After waiting for more than eight months without a proper buyer, quinoa farmers of Bartsham Gewog in Trashigang finally got a buyer. But they are not really satisfied with the price this year. The Food Corporation of Bhutan is purchasing quinoa from the farmers there. The corporation is paying close to Nu 70 for a kilogramme of the cereal. The farmers fetched up to Nu 100 for a kilogramme in the last two years.
Farmers of Bartsham Gewog usually cultivate quinoa in September and harvest the crop in December and January.
But this season, they had to wait for buyers until the cultivating season to sell the previous harvest. Although a private individual purchased a few hundred kilogrammes of quinoa most farmers haven’t been able to sell the cereal.
This year, we got only Nu 67 per kilogramme. So, farmers are unhappy and some are discouraged from cultivating quinoa. Only a few farmers have started cultivating on around 10- to 20 decimals of land. Many haven’t started cultivation yet,” said Chompa, a farmer.
“When we first started growing the crop, they paid us Nu 100 per kilogramme. That sparked farmers’ interest in cultivating quinoa and many farmers began growing the crop. But from the second year, the price decreased to Nu 90 per kilogramme. But this year, the price has drastically reduced. This has left us discouraged from growing quinoa. I can’t say how low the price can drop to in the coming years. So, farmers are in a dilemma whether to cultivate the crop or not,” said Jigme Yangdon, another farmer.
The Food Corporation of Bhutan officials said the sale of quinoa products is growing at a snail’s pace as the cereal is relatively new to domestic consumers.
Nonetheless, the FCB is exploring the market.
The corporation also arranges free transportation from sources to bordering towns to encourage farmers to continue quinoa farming. In the last two years, quinoa farmers in Bartsham could earn more than Nu 100,000 by selling the cereal. This season the highest the farmers earned is Nu 80,000.
More than 100 farmers grow quinoa in Bartsham. They produced close to 5,000 kilogrammes this season.
Quinoa was first brought into the country in 2015 from the South American country of Peru.
Sonam Dargay, Trashigang
Edited by Phub Gyem