Lockdown, hailstorms and insects push mango farmers in Bengal’s Malda to the brink

Spread over 31,000 hectares, Malda’s orchards produce more than 250 varieties of India’s cherished fruit -half the state’s annual yield - which are shipped to Kolkata, other Bengal districts and some states like Assam. There are about 400,000 people directly or indirectly involved in the production and trade of mangoes in the district.

Come April, and all of India eagerly awaits the arrival of the first mangoes of the season. However, due to their inability to spray pesticides in a timely manner during the lockdown and hailstorms, which destroyed a sizeable part of Bengal’s annual mango yield, mango farmers in the state’s Malda district are staring at substantial losses this year.

Bengal’s mango farmers were initially enthused by reports that the postal department was helping their counterparts in another state to deliver their yield to customers. (HT PHOTO.)

And if the lockdown is extended beyond May 3 - when harvesting is due to begin, they say their losses will spiral astronomically because they will be unable to ship their yield in time.

Spread over 31,000 hectares, Malda’s orchards produce more than 250 varieties of India’s cherished fruit -half the state’s annual yield - which are shipped to Kolkata, other Bengal districts and some states like Assam. There are about 400,000 people directly or indirectly involved in the production and trade of mangoes in the district.

“Initially, this appeared to be a good year for production. But because farmers couldn’t spray insecticides due to the lockdown, part of the crop has been ruined, “ said President of Malda Mango Merchants Association, Ujjal Saha.

Mango farmer Jakir Mollah of Bamongola is a desolate man. “A huge quantity of our fruit dropped off the trees during recent hailstorms, and we couldn’t even collect them in time because of the lockdown. Now, we have no idea how we will sell the final harvest.”

Mango merchants’ association president, Ujjal Saha, explains that this is the time of year, when thousands of labourers make wooden crates to ship the mangoes. “But since labourers could not carry out this task this year, we don’t know how we will ship the fruit. And once harvesting starts, there won’t be time to assemble the boxes,” he said. “We may be compelled to use ordinary baskets,” he added.

Saha warns that the business will suffer losses to the tune of several crore rupees, if the lockdown is extended beyond May 3. “Usually the production hovers around 3.5 lakh metric tons. This year it may come down to 1.5 to 2 lakh metric tons. The business will suffer,” he said.

Bengal’s mango farmers were initially enthused by reports that the postal department was helping their counterparts in another state to deliver their yield to customers.

“We heard that mango farmers in Karnataka are being helped by the postal department to ship their harvest. But it appears impossible to replicate that model in Malda. We cannot depend on the usual procedures of the postal department. Being perishable items, mangoes cannot be stored for long, so shipping needs to be fast. If there is delay because of the postal department, we will suffer,” said Saha.

Deputy director (in charge) of Malda’s horticulture department, Babai Das, too, dismissed the likelihood of the postal department coming to the rescue of Malda’s beleaguered farmers. “So far, we don’t have any plan to seek help from them. We are aware that our farmers have suffered because of the lockdown. We are now issuing passes to them, so that they can visit their orchards and spray insecticide.”

Bengal’s chief post-master general, Gautam Bhattacharya, would still like to help. “In a similar situation about two decades ago, the postal department did help Malda’s mango farmers. And we are ready to do so again this time. However, we usually ship small quantities, so using trucks to ship on a commercial scale is always cheaper.”

Bhattacharya concedes that perishable good like mangoes may suffer because the railway’s parcel vans are not temperature-controlled. “Moreover, given the the present circumstances, deliveries may be delayed. Usually products like these are shipped to other states on passenger flights. But even those are not operating right now.”

Once a major exporter to the western states and foreign countries, Malda farmers say that varieties from Maharashtra, the Alphonso in particular, have taken over.