Regional Agricultural Marketing and Cooperative Office (RAMCO) in collaboration with OPM-CARLEP through fund support from CARLEP conducted a Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) on vegetable value chain at Trashi Yangtse focusing on four eastern Dzongkhags (Trashigang, Trashi Yangtse, Pemagatshel and Samdrup Jongkhar). The workshop convened from 29-30th June 2018 wherein farmers, traders, and Dzongkhag Agriculture officers from four Dzongkhags attended along with the representatives from various regional agencies such as Agriculture Research and Development Center (ARDC), Food Cooperation of Bhutan Limited (FCBL), Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulation Authority (BAFRA) and National Seed Centers (NSC).

The platform was organized with the objectives of:
i. Creating shared understanding, ownership and collective action to address issues towards creating efficient vegetable and marketing and production system.
ii. Sharing the lesson learnt and experiences acquired and accordingly formulate the way forward.
iii. Create Business to Business (B2B) linkages (between producers and traders)
During the two-day workshop, the value chain actors deliberated and identified gaps/issues and the possible interventions.

Following were the top five issues and the possible interventions identified by the participants:

a. Issues/challenges: 
1 Poor Coordination amongst the stakeholders.

2 Farmers still practicing production led marketing

3 Lack of pricing standard/ poor pricing policy

4 Unavailability of farm inputs (seeds) in time

5 Poor Irrigation / water scarcity

b. Possible Interventions:

1.Conduct multi-stakeholder platforms

2. Initiate exchange visits among stakeholders

3. Emphasize on market led production

4. Promote contract farming

5. Awareness on pricing structure/ Cost of Production (CoP)

Subsequently, the workshop developed a doable action plan against each issues and the interventions. The action plan shall guide the agencies or sectors concerned towards implementing the activities in creating a sustainable and efficient vegetable value chain in the east.

-Reported by: Karma Wamgmo (GKMO) & Sangay Cheoda (CM-VC & Marketing).