Mango growing has increased in Naogaon because costs are low and yields good. Sapahar is the district's main centre for the mango trade, with 400 to 500 large and small mango depots. Between 8,000 and 10,000 workers are employed at these depots, and the work has changed their fortunes.

According to the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), mangoes were grown on 30,300 hectares in the district this year, with a production target of 424,200 tonnes.

On Saturday, 27 July, Amrapali mangoes sold at Sapahar market for Tk 4,000 to 6,500 a maund, BARI-4 for Tk 3,800 to 4,600, Fazli for Tk 3,200 to 4,000 and Banana Mango for Tk 5,500 to 6,500 a maund. Prices were up Tk 1,500 to 2,000 a maund on the previous week.

At Sapahar mango market, traders were bringing mangoes to the depots from different parts of the country, and workers were busy packing them into crates to send around the country.

Abu Hayat, a worker from Kansat in Chapainawabganj, said: "For the last four or five years I've come to Sapahar in the mango season to pack crates. I earn good money every year. I get Tk 20 for each crate. After expenses I earn Tk 1,600 to 1,700 a day. In the season I earn from Tk 1.2 lakh up to Tk 1.5 lakh."

He added: "At other times I get Tk 500 to 600 as a labourer. But working at the depots in mango season, I'm getting twice as much. My financial situation is also improving compared with before."

Hannan Mia works at Rahim Fal Bhandar. "Because mango production is a bit lower, the workload is a little lighter this year. Twenty of us pack crates here, 1,100 to 1,200 crates a day. They pay Tk 24 for each crate, so I earn Tk 1,300 to 1,400 a day. In three months good money comes in. Getting a lot of money at once, running the household isn't as hard as before," he said.

Ruhul Amin, a worker from Nirmoil village in Patnitala upazila of the district, told Jago News: "We used to live by rice farming and working in people's homes. Working as a labourer once a year at rice planting time, I didn't earn more than Tk 8,000-10,000, and working in people's homes I didn't get more than Tk 500 a day. Now I work at the depots in the mango season. I get Tk 22 for each crate and earn Tk 1,500 to 1,600 a day. Besides running my household, I have leased some land and planted an orchard myself."

Abul Kalam Azad, deputy director of the DAE in Naogaon, told Jago News that with a mango-based market system developing over the past five years, the socio-economic condition of farmers, workers and everyone involved in the trade has improved. If workers who come from different parts of the country face any harassment, the agriculture department will take action, he said.

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