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June
20, 2000
Chapainawabganj,
June 19 (UNB) – Bountiful production of mango this season despite a
“Off Year” made no difference for the people of low-income group
as its price still remains beyond their purchasing capacity.
Market
sources said the mango, which was sold at Tk 800 per maund last year,
is now selling at Tk 1200 per mound.
Traders
here said it’s unlikely that the price would come down when the
mango supply gets momentum as its demand across the country marked a
substantial rise.
“The
market has been glutted with mango, but the price is beyond our
capacity,” said Rashid Ahmed, a shop assistant.
According
to local Agriculture office, some 70,000 metric tons of mango are
likely to be produced in the district this year despite being an
“off year”.
Usually,
25,000 to 30,000 mts of mango are produced during “off years“ in
Chapainawabganj, a major mango-producing district of the country.
Last
year was the “On Year” when over one lakh mts of mango were
produced in the district. “Off Year” or “On Year” comes in
rotation year after year.
After
visiting a number of local markets, the UNB correspondent found a
plentiful supply of various verities of mango like Langra,
Gopalbhog, Khirsapati, Mohananda,
Bandaban and Himsagar.
More
interesting is that the volume of wholesale in the markets was larger
than that of the retail business.
The
Langra verity is now selling
at Tk 1000-1200 per maund while Gopalbhog at Tk 800-900, Khirsapati at Tk 800-1000, much higher than
the pervious years.
Another
report from Kushtia says: Although different varieties of mango have
hit the market, their prices continued to show upward spiral.
Market
sources said the mango supply in the district is poor compared to the
last year. They said Lengra now costs Tk 35-40 per kg against Tk 20-25
last year.
According
to another sources, mango production in the district fell by 50 per
cent in last 15 years for various reasons, including widespread
logging of trees for brick-fields and tobacco factories.
Officials
said mango is now produced in orchards on 45,000 hectares land in the
district and it produced three lakh mts of mango in 1985, but it came
down to 1.80 lakh mts in 1991. And the downtrend continues since then.
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