MSP on Vegetable Value Chain for Mongar and Lhuentse

June 19th, 2018

Food Corporation of Bhutan Limited (FCBL) in collaboration with OPM-CARLEP conducted a two-day Multi-stakeholder workshop on Vegetable Value Chain focusing Mongar and Lhuentse Dzongkhags amongst the Six Programme Dzongkhags. The workshop was held at Wangchuk Hotel at Mongar on 6th and 7th June 2018. The main objectives of the platform were to create better synergies among the service providers, traders and producers, and collectively address issues and gaps towards creating efficient marketing and production system. More so, the workshop was intended to create a business (producers) to business (traders) linkages. Farmers and traders from the two Dzongkhags formed the majority of the participants with representatives from numerous relative agencies (Dzongkhags, financial institutes, private sector, marketing and technical Agencies) also taking part in the workshop. During the course of the workshop, the participants in groups were made to identify major gaps/constraints and intervention in order to aid address the value chain issues and followings were their five major picks:

Gaps/ Constraints

  • Non-availability/Inadequate supply of farm inputs in time.
  • Poor production consistency /Sustainable supply.
  • Inadequacy of farmers’ awareness on market requirement and specification.
  • Uncertain factors – pests and diseases and natural calamities.
  • Low and scattered scale of production volume.

  Interventions

  • Adequate and timely supply of inputs (Farm Shops to undertake the supply of basic farm inputs (seeds, tools and implements) in collaboration with the Dzongkhag and seed production centers).
  • Undertake market-driven production approach.
  • Piloting of buyback through Farm Shops /Interested traders on contractual mode (Market Assurance).
  • Capacity building of farmers and individuals working on large scale on post-harvest handling, packaging, storage and processing of selected vegetable and product diversification.
  • Creating awareness on pricing structures.

Accordingly, the officials from various agencies were grouped into developing an action plan based on the identified interventions.  The participants were also taken through groups interaction by way of introducing world café with an intend to have the producers interact with all possible traders available in the workshop.

 

– CM VCM

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