At Sapahar, one of the country’s largest mango trading hubs, mango collection, sorting and wholesale trading run from morning to evening. The mango market is alive with hundreds of growers, traders, wholesalers and buyers.
But behind the bustle, growers’ frustration is rising. Production costs have multiplied several times over, yet the market is not yielding the prices growers want. Added to this is pressure to sell mangoes weighed at 52 to 55 kg instead of the customary 40-kg maund. As a result, most growers are spending their days worried about losses.
Growers complain that over the past year the costs of fertiliser, pesticide, irrigation, labour wages, transport and orchard upkeep have risen significantly. Yet prices of almost all mango varieties have fallen by Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,500 per maund compared with last year, making it hard for many even to recover their production costs.
According to the Naogaon Department of Agricultural Extension, mango was cultivated on 30,310 hectares in the district this season, with a target of producing about 1.4 lakh tonnes in Sapahar alone. The upazila has the potential to earn about Tk 2,000 crore from the mango trade.
A huge mango market has sprung up over several kilometres in Sapahar’s Zero Point, Godownpara, Tilna Road, Hospital Mor, Mohila College Road and Thana Mor areas. Every day growers crowd in with battery-run vans, shallow-engine vehicles and trucks full of Amrapali, Bari-4, Banana Mango and other varieties. But the most talked-about issues in the market now are low prices and excess weight.
Grower Tarikul Islam said: “This year, almost all the mangoes ripened at once in the muggy heat. With no storage facilities, we have to sell quickly. So we are forced to sell at whatever price the wholesaler offers. It is the farmers who suffer the most.”
Growers say the long-standing “dhalon” practice has now become a major financial burden, and complain that despite seeking administrative intervention, no effective solution has come.
Traders give a different account. Imam Hossain Rifat, general secretary of the Sapahar Mango Traders’ Cooperative Society, said: “In various markets in the Rajshahi division, mangoes are bought and sold at 54 to 56 kg. In Sapahar, mangoes are being bought at about 50 kg including the crate. If there is any irregularity anywhere, action will be taken.”
Sapahar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Romana Riaz said: “We are monitoring the market regularly. As soon as we receive a written or verbal complaint from farmers, a drive will be conducted quickly.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report