Farmers are grateful to His Royal Highness Gyaltshab Jigme Dorji Wangchuck for providing them with saplings which is helping transform their lives.
Most of the farmers cultivate cardamom in Silambi Gewog now. Most of them have been cultivating cardamom for years now while some are now starting to venture into cardamom farming.
This year, the farmers said they are happy and encouraged to grow more cardamom plants. They earned as high as Nu 900 per kilogramme of the spice this year. Last year, a kilogramme of cardamom was sold at Nu 450.
The villagers started growing cardamom after His Royal Highness The Gyaltshab provided them with saplings for the first time in 2016. His Royal Highness has provided more than 10 thousand saplings and a drying machine each to five chiwogs in Silambi Gewog this year as well.
“His Royal Highness The Gyaltshab visited our gewog and provided cardamom saplings to all the farmers. Thereafter, the farmers got inspired to grow cardamom. About 90 per cent of the dry land here is used for cardamom cultivation today,” said Dorji Wangchuk, the Silambi Gup.
Similarly, the farmers say that they are grateful to His Royal Highness Gyaltshab Jigme Dorji Wangchuck for the initiative as it has benefitted them a lot. In the past, farmers used to depend on maize as a staple food.
“We cultivated the saplings provided by His Royal Highness The Gyaltshab and each household now earns about Nu 200,000 to 300,000 in a year. We want to cultivate more cardamom in our fallow land now,” said Dorji Khandu, a farmer in Pang.
“Cardamom has benefited us a lot. Even elderly people are interested in growing cardamom. Some people cultivated it on about two to three acres of land while some cultivated it on five acres. Many people are now interested in cultivating it,” said Rinchen Chophel, a farmer in Nagor.
“We are not able to cultivate maize as the wild animals destroy it. In Nagor, we rely on cardamom as the main source of income. We are using it to meet the expenses of our children and run our families. So, we are thankful for His Royal Highness,” said Rinchen Chogyel, another farmer in Nagor.
There are more than 360 households in Silambi Gewog. Last year, 85 households started the cultivation and this year, the number of farmers venturing into cardamom cultivation has doubled.
According to the agriculture extension officer, farmers in the Gewog cultivate more than 100 acres of cardamom. This year, farmers in the Gewog earned about Nu 3 M from the sale of the spice.
Karma Wangdi, Monggar
Edited by Tshering Zam
