Satkhira's mangoes, which kept growers hopeful all year, have brought them tears this season. The harvest is good, but farmers are not getting a fair price. Growers in the district, known across the country for its tasty Himsagar, Langra and Amrapali mangoes, now face losses.

Extreme heat, mangoes ripening before their time and a flood of fruit reaching the market at once have pushed prices down. Middlemen and market syndicates have made matters worse. Mango traders, however, say the mango calendar set by the district administration this season has cost growers heavily.

Farmers say mangoes are selling at between Tk 1,600 and Tk 2,300 a maund, while producing a maund cost them Tk 1,800 to Tk 2,000 on average. In many orchards the yield was also below expectations. Far from making a profit, many are struggling to recover what they invested.

Shariful Islam, a grower in Satkhira Sadar upazila, told Jagonews: "I have mangoes on 10 bighas. Looking after the orchard has cost a great deal from the start. At today's prices I cannot even recover my labour. We grow the fruit, but the brokers and middlemen make the profit."

Nazrul Islam, a grower in the Fingri area, told Jagonews that a mango tree fruits only once a year, and many trees bear one year and not the next. "The orchard has to be tended all year round. I keep it because there is usually some profit. This year the yield is good, but when I go to market there is no price. I am forced to sell cheaply."

Farmers allege that local traders have formed a syndicate to control the market and buy mangoes cheaply together. Many growers took advance money and handed over their orchards, so they have no freedom over when or to whom they sell. Because of the syndicate, they say, buyers from outside the district are not coming.

Md Monir Hossain, agriculture officer for Satkhira Sadar upazila, told Jagonews that most growers sell their orchards after taking advance money (dadon) from the mango wholesale depots. "So even when the market price is good, they cannot benefit. And because the district still has no cold storage for mangoes, the fruit cannot be stored and sold at a convenient time."

He said that low-interest loans for growers and modern storage facilities would allow supply to the market to be controlled. Growers also urgently need training in market management and mango storage techniques.

More than 5,000 families in Satkhira are directly involved in mango growing, and the district is known for mango exports. But because of weak market management and a lack of government oversight, growers complain about prices every year.

Farmers want an organised mango market in Satkhira, with fair prices ensured under the direct supervision of the district administration. To draw big traders, they say, roads, packaging facilities and a system for sending mangoes directly to Dhaka and other districts are needed.

Those involved fear that if this continues, many Satkhira growers will lose interest in mangoes. Calls have come from the field for a sustainable policy while there is still time; otherwise Satkhira, one of the country's finest mango regions, will gradually lose its standing.

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