Satkhira mango farmers grows the premium variant of mangoes that’s wildly popular with consumers, exporters and food processing firms for its sweet, succulent pulp and mild flavour. But this year, they fear the worst.
As the nation went into a stringent lockdown to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak, the farmers can’t get the fruit plucked from the trees and are also struggling to find transport.
Alongwith the pandemic, in several orchards, large number of mangoes that were still ripening were blown away by strong winds and lie scattered on the ground. Thus, mango farmers in Satkhira have suffered huge losses due to storm— affecting the local fruit sellers and export rates.
Seeing no other way, traders sold the mangoes in local markets at a wholesale price of Tk 5-15 and sent them in trucks to different districts of the country, including Dhaka.
The growers were expecting a bumper yield this year but there were unexpected rains coupled with hailstorms damaging a section of the buds in beginning of the season.
Meanwhile, the decision to market Himsagar mango from May 31 has raised fears and anxieties among mango growers. There are also fears about getting staff to pick the produce and transport it on time.
According to Satkhira District Agriculture Extension Department sources, mango is being cultivated in 5,299 orchards on 4,115 hectares of land in seven upazilas of the district this season.
13,099 farmers along with several thousands of labourers are involved in mango harvesting with a production target of 40,000 metric tonnes. Mango plucking will start from last week of May.
Nearly one lakh families of the district are involved in mango harvestation. Here mangoes are being harvested commercially. Satkhira has the best environmental factors in the country to support healthy, rapid mango growth.
Wholesale mango traders from across the country are thronging different local markets to procure mangoes from there. Mango is one of the sources of economy in this district. They are even exporting Himsagar mango Europe and America for the last few years.
Mangoes produced here are supplied to different parts of the country alongside meeting the local demand and are also exported to other countries.
Relevant sources further said that 31.83 metric tonnes of safe and pest-free mango has been exported from Satkhira in 2016-17 fiscal year and 27 metric tonnes in 2016-17 fiscal year to various European countries including Italy, Denmark, Sweden and France. But this year, farmers are worried about mango exports. If mango cannot be exported, they will be deprived of fair price and country's revenue will fall.
Jalem Kha, a mango farmer from Danga village in Miasaheb, who owns 15-acre mango orchard with around 250 trees said, “I was hoping to sell mangoes for Tk 6,50,000 and I took a bank loan of Tk 3 lakh for this season. If things don’t improve by May, it will be tough to repay.”
Nurul Amin, a mango farmer from the old Satkhira area said, "If we can't export the mangoes outside the district and abroad, our business will face a huge loss." In such a situation, he has sold an 18 acre mango orchard for Tk 3 lakh. If the situation was normal, the mangoes can be easily sold for Tk 6 lakh.
Rahman Hossain of Khalishkhali village in Satkhira Tala upazila has a 20 acre mango orchard. He said, “The lockdown initially left nearly all trucks stranded and drivers abandoned vehicles.
It’s usually a busy mango season for us. But this time, lack of transport agents and time taken at checkposts has made transporting mangoes, a highly perishable commodity, very difficult.”
Rashed, president of the Satkhira Sultanpur Bazar Cooperative Society, said, “Mangoes had been severely damaged by storm and CoronaCOVID-19. Prices are low due to market congestion.
Mango farmers are also worried about getting the fair price.” He fears that if the situation does not improve they will have to count huge financial losses in this season
Raushan Ali, general secretary of the same business association, said mango growers, retailers and wholesalers demanded incentives.
