Staff Reporter 

The Bhutan Board Products Limited (BBPL) will launch today a brand of organic manure called Greenure to meet farmers’ demand for fertilisers.

Five kilogrammes (kg) of Greenure would cost Nu 199 and 25kgs cost Nu 799.

It will be available for sale in Thimphu, Gedu, and Phuentsholing.

A press release from the company stated that considering the current shortage of fertiliser in the country, the organic manure is expected to meet the requirements of farmers and gardeners to a certain extent.

The components of the manure are wood mulch, ash, and cow dung.

The company’s particleboard factory in Darla, Chukha, generates five metric tonnes of wood mulch and wet dust daily and has a deposit of wood mulch from three decades ago.

It also generates 130kgs of wood-fired boiler ash used to produce heat for industrial purposes.

The press release also stated that the company uses natural cow dung to enrich the nutrient content of the manure.

“The product is scientifically made to provide pH balanced manure with suitable moisture content while taking care of macro-nutrient mainly nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) and other nutrients like zinc, magnesium and sulphur,” it stated.

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are the major nutrients of manure.

The manure-manufacturing unit was set up within a year at Nu 3 million.

The press release stated that the National Organic Flagship Project of the agriculture and forests ministry provided financial assistance of Nu 1.20 million.

Greenure was put on trial for a year in Thimphu, Tala, and Phuentsholing.

According to the press release, after yielding positive results, the company set up the unit in Chukha and procured machines such as shredders, crushers, mixers, and sieving machines from India. “The laboratory test results from Kolkata have also noted that Greenure meets the organic manure standards.”

It added that the company expects to enhance the livelihood of families by engaging homemakers and children of the company employees as casual workers.

It stated that the manufacturing unit has a capacity of producing 4 MT a day. “If the product does well in the market, the company intends to expand its operation to meet the demand by augmenting the plant capacity and other facilities.”

The press release stated that the project is the largest and first of its kind in Bhutan that would recycle forestry waste into nutrient-packed organic manure for flowers, vegetable gardens and fruit trees.