Raiganj: Prices of different varieties of mango have come down drastically in Malda district with farmers complaining that they could not even recover one-third of the production cost.
The drop in the price has been attributed to a sudden over-supply of the fruit and absence of buyers from the neighbouring states.
"This year, most of the mango farmers had harvested their produce early as they were apprehensive of Nipah virus. Though not a single Nipah case was reported in Bengal, the farmers acted in a haste, which led to oversupply on the market. The same fear triggered reduction in the supply to the neighbouring states," said Samir Ghosh, the joint secretary of the Federation of Exporters' Association of Bengal.
"As a result, the prices have come down and many farmers have sold their produce even at a throwaway price of Rs 2 a kilo."
In Malda, around six to seven lakh metric tons of mangoes are produced a year.
"For the past couple of years, export of mangoes to Bangladesh, one of the principal markets, has come down to almost zero. We were depending on the state's market and Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Tripura. But this time, the situation suddenly changed and there were hardly any major buyers," said Ujjal Choudhury, the secretary of an association of mango merchants in Malda.
As a result, varieties like "Lyangra," "Lakshmanbhog," "Himsagar" and "Amrapali" are sold at lower prices.
"The cost of production for a kilo of mango ranges between Rs 7 and Rs 9. In other years, we sell mangoes at rates varying from Rs 20 to Rs 30 a kilo. Sometimes, the price would even increase to Rs 50 a kilo," said Jiauddin Sheikh, a farmer.
The drop in the prices has left the farmers irate and last week, a section of them raised a blockade on the Ratua-Bhaluka state highway and dumped mangoes on the road.
"Because of such low prices, a section of farmers has not even harvested mangoes as the prices would not even cover the cost to transport the yield to the nearby market. They have let them rot on the trees," said Choudhury.
