SILIGURI: Absence of modern fruit handling methods in Malda’s mango trade is proving to be a bigger bottleneck than the ban imposed by the EU on mango imports last year.
Malda district in West Bengal, which is facing over production of the fruit, has not been able to gain from EU’s withdrawal of the ban, primarily because of local-level old pre-and post-harvest fruit handling practices.
According to CB Singh, assistant general manager, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, EU policy demands clear traceability of all pre- and post-harvest stages of the fruit being exported.
“Against average annual statewide yield of 6 to 7 lakh metric tonne (MT), the figure has crossed 10 lakh MT this year, putting us under heavy pressure of overproduction. Withdrawal of import ban in EU was a definite breather,” said S Misra, president, Malda Mango Merchants Association.
Following the ban on import of Indian mangoes by EU countries in May 2014, an EU audit team visited India in September 2014. Based on the audit team’s satisfactory report on the corrective measures taken by India, especially in the field of phytosanitary control system, the ban was withdrawn in January 2015.
Of the 41,280 tonnes of mangoes exported in 2013-14, EU’s consumption was 3,381 tonnes. “The figure was not too big, but the trend in the EU market has a significant effect on the global market. As the ban created a major negative impact globally, we expected withdrawal of that to reverse the situation, giving us better export business this time. Unfortunately, the reality came out to be grossly different,” said U Saha, secretary West Bengal Exporters Coordination Committee.
Singh of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority said, “Habituated in traditional practice, people in mango trade in Malda do not maintain record. At every stage of trade, fruit of one orchard often gets mixed with other. Stock is sorted out as per size, variety or ripeness without maintaining any database documentation. Health and hygiene of the handling workers are also not always kept under watch,” said people engaged in Malda’s mango trade. Naturally, “It becomes too tough to present this stock to EU buyers,” said market experts.
“Unfortunately, while the government is spending huge amounts in promoting Indian mangoes globally, there is hardly any initiative to develop the awareness on modernised fruit handling process. This could have brought a sea change in the scenario,” exporters said.
