Lemon grass oil

November 19 – Late rains and the September 21 earthquake have drastically reduced the extraction of lemon grass oil in the four eastern dzongkhags of Trashigang, Mongar, Lhuentse and Trashiyangtse.

According to the manager of the lemon grass cooperative in Sherichhu, Tshering Wangchuk, who has made two rounds to collect the oil, only 30 distillers were active this season, down from 55 last year. Oil production had also dropped from 4.96 metric tonnes (MT) to about 1.6 MT so far this year.

“We were stuck with farmwork so couldn’t extract the oil while the monsoon lasted,” said Dorji, a distillern who earned Nu 150,000 last year. Lemon grass oil is a major source of cash income for eastern farmers.

Distillers also said that they could not find enough workers because farmers were busy in cultivating paddy. Labour is required to fetch fuelwood and cut the lemon grass, which grows wild, to extract the oil.

Extraction usually begins from June end and lasts until late November.

Meanwhile, the number of distillers has dropped from 75 in 2007 to 55 today. There were 170 distillation tanks, which produced 7.06 MT of lemon grass oil in 2007 and earned Nu 3.54 million. Lhuentse distillers did not extract oil last year. This year production is expected to fall because of the late rains.

Many farmers also said that the September 21 earthquake disrupted extraction. “Many couldn’t continue their oil extraction after the earthquake hit their homes,” said Narang tshogpa, Tshewang Gyeltshen. Many households from the lower regions of the gewog participate in the extraction.

“We were hoping for a better output this year, but the result was very disappointing,” said Tenzin Namgyel, a member of the cooperative. One more round of oil collection is still to be done before the extraction for the season is arrived at.

Since 1992, Mongar has produced the most oil (81.36 MT), followed by Trashigang (32.66 MT), Trashiyangtse (15.28 MT) and Lhuentse (10.61 MT). One kilogramme of lemon grass oil earns between Nu 400 to Nu 600.

Bio-Bhutan, a private company, which also regularly exports the oil, has demanded two tonnes of the oil.

“We were hoping that we could at least meet their demand,” said the manager, Tshering Wangchuk. “The distillers usually produce similar quantity in the first and third rounds of collection.” If so, then meeting the demand could be difficult this time.

The cooperative collected over 600 kg in the first collection this year.

Farmers are hoping that production will jump in the third round collection of oil from the cooperative’s seven collection points in the four dzongkhags. But officials of the cooperative say it would not make much of a difference to the quantity that has already been collected.

The cooperative has 170 members in Lhuentse, Mongar, Trashigang and Trashiyangtse.

source: kuensel