Rajshahi: Country’s entire northwestern zone, especially the brand place Rajshahi, is now abuzz with a mango festival, with the delicious sweet fruit starting to arrive in the local markets. However, the orchard owners’ happiness over a bumper production appeared a bit tinged with sourness for price downturn.

Varieties of the mouthwatering fruit are arriving in the markets on a large scale and the much-expected buying and selling spree is getting momentum throughout the region.

Like every year, people from across the country are converging on Rajshahi city to buy quality juicy mangoes produced everywhere--in urban areas, too, though on a limited scale. They collect mangoes for relatives, MPs, ministers and employees and employers.  

Sources in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Rajshahi told banglanews24.com.bd that the seasonal fruit was cultivated in the current season on around 15,000 hectares of land in the district.

“Horticulture has a great economic importance in the region, with a large number of people engaged in different jobs from nursing to harvesting and packaging for transportation and trading during the mango season every year,” said one official.

Mango growers Mafiz Master and Abdur Rahman in Durgapur upazila of Rajshahi said the huge production of mangoes in all places of Rajshahi this season compelled them to earn less than in the previous year.

According to the official of the DAE, the country boasts of 350 varieties of mangoes. Of those, 260 are grown in Rajshahi and Chapinawabganj alone while the rest in Meherpur. Indigenous variety of mangoes of Rajshahi sells at TK 7/8 per kg only, Khirshapati Tk 20-22 per kg and Rani Proshad TK 25-30 per kg.  

Besides, people are facing hassles in carrying mangoes as the transportation cost and the price of the item are almost same.

Sources said courier services, including SA Paribahan, Sundarban, Ahmed, Central and Koratoa, charge TK 8 for sending a kilogram of mango to a destination like Dhaka.  

Many a sufferer alleged owners of the courier services are making the most to get a windfall from the mango bonanza in the absence of any state-owned carrier. So people in far-flung area don’t get many fruits at affordable prices, though the price indices are down here, they added.   

Highway tolls for crossing the Jamuna Bridge also add up to the transportation cost. People of the area have urged the government to make arrangement for toll-free or low-toll transportation of mangoes.                 

Rajshahi region has a long tradition of producing popular mangoes like Gopalvog, Lengra, Khirshapati, Ranipchanda, Mohonvog, Brindaboni, Laxhmanvog, Himsagor, Dhudsor, Michrivog, Rajvog, Amrapoli, Mombi Mollika and Chinichampa.

BDST 1350 hrs May 26, 2010
Corr/RS/SMS/MUA