The Rai Brothers of Sarpang are supposed to have introduced the Brown Jacket cardamom into Bhutan, from Sikkim, more than half a century ago. To be fair, it has been good for some people - in fact, since its introduction, it had at one point, emerged as the most valuable cash crop. In the early 80’s it was Bhutan’s most important export commodity and the highest hard currency earner.
But along with success, it has also caused major environmental destruction. The problem became so severe that for the first and last time in the country’s history, in 1979, the Fourth Druk Gyalpo commanded the nationalization of private property - the cardamom plantations. Along with it, timber trade was also nationalized because in the Northern parts of the country, the wanton destruction to forest was being caused - through illegal felling of trees and trading in them. The most affluent among the Bhutanese will trace the origin of their riches to - TIMBER.
The government channeled the marketing of these - wood and cardamom - through its two marketing arms - Food Corporation of Bhutan of the Ministry of Agriculture and Export Division of the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Forests. There was nothing straightforward about the cardamom trade. Everything was topsy-turvy about this peculiar spice that we did not consume - neither as a condiment, nor as an item of food. But boy, it caused a hell of a lot of confusion for me particularly - since I was the head honcho who handled the export of this item.
Something the reader may be interested to know is that when we were exporting this spice the US$ to Nu. conversion rate was Nu.7.29. But we exported so much that the Ministry of Finance was at times hard pressed to reimburse us the Ngultrum counter value :)- I remember the exchange rate so vividly because I must have written about 100 letters of reminder to the Ministry of Finance - for the reimbursement of Ngultrums for the US$ that was deposited into their account.
The problem caused by cardamom during late 70’s was two fold - but simple and straightforward:
1. deforestation - for drying cardamom pods; and
2. usurpation of government/public forests for illegal plantation.
Today the cardamom is yet again creating problem for the country. But this time I fear the government has not understood the problem in its entirety. I think they are missing the point completely. The government is on a dangerous path, which will ultimately prove costly for themselves and for the country.
There are few very simple things the government needs to understand:
1. Cardamom is a Cash Crop - it is NOT an essential food item. In fact cardamom is one horticulture produce that has no domestic consumption. If this produce is grown - it is done STRICTLY TO GENERATE CASH for the growers.
2. If you travel across the country, you will see that cardamom is now planted everywhere - irrigation land, traditional farmland, even kitchen gardens. A large number of farmers have abandoned farm work and they are now solely focused on one single cash crop - CARDAMOM. Should this crop fail - either through disease outbreak or overproduction exceeding demand, the growers have nothing to fall back on. Their exposure is TOTAL.
3. Because the focus has now shifted to growing the cash crop, traditional farmlands and irrigation lands no longer produce food. This has severe implications on food security. Because of fall in food production, the cost is borne by the nation as a whole - through increased food import bill. The problem is so severe that one village I visited no longer grows vegetables - every single kitchen garden has been turned into cardamom plantation.
The proliferation of the cardamom is scary - it has taken over even the kitchen gardens - some farmers no longer grow vegetables in their kitchen gardens
Now the DNT government wants to buy the cardamom from the growers. The question is WHY? Why is a CASH CROP singled out for special treatment? Why does a cash crop need bailing out? Does the government realize that they are opening up a problem for themselves? I can understand if an essential food was the issue. But WHY A CASH CROP?
I still have not understood the reason why the government wants to intervene. The rumor doing the rounds is that the growers are not getting a fair price from Indian traders and thus the government wants to come to the rescue of the growers.
I believe that the government is clueless as to what they are getting into. They are about to repeat the disaster of the 80’s.
The country will support the government if they are bailing out farmers from a crisis of a failure surrounding an essential food item. But NOT for bailing out cash crop growers. There was an element of greed when these cardamom growers abandoned agriculture production and opted to venture into horticulture.
Why is the government so sensitive to the growers’ demand for a fair price? What is a fair price? From my understanding, the fair price is determined by the market - Bhutanese growers do not set the fair price. Prices fall and rise - depending on the law of demand and supply. How can the government come to the rescue of the growers every time they think they are not getting a fair price?
Does the government realize that if they do it for cardamom this time, the apple growers, the orange growers, the banana growers, the watermelon growers, the ginger growers, the onion growers, the chilli growers, the lentil growers - they could all demand the same treatment? And if they do and the government is unable to provide relief, what would be their excuse - for not being able to extend the same generosity to other growers, particularly agriculture farmers who are contributing to national food security?
I urge the government to rethink this through. The path they have chosen is fraught with peril - for themselves and for the Bhutanese people as a whole.
Also please remember that cardamom is not a perishable item - the growers can hold on to their stocks for years and sell them when the price is at a level that they determine is fair. Cardamom growers are all conducting business - thus they should know that this is all in the nature of business - hold on to the stock when price is down, release the stock, when the prices are up.
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