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AyRojgar
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What went wrongA mango orchard owner in Charghat, Rajshahi, in a Daily Inqilab report

The 5.5-bigha mango orchard was cut down because the fruit no longer paid

This orchard owner felled 5.5 bighas of Khirshapat, Langra and Amrapali trees: spraying, bagging, labour and irrigation costs had risen while the price of mangoes had not. About 100 hectares of orchard have been cleared in Charghat upazila in five years.

This orchard owner at Budihat village in Charghat upazila, Rajshahi, cut down his 5.5-bigha orchard of Khirshapat, Langra and Amrapali because the fruit no longer covered what it cost to produce. Spraying, bagging, labour and irrigation have all risen year on year, he says, while the market price has not moved with them. A grower in a nearby village is clearing his orchard for the same reason and says costs go up every season and prices do not. Around 100 hectares of mango orchard have been cleared in Charghat upazila over the past five years, with owners and orchard traders moving into other crops and other trades. The trees were sound; it was the arithmetic that failed, and it failed slowly enough to go unnoticed for several seasons.

Lessons

  1. 1.An orchard can be agronomically fine and still be worth felling once cost per maund passes the market price; count the cost side every season, not just the yield
  2. 2.Spraying and bagging costs creep up a little each year, so the margin is squeezed invisibly before it becomes obvious

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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