At the beginning of the Bengali summer month 'Jaistha', various seasonal fruits have started appearing in the markets of Rajshahi.
Most of the markets of Rajshahi are now full of seasonal fruits such as Mango, Lichi, Jackfruit, Jamrul, Wood Apple, Pineapple, Safeda, Watermelon, Bangi, Green Palm, Cocoanut and Guava.
After talking to the fruit sellers at Shaheb Bazar, it was known that most of the fruits hit the markets of Rajshahi early which were supposed to appear in the market at least after one more week. The garden owners and farmers of the district have plucked those fruits early before ripening for a high price.
Already the markets of Rajshahi are flooded with unripe lichi. Though the lichis are not matured enough, those are being sold at an excessive price in the local markets. Per one hundred pieces of local variety of lichi were sold at Tk 300 to 400. Meanwhile, bundles containing 100 pieces each Bombay litchi and Bari litchi were sold at Tk 300 to Tk 350.
Six to seven varieties of ripened mangoes were being sold in the local markets of Rajshahi. Of those, the Himsagar variety of mango was being sold at Tk 150 per kg, Gopalobhog at Tk 200 per kg, Govindobhog at Tk 140-160 per kg, Kancha-mitha at Tk 100 to 120 per kg, Katimon at Tk 180 per kg, Boshakhi Mango at Tk 140 per kg, Lakna at Tk 50 per kg and Fazley unripe mango at Tk 40 per kg.
Three piece of young Palm seed was being sold at Tk 15 to 20, a pair of pineapple was being sold at Taka 80 to 100 and per kg of Jamrul was being sold at Taka 70 to 80.
Seasonal fruit trader Amjad said the price of the fruits was higher this year. Due to the extreme heatwave and the less rainfall, many young fruits were dropped. So, the production was less this year.
Fearing further loss of fruits due to heatwaves and storms, the owners of the fruit orchards were selling their fruits earlier before those were matured enough to be ripened. As a result, the customers of those fruits are being deprived of the real taste and flavour of the seasonal fruits.
However, the prices of the fruits would come down as more fruits will appear in the markets, he added.
