A significant number of mangoes were sold in the recently ended harvesting and marketing season in Rajshahi making a substantial contribution to its economy.
Although the mango season officially ended in the district around a month ago, some varieties like the Ashwina, BARI 4 and Katimon, are still available at the local markets.
Towfiqur Rahman, additional deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), told BSS that mangoes worth around Tk86.85 crore were sold in the district this year, which is a significant improvement upon last year's sales of around Tk71.82 crore.
Agriculturist Rahman said cultivated on around 17,943 hectares of land, farmers harvested around 217,000 tons of mangoes this season. While last season, farmers harvested around 180,000 tons of mangoes from 17,686 hectares of land.
In the current season, around 15 tons of mangoes were exported to various European countries, including Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland, against 12 tons in the previous season.
Meanwhile, Katimon, a mango variety of Thailand, is being produced all year round in the region breaking the existing record of around three months harvesting season from May to mid-August of the delicious fruit.
The mango tree of exotic variety flowers and yields fruit three-four times a year against the single yield for conventional varieties.
Rafiqul Islam, a farmer of Durgapur upazila, inspired his neighbours, established an orchard of this non-conventional mango variety at Maria village.
He collected 1,100 saplings of the variety at Tk180 apiece from Dinajpur and transplanted those on 25 bigha of land on pond embankment around two years back. Flowers started appearing in the subsequent year.
Rafiqul said the number of fruits was non-satisfactory last year. But he got three to five kilograms of yield from each of the trees on an average this season. He's hoping to get mangoes four times this year.
Dr Alim Uddin, principal scientific officer of Regional Fruit Research Station, said they are conducting research on Thailand's variety to assess its extent of disease infestation.
However, the variety has already reached the farmers' level directly creating a new dimension in the field of mango farming.
With the passing of time, many high yielding mangoes and modern technologies are coming and enriching the mango production sector gradually vibrating the region's economic sector.
Dr Alim said mango farming in Ultra High-Density Mango Planting (UHDMP) method has gained popularity as the growers are getting additional income after the best uses of the method in the region, including its vast Barind tract.
The modern farming system has brought a new dimension to the local economy side by side with diversifying the cropping pattern in the region.
