Abdullah Al Masum
Mango growers are increasingly taking online platforms to boost their sales in the face of Covid-19-induced chaos in the transport system, which they fear may lead their businesses to collapse.
As per the government directive, mango harvest in the country will start from May 15, a day before the ongoing travel restrictions for Covid-19 ended.
Mango farmers said that they suffered a huge loss last year as the mango harvesting season coincided with a nationwide lockdown. Adding to their woes, a prolonged heatwave forced the farmers to pluck mango from orchards altogether, affecting their prices.
Several farmers said that situation did not improve this season as the second wave of Covid-19 infection forced the authorities to impose a nationwide lockdown, crippling the prospect of mango trade in its peak season.
A drought-like situation in the northern region of the country raised the fear of a low yield, hitting the farmers hard again. Some farmers said they anticipated the situation and created online platforms to boost their sales, bringing just a partial solution to their problems.
Mehedi Hasan, an owner of a mango orchard in Naogaon, said he was involved in this business for six years but his business did not go well last year and he was afraid it might not go well this year too.
“I have cultivated mango in about 25 bighas of land, where there are about 2500 trees. I rented another five bighas of land paying Tk 10 lakh to landowner,” said Mehedi.
Mehedi, however, said he is happy with his production but is worried about delivering it to customers.
“Normally I deliver mangoes to the different districts in Bangladesh, especially to Chattogram, Sylhet and Cumilla, but this year I am not sure how much response I will get in my online platform,” said Mehedi, who cultivated different varieties of mangoes, like Gopalbhog, Himsagar, Langra, Amrapali, Fazli.
Mehedi created a Facebook page and received his first order from a wholesale trader in Sylhet, who placed a booking for 100 mound mangoes.
Abdul Huq Munshi, a mango farmer of Chapainawabganj said his production is poorer than the last year as mango buds fell off due to extra winter and drought.
“I am worried because my production is not good. Also, I don’t know how I will take my mangoes to market. Usually, traders come to us to buy mango but duo to lockdown I guess it is not possible this time,” he said.
“Many traders are now buying mango orchards by just looking at their video but this is affecting the pricing. The price the buyers are offering by seeing they are very low,” he said.
“The online system may be okay for some people but it is not a profitable platform for me. Maximum cultivators are not familiar to the system,” he said.
Dewan Mohammed Ali, a mango grower from Tanor, Rajshahi, said he cultivated mango in his own land of two bighas and was expecting to pluck mangoes in the last week of May.
“I will suffer a huge loss if the weather remains unchanged because mangoes are ripened quickly in extra temperature and mango traders, in that case, offer a low price,” Hossain said.
‘I am thinking of delivering formalin-free mango at the consumer level through the online platform at a reasonable price,” said Hossain, who grew Fazli Langra, Gopalbogh, Himsagar, Khirsapat, Ashhwina, Khisanbogh varieties.
According to the Rajshahi district administration, growers can harvest Guti varieties of mangos from May 15 and Gopalbhog from May 20. The date for harvesting Laxmanbhog (Laukhna) and Ranipasand varieties of mangoes has been fixed for May 25. Khirsapat (Himsagar) variety of mangoes can be harvested from May 28, and Langra variety on June 6. Amrapali and Fazli varieties on June 15 while Ashwina and BARI Mango-4 from July 10.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, there are 152 varieties of mango in Bangladesh, 31 are most commonly grown. Every year about 2.5 million mangoes are harvested in some 85 lakh mango trees.
