Bhutan: Locally-grown fruits struggle to find market
Mendrelgang Gup Yeshey, said that Tsirang has the potential for growing varieties of fruits but storing and marketing is the biggest challenge for farmers at the moment.
“Like vegetable cooperatives, forming fruits cooperatives with certain facilities would help meet demand for fruits in the country,” he said. “Farmers are capable of doing large scale farming, but they do not want to take the risk due to lack of facilities.”
A vegetable vendor in Tsirang said that he would prefer to sell imported fruits for their color and durability. “But it’s difficult to sell locally-grown fruits because they perish too soon.”
Officials from the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Cooperatives (DAMC) said that despite the time that takes to reach fruit self-sufficiency, there are a good number of fruits that are exported outside the country.
Records with DMC show that last year, about 1,387.4 metric tonnes (MT) of apples worth USD 901,823 were exported to Bangladesh. About 5,385.6 MT of apples worth of USD 3.5 million were exported to India as well. About 26,728 MT of oranges were exported to Bangladesh, which amounts to USD 1.04M last year. During the same time, about 10,101 MT of oranges were exported to India.
Source: kuenselonline.com
