A large number of buds raised Mongsetu Chowdhury’s hopes for a good harvest at his mango orchard on a 10-hectare piece of land at Jaduram Para in Khagrachhari’s Sadar Upazila. 

The mangoes did grow green, but 60 percent have dropped as the fruit is stressed by excessive heat, a damage called fruit drop in agriculture. 

The young man is now trying to save the rest of the mangoes with the harvesting season approaching. 

“I may still make some profit if I can save the remaining mangoes. But chances are slim if the heat keeps scorching the fruit,” he said.   

Although it is difficult to arrange irrigation in the hilly area, Mongsetu and his helping hands Prakash Nanda Tripura and Polin Tripura are working day and night to spray water on the mango trees. 

Hlashingmong Chowdhury has more than 30 varieties of mango, including Amropali, Miyazaki and American Palmer, in his 14-hectare orchard in the Dhumnighat area of Mohalchari. 

“It’s difficult to keep the mangoes in the trees because of excessive heat. The ground beneath the trees is full of dropped mangoes. More than 40 percent of the mangoes have dropped,” he said.   

The rate of fruit drop is very high this year with no chance for irrigation in the hilly areas, he said. 

“We’ll face losses because of fruit dropping if there’s no rain in a few days,” fears Hlashingmong Chowdhury. 

Sujon Chakma is a big mango farmer with an orchard spanning more than 40 hectares in the Chattogram Hill Tracts district. He said the mangoes are not so large this year because of adverse weather conditions. “And whatever mangoes we had, they are dropping because of the heat.”