Labourers fill pitchers with unripe mangoes at a wholesale shop in the Hyderabad fruit and vegetable market. Also placed in the pitchers are small packets of calcium carbide — said to be harmful to human health — that causes the mangoes to ripen within four to five days.—Photo by Umair Ali
Labourers fill pitchers with unripe mangoes at a wholesale shop in the Hyderabad fruit and vegetable market. Also placed in the pitchers are small packets of calcium carbide — said to be harmful to human health — that causes the mangoes to ripen within four to five days.—Photo by Umair Ali

The conditions are suffocating and the heat oppressive. The air is full of the rank stench of rotting fruit and odours of sweat, filth and dirt. And as the temperature soars to a scorching 42 deg­rees Celsius at around 2pm, labourers at Hydera­bad’s fruit and vegetable market wipe sweat from their brows and prepare to offload fresh produce from vehicles.

The mango season has just begun. Vehicles, laden with the country’s favourite fruit, line up at the entrance to the market, as traders and traffic policemen start bickering over the blockade. The traders want the policemen to allow the vehicles to be offloaded in front of their shops.

This is a chaotic place. Surrounded by potholed thoroughfares and mounds of garbage, reeking in the sizzling heat of May, the buyers and sellers running around, and going about their business, fall short of breath.

The first variety of mangoes to arrive at the market is the saroli, followed by almas and dusehri. After these, comes Sindh’s preferred variety — sindhri. Mangoes are supplied directly to the market, from orchards in the surrounding areas, and from here are sent to the rest of the country — as far as Peshawar — and even to Iran. Exporters have started buying the best stock as the season for exports begins on May 25.

Bags stuffed with unripe mangoes are kept on the ground. They are auctioned off by arhtis (middlemen) stationed at all corners of the market.

“Hey, haji sahib, kiya do gay, acha sindhri hay, suno tu sahi,” a mango seller calls out to me, trying to coax me into buying from him. I ask him for the price of the unripe mangoes.

Iss baar mandi taiz hai. Paani na milnay say aam ka size chhota raha hay (Because of a shortage of water, the size of mangoes is stunted),” Naeem Arain from Rawalpindi tells me after finalising the deal. He exports sindhri mangoes to Canada, Norway and Dubai; and shares that he bought top quality sindhri mangoes for Rs2,400 to Rs2,500 per 40kg last year, but this year prices have soared to Rs3,200 per 40kg.

There are two types of auction at the market — hidden and open. In the latter auctions, arhtis begin the proceedings in a loud voice, calling prospective buyers to see their offerings. In this kind of auction, buyers stand in a circle around the arhti and tell him their bids. Once an arhti gets an offer he likes, he closes the deal and writes the buyer’s name on the bag with a black marker. The rest of the buyers celebrate the final decision of the auction with a resounding “hurrah!”

The hidden or secret auction is more interesting and usually only serious buyers looking to export top quality mangoes participate in it. The commission agent or middleman is the first to announce a rate for the produce. Then come the prospective buyers. They shake the arhti’s hand wrapped in a piece of cloth (so no one can see the rate they are offering) and tell him their bids.

“Pressing four fingers on a commission agent’s hand indicates an offer of Rs400 for a certain quantity of mangoes (like 14kg-15kg). If seller disagrees, other buyers make offers in the same fashion — pressing four and then two fingers to take the price to Rs600. If a deal is finalised, the seller announces it.

The seller calls the shots in a secret auction as he alone knows about the buyers’ offers. Dummy mashakhors (retailers), often planted by arhtis to jack up the price, stand among the buyers.

“Mashakhors make deals through auctions and conventionally process mangoes for an open market sale. They wash unripe mangoes, pack them in wooden boxes and place sachets of calcium carbide in them, which ripens the mangoes within four to five days,” says a commission agent. He shares that he uses calcium carbide, which is said to be harmful for health but is still commonly used, as a ripening agent, in addition to another substance called Chinese puriya (sachet).

These practices ensure a good deal for the sellers, but the daily wagers at the market remain unhappy with what they get. “We get Rs7 per bag when we offload bags from vehicles,” says Sikandar Khaskheli, a labourer. “I end up making around Rs800-Rs900 a day... Do you think it is sufficient to make both ends meet,” he asks.

The people of Sindh love their mango traditions — eating it with rice or parathas for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The province’s world-famous sindhri variety has thin skin and is rich in pulp. However this year, sindhri mangoes are in short supply. The famed orchards of Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Mirpurkhas and Tandojam were hit by a water shortage after March — a period when they need water the most.

“Mango trees become dormant from November onwards. It is, in fact, a natural protective system for mango trees because they don’t need water between November and February. But the period after that is crucial for orchards to get irrigation water to ensure the growth of the fruit. This is when trees develop blossoms which become fruits. This year, the cycle of water was missed from February till the crop matured in May,” Nadeem Shah, an orchard owner from the Matiari district, explains.

The water shortage has affected the size of sindhri mangoes. Many orchard owners are still holding onto their crop and waiting for the price to rise before they pluck their mangoes.

Yet the demand for mangoes is high because its season has coincided with Ramazan and vendors are selling a kilo for Rs120. “This year, I paid around Rs200 per maund more compared to the last season,” says Haji Ameer Khan as he supervises the loading of 250 maunds of sindhri mangoes bound for Peshawar.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2018

Opinion

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