June 25, 2024
SAMDRUP JONGKHAR – The mood among the farmers of eastern Bhutan at the Samdrupjongkhar auction yard is as gloomy as the weather. Their potatoes are not fetching the expected price, although it is better than last year’s.
Auctions began early this month. The price increased from Nu 25 to Nu 27 a kg for three days, after which it started decreasing.
Last week, a kg of large-sized potatoes was auctioned at Nu 27. It has dropped to Nu 23. A kg of medium-sized potatoes was sold between Nu 20 and Nu 23 last week, but it has fallen to Nu 19. A kg of small-sized potatoes was sold between Nu 9 and Nu 10.
The farmers say that only the first truckload on the first day of the auction had fetched Nu 27 per kg. After that, the price has remained low.
As on June 23, 15 truckloads of potatoes have been auctioned, amounting to 125 metric tonnes (MT) worth Nu 2.8 million (M). During the same period last year, seven truckloads of potatoes were auctioned, amounting to 76 MT worth Nu 1.7 M.
The potato price in Samdrupjongkhar is determined by potato production in the neighbouring Indian states, the cost of potato at cold storage, and consumer demand.
Officials at the auction yard attribute this year’s low price to uncured potatoes and continued rainfall, which damage the potatoes.
“If the production in India is high and the price relatively low, most bidders buy Indian potatoes sold at an average price of Rs eight a kg,” said the regional director of the Food Corporation of Bhutan (FCB), Ugyen. “The bidders find our potatoes expensive, resulting in the price decrease in Bhutan.”
He said that the price is expected to increase once the bidders in Siliguri, India, start buying potatoes from Bhutan for export to Nepal.
The partners selling potatoes to Nepal have not yet begun trading with Nepalese buyers. Once they do, farmers are expected to fetch a good price.
The farmers are worried that they cannot take home even 50 percent from the sale of potatoes after paying for transportation and meeting hotel and other expenses.
Many of them said that they harvested potatoes and brought them to the auction yard after seeing a good price last week. On average, each farmer brings about 55-kg bags of potatoes for auction. They hope to see the price increase before the auction season ends in December.
The farmers from Khaling, Yangnyer, Udzorong, and Kanglung in Trashigang, Bumdeling in Trashiyangtse, and Dramitse in Mongar auction potatoes in Samdrupjongkhar. Potato is their primary source of income.
Sangay, a farmer from Udzorong, said that it was difficult to cover expenditures, such as transportation and labour charges, from the amount earned from the sale.
He said the farmers had to load and unload potatoes thrice before they were shipped to Samdrupjongkhar. “Besides, we have to re-segregate potatoes into four sizes, according to the FCB’s requirement. Having to redo all these things is a hassle for the farmers.”
Another farmer, Kinzang Tshering, took 50 bags of potatoes, each weighing 100 kgs, to Samdrupjongkhar earlier this week on a hired truck. He paid Nu 250 as a transportation charge for each bag.
“I was surprised and numb when buyers at the auction yard paid only Nu 10 for small-sized potatoes,” he said. Even the best-sized, he said, fetched only Nu 23 a kg, which fetched Nu 23 to 25 a kg last year.
FCB officials have sought more bidders from Kolkata.
Ideally, farmers wait until the price increases. Last year, the price reached as high as Nu 30 a kg. This year, most farmers rushed to sell their potatoes after hearing that the price was good.