There has been a bumper yield in Malda this year. Mango crop yields bumper harvests on alternate years. For the first time this year, there was a bumper harvest in a fall year. In the last fall year, 1996, the harvest was a disaster, the turnover being Rs 15 crore, whereas this year it is much more.

The changing pattern is due to extensive use of fertilisers and pesticides, according to the Malda Mango Merchants Association (MMMA). Compared with the last fall year, production this year has doubled, but the command price is four times higher.

Mango price has shot up this season mainly because of the crop failure in the other growing states -- Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Because of the huge demand, traders have plucked unripe fruit, breaking a pactsealed three years ago. According to Malda Mango Merchants Association, business worth over Rs 50 crore is transacted in a bumper year.

This year, the business has crossed Rs 30 crore by mid-season. In the last bumper crop year (1997), the total turnover was Rs 40 crore.

MMMA secretary Subodh Kumar Mishra said, "This year, a high yielding tree is likely to produce 5-6 quintals [1 quintal = 100 kg] of fruit. The average money needed to be spent on a tree in a season is Rs 200-Rs 300. About Rs 6000 will be obtained from the sale of mangoes from a tree this as the price fetched per quintal being Rs 1000." But the positive outcome of a bumper crop in a fall year barely hides the apprehension of a long term decline in yield. The nature of mango business is paradoxical. Varieties that are extremely tasty -- Dudhpuli and Surma Fazli -- do not sell because they do not look `nice'. Fazli and other less exotic varieties sell because of their perfect shape and colour. The farmers are, therefore, in a hurry to selloff the produce early so long as the shape and colour look attractive.

However, they are more worried about the short-term problems. Mango has no shelf life, and as MMMA president Haripada Sarkar puts it, the entire trading season lasts for about two months (June and July). All the produce needs to be sold in this period. This year, of the total yield, mid-season estimates show a loss of about 25 per cent of the mangoes, the reasons being lack of food processing units. In money terms, the loss amounts to Rs 10 crore.

The fickle nature of the trade can be stemmed if there is greater planned switch-over to hybrids or cross breeds. But this is highly unlikely. As Samit Chatterjee, a Malda-based businessman puts it, "The hybrid varieties will put an end to the irregularity associated with the growing of mangoes. It will also require more meticulous planning and guarantee a fairly steady produce. However, planting cross breeds will also change the traditional planting pattern and bring in an element ofaccountability. This obviously meets with resistance."

Farmers said some big industries based outside Bengal take away truck loads of sliced raw mangoes in salt bags. The salt preserves the mangoes, mostly of the unsavoury Ashwina variety en route to the major pickle factories. Farmers want to stop this so that the benefits remain with them. One such truck load of mangoes sliced in brine weighs 12 tonne, and 300 truckloads go out of Malda every day.