The Bhutanese Leading the way.
To the astonishment of many across the nation, a heavy hailstone on 10 April in Tsirang made news, but , the farmers in Tsirang wept in dismay due to the agricultural loss of their produce to the hailstone.
Beda Moni Chamlagai, Kilkhortang Gup, said, “Every crop and vegetable is damaged, such as oranges, cabbages, cauliflowers, and chillies, which were blossoming and had leaves, and all of it is now gone. The maximum impact was on cash crops such as oranges and local and Indian chillies.”
“Currently, we are collecting data on to what extent everybody has incurred losses, and I can tell it is a huge loss for everybody,” he added.
There are six gewogs affected the worst by the heavy hailstone, namely Gosarling Gewog, Rangthaling Gewog, Kilkhorthang Gewog, and Tsholingkhar Gewog, followed by Semjong Gewog and Doonglagang Gewog, which were partially affected.
“This is one of the heaviest hailstones in our dzongkhag. I don’t think we will be able to revive the lost vegetables and crops. The hailstone was only present for one to two hours during the day, but it blanketed everything on its path with five to six centimetres of snow-thick hailstone,” the Gup said.
Kilkhorthang resident Sukman Lama said, “Yes, there is significant devastation. Every crop in our village, including maize and vegetables, is ruined. Our village’s maize was just recently sown and it was in a growth stage; it is now completely gone. The fruit trees that were provided to us during the million fruit tree plantations were the next to sustain damage, after the surrounding vegetation. Everything has vanished.”
He said, “Nothing can be replanted now that it is off season, and every village in our gewog has incurred losses, except for those that were inside the greenhouse.”
He said that for now, people seem to have no plans since they are all saddened by the loss incurred.
“Everybody is incurring a loss of thirty, forty thousand or up to hundred thousand. We were supposed to get that back at the end of the season during the time of harvest, and today, we have nothing. Every one of us here is a farmer and heavily dependent on farming for our expenses. We are at a loss without a backup plan,” he said.
Diliram, a father to three kids, said, “I have school-going kids; I have to pay for their monthly expenses and sustain our livelihood. If I look at my field, everything I owned and worked hard for is gone and smashed. I cannot revive it.”
“It will be a difficult time for us now,” he added.
Currently, the gups of the affected gewogs said that the villagers are made out to fill out forms on how many losses have been caused and damaged. The gups are compiling the reports, which will be sent out to the Dzongkhag Administration Office soon.
The Gups share the sentiments of the villagers, expecting to be compensated in the form of incentives for major cash crops amounting to up to a hundred thousand, more or less.
On the other hand, the agriculture extension officer said that it is just an assessment from the Dzongkhag disaster management to see the extent of the damage, and he does not know anything about whether the farmers will be compensated or not.
