Satkhira's Gobindabhog, Gopalbhog, Himsagar, Langra and Amrapali mangoes are prized at home and abroad. Thanks to the weather and soil, mangoes here ripen earlier than elsewhere in the country, and because they reach the market first they sell at higher prices.

Satkhira district has about 5,000 mango orchards on 4,135 hectares. The district agriculture department has set a production target of 62,800 tonnes this year, of which about 500 tonnes could be exported.

For the past few years the district administration has fixed harvest dates to protect mango quality, drawing up a mango harvesting and marketing calendar by variety. But growers have many complaints about it.

Md Al Amin, a mango grower from Moutala in Kaliganj upazila, told Jago News that his village is about 60 kilometres south of the district town. Being a saline area, the trees flower early, and because of the extra heat Gobindabhog mangoes there ripen 15-20 days earlier than in other parts of the district. "But the administration sets the dates by looking at trees in the district town, so our mangoes rot on the trees," he said. Last year, when he tried to sell a little early, upazila agriculture officials fined him Tk 15,000 and took away 8 crates of unripe mangoes.

Rahat Raja, a grower from Kukrali in Satkhira Sadar, said his orchard had a heavy crop and the Gobindabhog mangoes had begun to ripen, but he could not sell them without permission. He said the agriculture department and district administration fix the picking dates on the advice of some profit-hungry traders, without consulting growers. As a result they miss the market, and with bad weather and the threat of natural disasters on top, they suffer losses every year.

Liakat Hossain, an orchard owner in Labsa, Sadar upazila, said many owners face losses because they cannot sell on time. Many orchards were destroyed in Cyclone Amphan, and disasters strike every May. Fixed marketing dates also mean everyone takes mangoes to market at once and prices fall, hurting thousands of growers. Unable to get a fair price, many are cutting down trees and growing other crops, he said.

Abu Sufian, a mango trader from Dahakula in Sadar upazila, said no one adds formalin to mangoes, but many apply hormones to make them bigger, so their fruit looks large before its time. Dishonest traders buy these mangoes, ripen them with ethephon and carbide and sell them. He wants the administration to take strong action against them, but said all growers bear the blame for their crime. Weather differs from place to place in the coastal district, so in many areas mangoes start ripening in early May while some varieties ripen in mid or late May. An upazila-based mango calendar would be better, he said.

Rawshan Ali, president of the Satkhira Boro Bazar Raw Produce Traders' Association, said Satkhira mangoes reach the market early and traders from across the country have already started arriving. Because immature mangoes are not coming to market, many are paying growers high prices at the orchards for unripe fruit, ripening it with chemicals and selling it at high prices in Dhaka and other cities. Although drives have seized many mangoes, large quantities of immature fruit reach Dhaka secretly. Meanwhile, wholesale depot owners at Boro Bazar have paid large advances to buy orchards but cannot sell all varieties without permission, he said.

He said Golapkhas, Bombai and other sour local varieties have already started arriving at Satkhira Boro Bazar and the crop is good this year. He called for the harvest date to be brought forward to spare local traders and growers losses.

Saiful Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Satkhira, said drives are being run by the administration with the agriculture department's help to seize and destroy immature mangoes and stop them reaching market.

Asked about seizing and destroying mangoes without testing, he sidestepped the question, saying there were mixed reactions. But if field-level agriculture staff inspect mangoes and issue a certificate, they can be marketed, he said. Early varieties have ripened in some areas, but in most areas not all varieties have. Harvesting at the set time will help keep the district's reputation at home and abroad, he said.

Bishnupada Pal, additional deputy commissioner (general) of Satkhira, said the district administration prepares the calendar on the advice of growers, traders and the agriculture department to protect the reputation of the district's mangoes. The dates have not yet been set this year. Anyone trying to market mangoes before the set date has them seized and destroyed through mobile courts, and about 9,000 kg of carbide-treated mangoes have already been destroyed.

He said agriculture officials decide whether mangoes are mature and whether they were ripened with chemicals or carbide. At growers' request, dates have been brought forward before when natural disasters threatened, and this will be done again if there is such a risk. But drives against dishonest traders will continue.

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