Bangladesh: Planning for a mango economy
The country produces roughly one million tonnes of mangoes annually. The quantity varies depending on the on and off season of the fruit as also on weather. Chapainawabganj alone has a share almost half of the total. Indeed, it is a billion-taka economy and no fewer than 50,000 people are engaged in the endeavour beginning from the preparation of the mango orchard to packaging and transportation of the ripened fruit to different parts of the country.
Such an initiative could have maximised the profit of this fruit. Instead, large quantities of mangoes used to naturally rot earlier when they were not treated with chemicals. When the infamous art of ripening immature mangoes and then extending the shelf life of ripened fruits by chemical treatment was known to farmers and traders, they took full advantage of it. Consumers grew angry but they were helpless. At one point, their negative attitude left a telling impact on mango trade. The administration could now read the consumers' mind and came heavily on traders and vendors selling such mangoes.
Farmers and traders want to market their produces early when the price is high. Then again they are eager to give a longer shelf life when the perishable items ripen almost at the same time. If there is a glut of any food in the market, its price naturally drops leaving little profit margin. This has prompted many farmers and traders to resort to an unethical practice in case of this and many other seasonal fruits. Now this could be avoided if the government had a clear policy on production, marketing, export and agro-processing of this highly favourite fruit.
Click here to read more at thefinancialexpress-bd.com.
