“No Mango this year” and “Excessive increase in mango prices is on the way”, statements that circulated in the social media in the past few days right after the news about the damage of a certain portion of mango’s harvest at Ismailia.
Hussein Abo Sadam, Head of Farmers’ syndicate, said it would be an exaggeration to say the whole harvest is damaged. However, the fact is that some of the harvest got infected with the “Sooty mold” which came as a result from the presence of some insects that produce viscosity and would affect the harvest of some farms. However, it would not cause any harm to the whole mango productivity.
Abo Sadam: the infection rate in Ismailia didn’t exceed 2% of the farms
“It is not new, It has been happening for six years now”, Abo Sadam added to “Trendify”. Despite the fact that Ismailia would represent the biggest area on which mango is implanted, it could not serve as a representation of Egypt’s mango productivity as a whole, especially that the infection rate in Ismailia didn’t exceed 2% of the farms.
Abo Sadam added to “Trendify” that farms with the highest mango infection rates wrote and spoke about it, meanwhile people started asking about mango earlier; all these represented the reason for the ongoing rumours.
Mango prices would not increase by any means since the productivity would not be affected, the harvest will stay the same, Abo Sadam said. The mango's season didn’t start till now since all the mangoes present in the market are those from Aswan and Upper Egypt, not the mango people would await from season to season. Mid-July would mark the beginning of the season.
Mohamed Khedr, founder of Green Egypt political party, said mango's harvest wouldn’t differ from that of any other plant. This year it was subject to multiple climate changes in between increase and decrease of temperature in multiple stages of implanting.
Khedr: Sooty mold infection of plants is the responsibility of agricultural guidance that should be provided by the specialized ministry
“Sooty mold infection of plants is the responsibility of agricultural guidance that should be provided by the specialized ministry”, Khedr added. This department which should be responsible for the safety of harvest stopped assigning new members in 1984. Therefore, this could explain why there would be no censorship on the harvest quality.
El Kersh: it is a rumour, not confirmed, that people only shared without verification
Dr Mohamed El Kersh, spokesperson of the ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, said “it is a rumour, not confirmed, that people only shared without verification”. Anyone who would go to the market and find mangos at their real prices would easily discover the fact that it is a rumour.
Prices didn’t change and found their average prices of 10-20 LE. Although it is not the ministry’s specialization to control prices, the existing prices indicate the absence of any problem with productivity, El Kersh said to “Trendify”.