Agriculture: The villagers of Gamung in Pemagatshel are enjoying good production of winter vegetables, especially cabbage. There is high demand for the vegetable.

Farmers say that this is perhaps the first time the production of winter vegetables has been good to last the entire season.

Vegetable sheds in Pemagatshel can be seen filled only with cabbages. Chejay Wangdi, a farmer, said that after almost three years of trial, cabbage production shot up this year.

Besides cabbage, production of other organically grown vegetables like radish, cauliflower and broccoli has also increased.

Farmers attributed good production of vegetables to favourable weather and timely rainfall. The village doesn’t have good water supply to allow large-scale production of vegetables.

A kilogramme of cauliflower sells for Nu 80, cabbage and broccoli for Nu 30 and Nu 40 per kilogramme respectively. Farmers said that they are able to make at least Nu 10,000 in a month from the sale of vegetables.

Almost every household has cultivated vegetables, especially cabbage, after they harvested their maize. Orange production in the village has not been good this year.

Chejay Wangdi said that the farmers have been trying to grow winter vegetables even though it was not successful in the beginning. “Finally we reaped what we sow. Sometimes instead of depending on government, we should also find ways to generate income if one’s cash crops fail.”

The villagers also sell their vegetables to the nearby villages.

For many farmers, however, good production of vegetables has come as a challenge. They are not able to find market sheds to sell their vegetables.

“But now we’ve realised that we should go to the market on alternative days. This has helped us sell enough these days,” said a farmer.

Yangchen C Rinzin | Pemagatshel 

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