Taplejung farmers busy harvesting cardamom

By Our Correspondent

Taplejung, Nov. 3: With the end of festivals like Dashain and Tihar, the farmers of Taplejung have been busy storing cardamom.

Farmers are currently busy picking, releasing and drying cardamom as part of the cardamom harvesting process.

As the months of October and November are the main season for harvesting cardamom, the farmers are engaged to harvest cardamom at this time.

Cardamom, which is the main cash crop of the district, is collected from mid-August in the lower area. In the upper area, collection is done till mid-December.

Although it takes time to harvest cardamom from mid-August to mid-December, it is the main season to harvest cardamom so farmers are busy with this work.

When it is time to collect cardamom, if it is delayed for some time, the wild animals will eat it and cause damage, so the farmers are involved in cardamom collection at present.

Farmers said that due to the cardamom season, festivals like Dashain Tihar cannot be celebrated easily.

Kedar Patangwa, a farmer from Phungling Municipality-6, Bihibare, said that since it is the main season, he had to spend his time in the cardamom field even during the festival.

Patangwa said that even though Dashain festival is celebrated at home, he spent time in the forest during Tihar.

Similarly, Khandu Sherpa, another farmer of Phungling Municipality-6, also said that the festival of Tihar was spent picking, releasing and drying cardamom.

Sherpa said that when they start celebrating the festival by staying at home, wild animals cause a lot of damage, so they had to be busy picking and storing cardamom without celebrating the festival. Farmers like Patangwa and Sherpa who are involved in cardamom cultivation are now busy collecting and storing cardamom.

Out of the 61 wards of the nine local levels of the district, cardamom cultivation is carried out in all the wards except Phaktanglung Rural Municipality-7, Olangchungola.

Cardamom is being cultivated in an area of ​​about 4,450 hectares in the district. Since it is a major cash crop, farmers have been cultivating cardamom in the district even in the land of where food crops such as rice and corn are produced.