Mango growers in Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi and Naogaon lose about Tk 1,500 crore a year by handing commission agents extra fruit for every maund they sell, according to a petition to the minister for agriculture, fisheries and livestock. The petitioner, mango entrepreneur Ahsan Habib, sets out 11 demands.
By the petition's figures, Chapainawabganj grows about 500,000 tonnes of mango a year, worth about Tk 5,000 crore. Growers there lose about Tk 1,200 crore of that to the extra weight, and those in Rajshahi and Naogaon hand over about Tk 300 crore more. These are the petitioner's claims, not official figures.
The petition says growers do not object to a maund being counted as 40 to 45 kg. In many cases, it says, agents take 54 to 57 kg for the price of one maund. About a quarter of the Chapainawabganj crop is given away like this, it claims, and consumers get no benefit from it.
Habib, who describes himself as a mango entrepreneur, grower and campaigner for growers' rights, wants a government notification fixing the weight and a fair price. Last year, he says, the deputy commissioner and the divisional commissioner tried to move the trade to sale by the kilogram, and it never took hold.
He also asks for institutions: a mango research centre on 100 bighas at Rajarbagan in Kansat, a mango market square at Shibganj, and a separate board or directorate for the fruit. Tea and cotton have specialised bodies, he argues, while a mango industry worth about Tk 5,000 crore has none.
For growers themselves he asks for mini cold stores for at least 50 of them and 100 solar-powered irrigation units. He proposes factories for juice, dried mango, mango leather (amshotto) and mango powder, which he says would cut waste and open export markets.
On exports, the petition calls for a cargo flight from Rajshahi, modern packing houses and vapour treatment facilities. It also says work has begun with the World Intellectual Property Organization to raise the international profile of the Khirsapat mango. The Barta24 report carries no response from the ministry.
Photo: Mahmudul Karim Farsad / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Barta24
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