Beijing, August 9 – Tibet is eyeing India, Nepal and Bhutan to export garlic to the three major South Asian markets, a report said today.
Already, Gyangze county in the Tibet autonomous region of Southwest China has contracted to export 150 tonnes of garlic to Nepal.
Tibetan garlic has been gaining in popularity in Nepal since 2002, when Nepalese people paid up to three times the usual price for about 700 kg of Tibetan garlic, Xinhua news agency reported from Tibet’s capital, Lhasa.
The Director of the Agricultural Bureau of Gyangze county, Nyima Toinzhub said Nepal’s annual garlic demand was about 2,000 tonnes, with huge growth potential.
Gyangze county is also monitoring garlic markets in other South Asian countries which Tibet shares borders with, such as India and Bhutan.
Planting garlic has become a main industry in Gyangze county, and could earn net profit of 1.5 million yuan (about 181,000 US dollars) from its garlic exports, Nyima said.
The county, with more than 200 years of garlic cultivating history, is planning to devote more arable land to the crop, the report said.
