Introduction

“Phuntshothang”, popularly known as Bangtar is located to the west of Samdrup Jongkhar with an area of 130.2sq.km. It shares its boundary with Assam in the south, Samrang and Pemathang in the east and Martshala to the north. The gewog has a sub-tropical climate, wet and humid summer with dry and cool winter with the altitude ranges from 200-650masl. The gewog consists of people from different regions due to the resettlement program. Phuntshothang gewog comprises of six chiwogs and 25 villages with 650 households. The paddy is the main staple crop. They also grow ginger, areca nut, and vegetables for selling.

Due to its nutritional value and as a means to generate income, vegetable cultivation is of paramount importance to Bhutanese people. Although the gewog has an opportunity to grow both cereal crops and vegetables, vegetable cultivation is given more emphasis to reduce the import of vegetables high in chemical content.

Winter Chili Program

The Department of Agriculture has initiated the winter chili program from 2017 to meet the demand during offseason and substitute the import of Indian chillies which content high chemical residue. Likewise, in Phuntshothang, 30 households started cultivation of organic winter chilli in 3.1 acres under the winter chili program. The chili cultivation has been implemented in three chiwogs i.e Belamsharang, Phuntshothang and Samdrupcholing under Phuntshothang Geog. With the fund support from CARLEP, chili growing households were supported with seeds, Flexible pipes, Drip irrigation sets, vermicompost and mulching plastics as shown in the table below.

Inputs supplied in 2018

Sl.no	Village	Seeds supplied (gram)	Flexible pipe	Drip irrigation set	Vermicompost	Mulching plastic
1	Agurung	460 grams	2 nos	4nos	200kg	4 rolls
2	SCholing	280 grams	2 nos	1nos	100kg
3	Khameythang	240 grams	2 nos	4nos	100kg
4	Phuntshothang	240 grams	1nos	1nos	–

Nursery raising

The farmers raise seedlings in the nursery together in the same plot and provide proper management as needed. When the seedlings are ready for the transplantation, the seedlings are divided among the members and transplantation is done at the individual’s land. 

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Chill production in the year 2017-18

Location	Altitude(m)	Chilli Variety	Total production (kg)	Amount (Nu)
Agurung	750-759	PAN-200gms, SV2319HA-160gms, SHP 4884-100gms	1080	162000
S/choling	350-400	PAN-100gms, SV2319HA-80gms, SHP 4884-100gms	260	39000
khameythang	200-500	PAN-40gms, SV2319HA-200gms, SHP 4884-200gms	275	41250
Phuntshothang	200-250	PAN-40gms, SV2319HA-100gms, SHP 4884-100gms	76	11400
TOTAL			1691	107850

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Harvesting

The chilli is harvested manually from February to August.

The Gewog Extension agents provided farmers with awareness on the negative impact of non-organic vegetables that are imported from neighbouring countries. Along with that, more groups were formed to take up the winter chilli cultivation. In the year 2018, a total of 53 households including LUC, Dorangthang youth farmers started winter chilli cultivation. Subsequently, the cultivation of winter chilli increased to 5 acres from 3.1 acres.  With the fund support from CARLEP, the additional farmers were provided hybrid seeds, and mulching plastic for retaining moisture, reducing weed growth and to maintain the temperature during cold winter.

Production data for the year 2018-19

Location	Variety	Production (kg)	Amount (Nu)
Dorangthang	PAN-30pkts	20	3000.00
Agurung	SV2319HA-40pkts SHP 4884-35pkts	274	41100
Minjigang	SHP 4884-40 pkts	50	7500
Khameythang	SV2319HA-30pkts	150	22500
Solmothang	SHP 4884-30 pkts	50	7500
Thongjaling	SHP 4884-40 pkts	50	7500
Samdrup choling	PAN-5pkts  IR8-Indian-27pkts	220	33000
		814 kg	Nu. 122100

                  Note: This data is till May 2019 and there is still under fruiting stages

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The farmers sell their produces at the local market in Tshangchuthama, schools and Samdrup Jongkhar town individually. This initiative has not only helped the individual farmers earn income but has also contributed to rural poverty alleviation. Therefore, it is expected to gear towards fulfilling the objectives of the Economic Development Policy of Bhutan to promote a self-reliant economy guided by the philosophy of Gross National Happiness.

submitted by

Tenzin Dema, Sr. ES-II

Phuntshothang Gewog.