A good opportunity
A lot of people are complaining about the price of chili shooting through the roof. Some have taken to social media to express their grievances while some are just complaining without making a formal complaint.
Chili is to Bhutanese as onions are to Indian. It is one essential spice, in Bhutanese context, an essential vegetable. Bhutanese cannot eat without chilies. It is the vegetable.
With the agriculture ministry banning the import of chilies from India and the local produce getting out of season, a shortage of the important vegetable is being felt. Most of the chili producing regions like Paro, Punakha, and Thimphu has finished their harvest. It is winter and chili doesn’t grow in these dzongkhags, which produce most of the chilies.
The one we get in the market today are from places that harvest late. It will soon be finished. Our warm regions in the south are not producing chilies. Soon we will hit the panic button. As of yesterday, a kilogramme of chili is costing Nu 200. This is the price of late February when the first Bhutanese chilies hit the market.
Soon, the price will increase, warns vendors at the vegetable market. In Wangduephodrang, where late harvest from places like Nobding and Shar are brought, middlemen are almost fighting to buy it by the sack load to be sold to Thimphu, at a higher price.
Everybody needs chili- from ministers to the construction labourer. It is like sugar in tea for the rest. Without supply, it is going to cost dear, especially to the poor and the middle-income group.
Banning imported chili is a good decision. It is better to not eat than eat chilies that are contaminated. But how long will we go without the supply. Soon we will run out of chilies and we will see the price of dried chili increase. As it is, it is already expensive.
Our authorities should start looking into this. There are ways. For many farmers in the border area, Bhutan is a good market for vegetables, especially in winter. We cannot control what farmers in India are doing to their crops, but because we are inter-connected in this business, talks between governments, authorities, cooperatives or associations could help.
If authorities could convince farmers in, say Falakata, one of the vegetable supplying district in West Bengal, about the safety standards in Bhutan, farmers and businessmen would heed to our concerns. This is because it is a give and take situation. For them, Bhutan is a good market in winter and a supplier in summer.
What we can take from this is that we cannot be too dependent on imports. Farmers should start growing chilies in winter, especially in the south where the weather favours winter crops. The agriculture ministry could seize the opportunity in substituting import, an idea the government is promoting. They could provide subsidies in many forms starting from farm demonstration and trials of growing winter vegetables.
This is a good opportunity to encourage the thousands of unemployed to look back and see farming as a good source of employment.
A lot of people are complaining about the price of chili shooting through the roof. Some have taken to social media to express their grievances while some are just complaining without making a formal complaint.
Chili is to Bhutanese as onions are to Indian. It is one essential spice, in Bhutanese context, an essential vegetable. Bhutanese cannot eat without chilies. It is the vegetable.
With the agriculture ministry banning the import of chilies from India and the local produce getting out of season, a shortage of the important vegetable is being felt. Most of the chili producing regions like Paro, Punakha, and Thimphu has finished their harvest. It is winter and chili doesn’t grow in these dzongkhags, which produce most of the chilies.
The one we get in the market today are from places that harvest late. It will soon be finished. Our warm regions in the south are not producing chilies. Soon we will hit the panic button. As of yesterday, a kilogramme of chili is costing Nu 200. This is the price of late February when the first Bhutanese chilies hit the market.
Soon, the price will increase, warns vendors at the vegetable market. In Wangduephodrang, where late harvest from places like Nobding and Shar are brought, middlemen are almost fighting to buy it by the sack load to be sold to Thimphu, at a higher price.
Everybody needs chili- from ministers to the construction labourer. It is like sugar in tea for the rest. Without supply, it is going to cost dear, especially to the poor and the middle-income group.
Banning imported chili is a good decision. It is better to not eat than eat chilies that are contaminated. But how long will we go without the supply. Soon we will run out of chilies and we will see the price of dried chili increase. As it is, it is already expensive.
Our authorities should start looking into this. There are ways. For many farmers in the border area, Bhutan is a good market for vegetables, especially in winter. We cannot control what farmers in India are doing to their crops, but because we are inter-connected in this business, talks between governments, authorities, cooperatives or associations could help.
If authorities could convince farmers in, say Falakata, one of the vegetable supplying district in West Bengal, about the safety standards in Bhutan, farmers and businessmen would heed to our concerns. This is because it is a give and take situation. For them, Bhutan is a good market in winter and a supplier in summer.
What we can take from this is that we cannot be too dependent on imports. Farmers should start growing chilies in winter, especially in the south where the weather favours winter crops. The agriculture ministry could seize the opportunity in substituting import, an idea the government is promoting. They could provide subsidies in many forms starting from farm demonstration and trials of growing winter vegetables.
This is a good opportunity to encourage the thousands of unemployed to look back and see farming as a good source of employment.
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