Jaishtha, the second month on the Bangla calendar, is lovingly called Madhu mas (the month of honey). This is not for nothing. Although it is high summer time, the month's ferocious sultry heat is largely compensated by the many varieties of attractive, luscious and mouth-watering fruits. At no other time of the year does Nature offer such an array of its bounties. Yet of all the fruits, mango remains at the top of the list. But this king of fruits has earned quite an infamy over the years largely due to greed linked to some unscrupulous businesses and their intermediaries.
The major mango growing areas have been Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj for centuries and of late Satkhira has also followed those two regions in producing mangoes commercially. On one count, though, this late entrant has beaten its more illustrious competitors by exporting mangoes to a supermarket in the United Kingdom for the first time. Bangladeshi mangoes used to be sold in the UK niche ethnic market but this time a collaboration of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Hortex Foundation of the ministry of agriculture, Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and the FAO's Dutch-funded Food and Safety Programme made the export of Bangladeshi mangoes to the UK possible. Stringent tests were conducted right from the fruition of the trees to the ripening of the fruits before their shipment to ASDA, a Wall-Mart subsidiary and one of the largest retail chains in the UK.
With patronage from the FAO, countries like Mali have had a turnaround in their economies. The African country is however not a major producer of the fruit. Mexico enjoys the tag of leading exporter of mangoes because of its geographical proximity to the United States, the largest importer, and a few other reasons. India and Pakistan, the number one and number five producers of the fruit respectively cannot have the kind of access to western markets they deserve because of lack of compliance with the standard maintained in cultivation, procurement, packing, carrying and shipment. Bangladesh, with help from agencies like the FAO, has taken a major step towards overcoming the restrictions developing countries face in exporting their agro products and produces to the supermarkets in the West in order to command a premium price.
The country produces roughly one million tonnes of mangoes annually. The quantity varies depending on the on and off season of the fruit as also on weather. Chapainawabganj alone has a share almost half of the total. Indeed, it is a billion-taka economy and no fewer than 50,000 people are engaged in the endeavour beginning from the preparation of the mango orchard to packaging and transportation of the ripened fruit to different parts of the country. One wonders why an initiative for exporting this fruit was not taken earlier.
Such an initiative could have maximised the profit of this fruit. Instead, large quantities of mangoes used to naturally rot earlier when they were not treated with chemicals. When the infamous art of ripening immature mangoes and then extending the shelf life of ripened fruits by chemical treatment was known to farmers and traders, they took full advantage of it. Consumers grew angry but they were helpless. At one point, their negative attitude left a telling impact on mango trade. The administration could now read the consumers' mind and came heavily on traders and vendors selling such mangoes.
Farmers and traders want to market their produces early when the price is high. Then again they are eager to give a longer shelf life when the perishable items ripen almost at the same time. If there is a glut of any food in the market, its price naturally drops leaving little profit margin. This has prompted many farmers and traders to resort to an unethical practice in case of this and many other seasonal fruits. Now this could be avoided if the government had a clear policy on production, marketing, export and agro-processing of this highly favourite fruit.
Reportedly, consumers have grown sceptical about the natural ripening of mangoes. Fearing a reversal in mango farming and business, farmers in many of the producing zones have vowed not to take recourse to any illegal or artificial method for ripening the fruit. Even the local administration has come forward in their aid. Not only the Upazila Nirbahi Officers are encouraging farmers in such a good initiative but also giving written certification about no foul play with mangoes. This surely is an improvement in the situation. But consumers are once bitten twice shy. Can they be made convinced of this sincere effort on the part of all farmers?
Sure enough, it will take sometime before sanity returns to the market. When the so-called ripe mangoes started appearing in the city markets in mid-April, most people knew about the doctoring with the fruits. True, Satkhira mangoes are an early variety but still they are not supposed to ripen before the second week of May. Now that many farmers and traders have expressed their genuine concern about restoring the status of mango and its business, it is time that the adulterers were detected and punished. Consumers have to be cent per cent sure that there is no chemical-treated mangoes in the market.
It will be a quantum leap not only for the mango trade but also an act of restoration of honesty in business which is a sine qua non for a civilised society. In the interest of health, well-being and fairness of trade and commerce, this is the least this nation could do; for involved here is the future of the generations to come.
 nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com      Â
Planning for mango economy
Nilratan Halder | Published: June 12, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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