Chimi Dema | Tsirang

A farmer in Doonglagang in Tsirang, Kalyan Mahat, has been making kiwi jam and wine.

In an hour, the unit produces 100 litres of wine.

“The fermenting the fruit takes at least six months,” he said. “I have produced about 100 bottles of wine since August last year.”

A bottle (375ml) of kiwi wine is sold at Nu 350. A bottle of 750ml wine costs Nu 650.

He has also sold about 300 bottles of jams and that come in different flavours such as kiwi, papaya and guava.

He got Nu 0.2 million to set up machines and the unit from the department of cottage and small industries. He also availed a loan of Nu 0.5M from Druk Holding Investment to start the business.

Mahat planted about 300 kiwi saplings in a three-acre land in 2015. Kiwi, both red and Hayward are planted among oranges and cardamom. He relies on Youtube tutorials to make kiwi products.

He said that he received demand for jams from India but export is a problem due to the current situation.

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