Bad weather blights mango output prospect

Mango farmers in various parts of the country are concerned by the large number of green mangoes that have been torn from the trees by the recent nor'westers and hailstorms.

The unfavourable weather follows the earlier attack by leaf hoppers which had caused many green mangoes to fall before ripening properly.

Mango farmers told New Age that the dropping of green mangos from the trees would reduce production, particularly in the mango growing districts like Chapainawabganj, Jessore, Kushtia and parts of Rajshahi district.

Deputy director (fruits and vegetables) SM Emdadul Hoque, of the Department of Agricultural Extension's food crops wing, agreed that the production of mangoes would be slightly less than expected, but not considerably because mango trees have been unaffected by bad weather in Dinajpur, parts of Rajshahi and some other districts.

'Mango production will not be satisfactory in my area this year as almost half of the fruits fell from the trees before ripening,' said Shaheruzzaman, a farmer from Sheikhpura village under Keshabpur upazila.

Abdus Samad of Balubagan village under Chapainawabganj Sadar upazila said that mango trees in his area had initially blossomed well, but many of the mangoes had become victims of the attack by leaf hoppers.

He said that they generally use insecticides once a season but they were forced to apply it three times this year, but it had no effect. 'Around 80 per cent of the mangoes had already dropped.'

The New Age correspondent in Jessore reported that mango growers in the district and adjacent areas were disheartened due to the low production.

'Mango production has saddened me this year as it is almost half of that of the previous year, and mangoes are still falling,' said Selim Reza of Buinkara village under Abhay-nagar upazila in Jessore.

 The office of the deputy director of the DAE in Jessore, however, could not give any information on mango production.

'We don't keep the records of mango production,' said an official of the department.

The New Age correspondent in Chapainawabganj reported that mango production is likely to suffer a setback this year due to the unfavourable weather.

According to the DAE office in Chapainawabganj district, this year there are 18,87,806 mango trees on 23,070 hectares of land in the district, and a total of 1,72,000 tonnes of mango was produced from 22,500 hectares of land in 2010.

Source: New Age