Businesses in Rajshahi have suffered losses under the continuing curfew. Mango traders and orchard owners have been hit hardest, and growers and traders of betel leaf and fish have also suffered. Traders claim that, taken together, businesses in Rajshahi are losing about Tk 100 crore a day.

Mango growers and traders in Rajshahi, known as the mango capital, have suffered most from these unwanted events. With a tense atmosphere across the city, nobody left home except in emergencies, and those who did faced police checks at every junction because of the curfew. As a result, markets are short of buyers.

With no internet, online orders and sales to other parts of the country are also impossible. Mangoes are ripening and rotting on the trees in most orchards, and owners are facing losses. Mango growers fear losses of crores of taka if the situation does not return to normal in a day or two.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Rajshahi, mangoes were grown on 19,602 hectares and betel leaf on 4,500 hectares in Rajshahi this year. The targets are trade of at least Tk 1,500 crore in mangoes and Tk 3,000 crore in betel leaf. Betel leaf is still being sent by truck to other districts, but mangoes are not, raising fears of losses of crores of taka.

Dildar Hossain Mridha, a mango orchard owner in Bagha upazila of Rajshahi, said adverse weather cut mango production this year, so prices and demand were high from the start. With the season now nearing its end, prices and demand have risen further. But because of the situation in the country there are no buyers in the markets. He delivers most of his mangoes online across the country, but with internet service shut down that is not possible either. Unable to pick the mangoes, they are ripening and rotting on the trees.

Koyel Mia, a wholesale mango trader in the Shaheb Bazar area of Rajshahi, said it is the peak Fazli season, when trade used to be good, but there are no buyers because of the curfew. He also sold mangoes online, which is not possible now. He has closed his business since Monday, 22 July.

Abdur Rakib, owner of a betel leaf garden in Taherpur, Bagmara, said he has betel leaf on 20 hectares this year. He used to send betel leaf by truck to different parts of the country every morning but has stopped because of the curfew. Although many are still sending, he is not, for fear of losses on the road, and much of the leaf in his garden is ageing.

DAE deputy director in Rajshahi Mosa. Umme Salma said betel leaf is not suffering much under the curfew. She is keeping constant track, and betel leaf trucks are going from Rajshahi to different parts of the country. Mangoes are suffering some losses, however, because there are fewer buyers under the curfew.

According to the Department of Fisheries in Rajshahi, fish were farmed in about 18,750 hectares of ponds (about 50,000 ponds) in Rajshahi this year, with a production target of 110,000 tonnes. The fish is sent to the capital and 18 districts of the country.

Enquiries found that because of the curfew no fish can be sent anywhere from Rajshahi, and those involved say this is causing losses of about Tk 10 crore a day.

Alimul Islam, a fish trader in Durgapur, said he farms fish in ponds on 110 hectares but has stopped harvesting for almost a week because of the shutdown and curfew. In normal times he sends about 10 tonnes of fish a day to different parts of the country. Harvesting has stopped, but the fish still have to be fed every day, so he is counting big losses.

Rajshahi district fisheries officer Md Jahangir Alam said that while fish cannot be sent to other places, this is not causing major losses, because the fish have not spoiled; they are still in the ponds. If the situation lasts more than a week, there will be losses, he said.

Md Masudur Rahman Rinku, president of the Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said Fazli mangoes in the market are rotting for lack of buyers. Kansat in Chapainawabganj and Baneshwar in Rajshahi are the biggest mango markets, and both are empty of buyers. Rajshahi's fish industry is also well known, with fish going to 18 districts including Dhaka; trucks carrying Tk 8 to 10 crore worth of fish leave for different districts every day, but that has stopped completely. Betel leaf transport has also stopped, and traders cannot do business at various establishments. Altogether, Rajshahi is losing about Tk 100 crore a day, he said.

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