Mandarin farmers face setback

Pest attacks and import of Indian mandarins have caused severe setback for the mandarin growers in the district.

Moulvibazar Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Deputy Director Shahjahan Chowdhury said mandarin was cultivated on around 250 acres of land in Juri, Kulaura and Baralekha upazilas this year.

Of them, 150 acres were cultivated in Juri upazila, 75 acres in Baralekha and 25 acres in Kulaura. The entire district has 130 large orchards as well as several small ones. Last year, orange production was three to three and a half tonnes per hectare, while it has been around four to four and a half tonnes this year.

Farmers in the hills of Rupachara and Lalchara in Goalbari union under Juri upazila said all the mandarin trees are full of the fruit

Murshed Mia, a farmer of Lalchara village, said he sold the produce from 1,000 mandarin trees for Tk 5 lakh this year, adding that he suffered a loss of Tk 3 lakh. They are not getting the fair price due to import of Indian mandarins, he said, demanding a halt to the import.

Faruk Mia, a farmer of Rupachara village, said he got good production from his 200 trees, but attacks by wild monkeys and pests have damaged the mandarins and they are falling from the trees.

Mizan Uddin, said each tree bears 50 to a few hundred mandarins, depending on the size of the tree, but 40 percent of the mandarins are falling off. For this reason the farmers have been selling the fruit before it ripens, which makes it less sweet as it does not get the time to mature, he said. As a result, the growers have to sell the fruit at a cheap price, he added.

Kisan Das of the same village said the yield was good, but the fruits are falling off due to pest attacks. Earlier, there was a training project for mandarin cultivation, but it has been closed since 2008. He demanded revival of the project so that the farmers could get training and advice on mandarin cultivation.

Mamun Mia said most of the farmers sell the fruit on advance payment, so they do not get the right price. He said they sold one bunch of 100 mandarins to local buyers for Tk 200 to Tk 1,000.

Baralekha Upazila Agriculture Officer (UAO) Debal Sarkar said farmers cultivated three varieties of mandarins there, among which Khasi variety was the most cultivated. Insects attack the fruit when it ripens, he said, adding that they regularly advise the farmers on how to prevent the attacks.

He said it is necessary to prune the trees and irrigate them during drought after the rainy season to ensure production of mandarins, adding that disease and insect attacks will decrease in the Bangla months of Poush and Magh. Use of cartap insecticide on the mandarin trees will prevent insect attacks, he added.

Juri UAO Krishno Roy said they are giving advice to mandarin farmers on how to prevent pest attacks.

Deputy director of Moulvibazar DAE said mandarins are falling off the trees due to lack of regular irrigation and irregular use of fertilizer and pesticide.