The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Member of Parliament (MP) from Shompangkha Constituency, Tek Bahadur Rai, asked what progress has the government made on exploring additional routes for areca nut (doma) export during the 7th Sitting of National Assembly session.
He said as the areca nut is an important cash crop in the districts of southern Bhutan. Recently, people have been facing difficulties exporting doma to India. Although India have accepted imports of Bhutanese doma with a maximum limit of 17,000 metric tons.
However, the export volume has not reached 17,000 metric tons, primarily due to the limitation of having only one export gateway at Phuntsholing.
He pointed out, “The high transport costs of using internal road networks make it difficult for doma producers to reach Phuentsholing. The only feasible solution to help our farmers is to open other border gates for the export of doma. This request was made earlier, so if government can share any progress made on this matter?”
The Foreign Affairs and External Trade Minister, D N Dhungyel, shared that the government has identified four additional routes to export areca nuts to India.
Lyonpo shared that the import of areca nuts into India is prohibited with certain conditions namely the import price for all countries, and not just Bhutan. After pursuing the matter with the Government of India (GoI), the annual import of 17,000 metric tons of fresh areca nuts from Bhutan was approved from 3 July 2023.
He said that earlier the import was allowed only through the Land Custom Station (LCS) in Jaigaon- Phuntsholing, and the quantity approved was also much lower. Based on subsequent follow-ups and requests, the GoI has allowed imports of areca nuts through Chamurchi-Samtse.
“We recognize the additional costs and logistical challenges faced by areca nut producers from other regions due to the requirement to route exports through these two LCS. These routes do not sufficiently cover the major areca nut producing districts of Sarpang, Dagana, Tsirang, Zhemgang, Mongar, Samdrup Jongkhar and Pemagatshel. To address this, the government of Bhutan is actively engaging with the GoI at various forums and formal requests have already been sent to GoI for the inclusion of additional LCS for areca nut exports, especially Hatisar-Gelephu, Daranga-Samdrup Jongkhar, Kulkuli-Lhamoizingkha and Kamardwisa-Nganglam,” Lyonpo added.
Further, he said that this matter was most recently taken up during the Bhutan-India Joint Group Custom Meetings held on 6-7 May 2024. Should there not be a positive outcome soon, the government plans to pursue the matter at the next Commerce Secretary Level Meeting (CSLM) between the two countries, tentatively scheduled for the end of July 2024.
