Passion fruit, a tropical fruit with a unique flavour, is gaining popularity in Zhemgang’s Nangkor Gewog. Following the successful trial of passion fruit cultivation in Nangkor’s Tali village, other farmers have also become inspired to take up the cultivation, making it a rapidly growing lucrative business venture.
Fifty-two-year-old Wangyel embarked on passion fruit cultivation in 2019. At first, he was hesitant about it.
However, with support from the district agriculture officials, he decided to give it a try.
Today, Wangyel’s hard work and dedication have paid off. After nurturing the passion fruit plants for nearly four years, he is now reaping the rewards.
“When the district agriculture officer visited our village seeking suggestions on fruit cultivation, I recommended passion fruits due to our subtropical soil. So, the district agriculture sector provided us with technical and material support and that’s how I started this project.”
He added that there is no dearth of market as he sells all his harvests to Bhutan Argo Industries Limited, a fruit processing company.
“Officials of Bhutan Agro from Lingmethang come directly to our fields to purchase our harvest. I am grateful for their support as we cannot afford transportation. We have also made an agreement with them agreeing on selling our harvest to them. This time, I am estimating a yield of about seven to eight thousand kilograms of passion fruits.”
Wangyel’s passion fruit farm spans five acres of land, accommodating about 2,700 passion fruit trees. This season alone, he expects to earn around Nu 300,000.
A kilogram of fruit fetches Nu 38. Additionally, passion fruit plants can bear fruit every season for up to five years.
Encouraged by his success, Wangyel plans to expand his cultivation further. He intends to plant more passion fruit trees in his fallow land, as the fruit thrives well in the village.
Meanwhile, motivated by Wangyel’s venture, five more farmers in the village are preparing to grow passion fruits from next season.
According to health experts, passion fruit is rich in antioxidants and dietary fibres which support the proper digestive system.
Pema Samdrup, Zhemgang
Edited by Sonam Pem
