Storm batters mango orchards in North, sparks fears of less harvest

Storms have taken a huge toll on the harvest of mango in Chapainawabganj, the major mango-producing district of Bangladesh.

Almost 10 percent of the raw mangoes fell off trees during the storm that hit the region on Sunday evening, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension.

Seeing no other way, traders sold the mangoes in local markets for Tk 70-80 per maund (37.32 kg).

There are mango orchards on 26,150 hectares of land in the district.

The storm swept through 17,000 hectares of land, DAE Deputy Director (Chapainawabganj) Md Monjurul Huda said.

“Shibganj Upazila witnessed most of the damage where almost all of the 14,000 hectares of mango orchards got lashed by the storm,” he said.

Prokash Chandra Das, a farmer in the Upazila, said the storm came as a big blow to those who leased the orchards recently.

Farmer Bhanjan Chandra Das, who owns 50 yards of a mango orchard in Harinagar village in the Upazila, said 20 to 30 percent of his mangoes fell off the trees during Sunday’s storm.

Around 4 percent of mangoes fell off trees in Rajshahi during the same storm.

Rajshahi is also famous as a major producer of mango.

“Two to three percent of mangoes fell off small trees and four to five percent from large ones. Bagha and Charghat areas witnessed most of the damage,” said Deb Dulal Dhali, Deputy Director of DAE in Rajshahi.

Some orchard owners reported losing as much as 25 percent of their harvests.

Jahangir Alam, who owns a mango orchard in Charghat Upazila, said 15 percent of mangoes fell off trees, causing him a loss of more than Tk 100,000.

DAE officer Deb Dulal said there were 125,000 mango trees on around 17,000 hectares of land in Rajshahi.

“Around 200,000 metric tonnes of mangoes are expected to grow in Rajshahi this season. Last year, the production was estimated at 172,000 metric tonnes.”

Thirty metric tonnes of mangoes were exported from Rajshahi last year, added the officer.