About 71 households in eight villages under the dungkhag have planted at least five saplings of passion fruit each in June this year. Initiated by Druk Satair private limited in Samdrupjongkhar, the saplings were brought in from Bhur in Gelephu to be grown in their dumpyard, located about four kilometres from the border gate towards Nganglam.

Of the 15,000 saplings they brought in, the company, through the renewal natural resource centre, distributed about 1,500 saplings to the villagers. Company’s administrative officer, Sidhart Chhetri, said passion fruit was being planted, since the 4.5-acre dumping yard will remain idle for about five years.

“We did a market research and found that the demand for passion fruit is quite high from agro industry in Bhutan and from companies in India,” he said. “Even if our company can’t continue in future, at least villagers will benefit.”

It was found that Nganglam, being sub-tropical, was best suited to grow the fruit.  Each sapling had to be planted two metres away from the other. Agriculture extension officer, Karma, said the fruit could grow where ever its seeds were thrown.  But that fruit is good enough only for self consumption, unlike the saplings that bore better fruits.

“The saplings, prepared from stems, needs an extra care though,” he said, adding they were guiding the villagers. If everything goes well, the farmers will see two harvests in a year.  The first harvest is expected to be in June next year.

One of the villagers from Alabari, Tshering, said their expectations had been raised, and that they plan on transplanting the fruit to a bigger land if it works well. “It is an opportunity for us to generate some income,” he said.

For now, the only income source for the villagers was oranges.  A kilogram of passion fruit today fetches about Nu 20 to Nu 25 in the local market. Once cultivated, Druk Satair is also expected to help farmers market the fruit.

Tags : Passion, Fruit