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of the Deshi or Payree species. What they generally do
is this. They settle with the owners of mango-trees
a lump sum as the purchase price of the fruit for one
season. They get the mangoes^ picked and packed,
and despatch them to Bulsar, Surat or Baroda and
occasionally to Bombay. This they do on their own
risk and responsibility bearing loss or making profit, as
the case may be.
Statistics of marketing of mangoes from At gam to
Bombay.
What is of importance and interest to us is the export
trade in Alphonzo and Payree mangoes. The manner in
which mango-fruits are picked and packed from Atgam
and received at the Crawford Market in Bombay has
been described in detail in the Report of the Mango-
marketing Committee.1 The economic aspects, however,
deserve consideration. Fortunately for us, one of the
intelligent Ujaliparaj farmers who sends his mangoes to
a dalal in Bombay happened to keep a regular account of
this enterprise. He wanted to see whether he was
a gainer or a loser in not accepting Rs. 275/- to 3OO/-,
offered to him by one of the Bombay dalals, as a whole-
sale price for his garden of Alphonzo and Payree mango-
fruits. The following account is based on the figures
taken from his diary :
Expenses of marketing 120 baskets, each containing
mangoes varying in number from 50 to 100 :
Rs. As. Ps.
(1) Cost of Bamboo, baskets, etc., for packing
the fruits............21 80
($) Cost of Coir-ropes and gunny bags to cover
baskets ............• . 18 .18 0
(3) Labour charges for picking, packing and carting
mangoes from Atgam to Bulsar ....... 21 40
f Total .61 90
1 This ^Committee was appointed by the Government of Bombay to
investigate the problem of mango-marketing in the Konkan, 1924.