Ashwina mangoes, recently awarded Geographical Indication (GI) certification, are selling at Tk 12,000-15,000 a maund. Growers say even this does not cover their production costs.

At 8am on Monday, 11 September, only 10-15 vans of mangoes had arrived at the Kansat wholesale mango market in Chapainawabganj. Even so there were few buyers, because prices were steep, and growers sat waiting with mangoes piled on their vans.

Md Bachchu Ali had come to Kansat from Bholahat upazila to sell mangoes. He told Jago News: "I had about 700 maunds of Ashwina this year. Two months ago I sold 200 maunds at Tk 700-900 a maund, which did not cover my production cost, so out of anger I held the rest back. Now I am selling them at the market, but even at this price I can't cover my costs."

Bachchu added: "Because of the 400 maunds of mangoes in my orchard, more than 200 maunds have rotted. Now I have only 40 maunds left in my orchard."

Shariful Islam, a grower from the Tikri area of the upazila, said: "I bought a mango orchard for Tk 5 lakh, hoping for 500 maunds. There were mangoes on the trees, but I did not sell because prices were low. Now I see most of them have rotted, so we will lose a lot this year. Today I brought some to market and sold them at Tk 13,000 a maund."

Another grower, Shafikul, said he had sold Ashwina at Tk 15,000 a maund two days earlier. The price was a little lower that day, but the best mangoes were still selling at Tk 15,000 a maund, he said.

Md Hafizur Rahman had come to Kansat from Gomostapur upazila. He said the season was nearly over, and at this time mangoes should fetch Tk 20,000-25,000 a maund, but they were not. "At this price we won't cover our costs."

Another grower, Hamidur, said: "The price is good now, but there are no mangoes. What use is a price if there are no mangoes? I will lose more than Tk 3 lakh this year, because pesticide prices have risen compared with last year but mango prices haven't. In fact mango prices are much lower than last time, so we are losing money."

Shibganj Upazila Agriculture Officer Shariful Islam said farmers had suffered losses with Ashwina, so cultivation of various year-round mango varieties was increasing. He hoped this would not happen again from next year. Mango prices are good now, he said, and those who grew late varieties are getting good prices.

Md Mamun Ali, who has a wholesale depot next to the Kansat market, told Jago News that far fewer mangoes were arriving, so depot owners were winding up their business. "As mangoes have fallen, so has business. Since prices are high, the business needs more capital."

Depot owner Shariful Islam, who closed his mango business three days earlier, said he had traded about Tk 2 crore worth of mangoes over the season, but on doing the accounts he was facing a loss of about Tk 1.5 lakh. He was thinking of leaving the mango trade quickly and opening a shop.

Raihan Ali had come from Feni, where he has a shop, to buy mangoes at Kansat. He said he would not buy Ashwina because it is a little sour, and was looking for late varieties instead.

Chapainawabganj district has mango orchards on 37,855 hectares. This year's production target has been set at 4.25 lakh tonnes.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.