Unsold mangoes rotting on Rajshahi trees

OUR CORRESPONDENT
RAJSHAHI, July 27: The curfew imposed over the students' movement for the quota system abolition from government services has dealt the farmers and traders of Rajshahi a crushing blow as they could not sell their mangoes during this nationwide shutdown.
There is almost no trading of the fruit in the markets during this time due to unavailability of buyers and consequently the farmers and traders of the capital of mangoes are facing huge losses this season. Besides, mangoes cannot be sold online either in different parts of the country due to the persistent internet outage.
As a result, at the end of the season, 15-20 per cent of the remaining mangoes in most orchards are rotting on the trees, unable to be sold.
For the damage, farmers and traders are in apprehension of suffering a loss of several crores of taka.
Garden owners and traders said that the price and demand of mangoes were high due to low production for the adverse weather condition this season.
But due to the prevailing unrest in the country, mangoes of the Bari-4, Katimon, Ashwina, Fazli and Amrapali varieties are being destroyed on the trees as they cannot be sold directly or online.
During a recent visit to different markets including Baneshwar, this correspondent found that, presently due to the curfew, buyers and sellers are coming to the bazar in small numbers. But mango farmers and traders are not getting the expected price.
On the other hand, due to the internet outage for more than a week, traders are unable to take orders online and sell mangoes.
Asif Iqbal, a mango grower of Puthia upazila of Rajshahi, said that due to the chaotic situation in the country, mangoes could not be sold due to the shortage of buyers and sellers in the market.
"I deliver mangoes mostly online across the country. But that was also not possible due to internet service disruption for the last one week. Even though the internet has remained open for three days, no orders are available due to the shutdown of social media. As a result, mangoes are getting damaged on the trees," he added.
Apart from this, mangoes are also falling due to adverse weather conditions including pest attack, storm and rain.
Mr Asif expressed his anger saying that at the end of the season, his garden had Bari-4, Katimon, Ashwina, Fazli, Amrapali mangoes worth about Tk 0.3 million (Tk3.0 lakh).
But in the last 10 days, due to the tumultuous situation, all the mangoes have fallen and perished due to the inability to sell them. Now his trees have a maximum of Tk 50,000 worth of mangoes.
Hafizur Rahman, general secretary of Rajshahi Fruits Producers Association, said, it is believed that the farmers have suffered a loss of crores of taka as they could not sell mangoes due to the prevailing unrest. However, the exact loss could not be estimated yet.
Umme Salma, deputy director (acting) of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Rajshahi, said that, due to the bad situation in the country, mango farmers and traders have been in some trouble lately. However, most of the mangoes were already sold so there was not much loss.
According to the DAE, mango plantations covered only 19,602 hectares of land in Rajshahi district this year, which is 24 hectares more than that of the last year. The mango production target in the district this year was set at 2,60,165 tonnes while the sales target was Tk15.00billion (Tk1500 crore).
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