A maund is 40kg, yet in Chapainawabganj commission agents (aratdars) buy mangoes counting 50-60kg as a maund. Holding growers hostage, they take up to 15-20kg of extra mangoes per maund. Growers want a solution.

Mango growers complained about this to Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdus Shahid at midday on Friday (17 May) after an Exchange of Farmers' Views event in the Kumurpur area of Godagari upazila, Rajshahi. The minister assured them the problem would be solved.

Ahsan Habib, member secretary of the Chapainawabganj Mango Foundation, said: "We work hard to produce mangoes, but the aratdars are taking 15-20kg more per maund. They are buying at 50-60kg to the maund. This irregularity has been going on for several years. We want freedom from this syndicate."

He added: "There are weight problems in Chapainawabganj, Naogaon and Rajshahi too. So we want the same weight measure in all mango markets."

Saying mango prices are falling day by day, he said growers are now largely frustrated. Even so, because mangoes are perishable, growers are willing to give 45kg to the maund. "But 50-60kg to the maund is far too much. Giving 20kg extra per maund is impossible."

On 10 August last year, growers had raised the weight problem with the then agriculture minister Dr Abdur Razzaque at the conference room of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council in the capital, but no solution followed.

Agriculture Minister Abdus Shahid said action would be taken after reviewing the growers' application. "We will not keep any syndicate. Mango production is lower this year, so there could be even more syndicates over mangoes. Everyone must be careful about this."

The agriculture department has set a target of 4 lakh 50 thousand tonnes of mangoes in Chapainawabganj this year, up from 4 lakh 25 thousand tonnes last year.

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