Rajshahi along with its adjacent district Chapainawabganj is famous for its tasty and delicious mangoes that attract people from all over the country every summer, reports BSS from Rajshahi Production of the juicy fruits increases each year for its profit, but unfortunately, there is no mango-preservation scope or processing plant here as a whole. Officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) are expecting 2.5 lakh tonnes of production from different mango orchards on 23,000 hectares of land.
Mango is an important seasonal cash crop in northwestern Bangladesh. Every season, a large number of people are involved in various types of works in these areas. “We have enormous scopes of adding value to the seasonal cash crop besides making the farmers happy,” said Md Muniruzzaman, President of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Quoting the office records DAE officials said there were 15,000 trees that yielded 2.15 lakh tonnes of mangoes in 2014-2015 harvesting season.
The yield per hectare was 13.1 tonnes. Some varieties like Gopalbhog, Langra, Himsagar, Ranipasand, Fazli and Aswina are extremely tasty and mouth-watering among more than hundred others. Mangoes grow almost everywhere in the two districts however; Paba, Charghat and Bagha in Rajshahi and Shibgonj, Kansat, Rohanpur and Sadar of Chapainawabganj have a long-lasting tradition of producing quality mangoes. Regarding the ongoing mango production, Dr Alim Uddin, senior scientific officer of Regional Fruit Research Centre, said the current year has been a very good one for mango production. As the growers reap large sums of money from mango farming, it encourages many others towards farming mangoes, in turn resulting in an escalation of acreage.
“Although, we are yielding huge numbers of mangoes every year, no significant mango processing plant has been set up here as of yet,” he said. Various processed food-items particularly juice, soft drinks, pickles, jams and jellies can be manufactured through the processing of mangoes. If possible, this sector can contribute a lot to the region’s economy as the processed foods are in enormous demand, apart from their high market values. Mango is a perishable item. So, it needs immediate consumption or processing for its value addition. Besides, various natural calamities like storms, hailstorms, gusty winds, tornados and droughts cause a significant portion of produced mangoes to fall out of trees. However, the modern processing plant can make the fallen mangoes valued food items and protect them from getting damaged. Meanwhile, construction work on two modern fruit- processing factories is progressing fast in the region with the ultimate goal of adding value to the agricultural products especially mangoes, tomatoes and potatoes. A plant named Hashem Agro-processing Industry is being built on 40 bighas of land at Rishikul under Godagari upazila of the district with the initiative of the Sazib Corporation that is setting a target to manufacture mango pulp in the upcoming mango season. Another factory is being planned by the Vegan Group on 50 bighas of land at Rohanpur under Chapainawabgonj district, where a pulping plant will also be established.