November 24: The potato harvest this year has been good in the east. But according to farmers waiting at the Samdrup Jongkhar auction yard, the market is poor.

Farmers from the eastern dzongkhags have been waiting patiently at the auction yard in Samdrup Jongkhar. They have come from as far as Drametse, Kanglung and Pemagatshel to sell their potato.

This year has been a bountiful year for the farmers but unfortunately the production in the neighbouring Indian state of Assam has also been equally bountiful.

Most of the Bhutanese potatoes are bought by merchants from Assam but with a bountiful harvest in the state, not many merchants are venturing into Samdrup Jongkhar auction yard.

Our Samdrup Jongkhar reporter Pema Samdrup says usually around this time of the year, the auction yard would be busy with farmers coming to sell potatoes and Indian merchants coming to buy them.

Farmers said they have hundreds of kilograms of potatoes at home. They do not know what to do with them since they could not even dispose off the consignment they have brought with them to the auction yard.