A GROUP of mango growers and traders demanded that the government impose ‘import duties’ on Indian mangoes to discourage the entry of the exotic fruit into Bangladesh while exchanging views with journalists at the conference room of the Foreign Affairs Ministry as local traders had incurred losses on their main cash crop due to a flood of exotic mangoes in the local market during the mango season, a leading daily reports said on Tuesday. The government should take effective action against low quality mangoes exported by India to Bangladesh during the peak period of local mango business.
Savouring the season’s varieties of mangoes may not be a common man’s delight this year as low production levels in the North areas of the country may push its prices up. In the previous year, mangoes were selling at 1.5 times higher prices in the local markets, while growers anticipate prices to soar by 30 percent, as mangoes fell from the trees because of cyclones and other natural hazards. They stopped selling mangoes, as they were not finding buyers for the fallen immature mangoes, even at low prices. Along with these internal problems of mango growers, an increased import of immature and low standard mangoes from India made the local traders count huge losses. Most mango traders alleged that due to consumption of low quality imported mangoes from India, their business is now at stake. Import of low priced Indian mangoes in different parts of the country has turned their dream into a nightmare. If the import of low quality mangoes at such low prices continues, our investment will make no returns and the orchard owners may have to rethink about the trade. Besides, Indian mangoes, which banned by European Union last year, are exported into the Bangladesh market. Although the Ministry said it would verify the matter, it took no significant step accordingly.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) officials, about 22,300 hectares were marked as mango orchards in five upazilas in the district. DAE fixed a target of 1.5 lakh tonnes of mangoes last year, which was 53,000 tonnes less than the previous year. So, it prolifically failed to fulfil the local market demands. To save our industry, the authority should take immediate measures not to allow mango import from India at least for three months from May to July every year. The sufferings of mango growers and traders are immense as they faced incorrect treatment even by the law enforcers to detect formalin in mangoes and rotten mango-phobia is another torment for mango growers and traders, which brings immense losses in the mango business. The New York Times reported that the fruit industry is up in arms, claiming that the police are using faulty devices and crippling the industry. In this situation, the government must assure the mango growers and traders that they would take needful initiative concerning Indian mangoes imported in Bangladesh and give local mango traders privileges for profit maximization. In fact, the government should protect our interest and must please our growers and not growers of other countries.
