The reign of the five fruits

Even though Bangladesh has a wide variety of local fruits, only five of them — mango, banana, jackfruit, watermelon and papaya — currently reign supreme in the market, accounting for about 73 per cent of the total production annually.

In the 2021-21 financial year, the country’s total fruit production was 1.22 crore tonnes and these five contributed 88.88 lakh tonnes, according to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).

Mango, the most common fruit in every corner of Bangladesh, alone contributes 20.49 per cent of the total production, followed by Banana at 16.88 per cent, Jackfruit at 15.31 per cent, watermelon at 14.57 per cent, and papaya at 5.57 per cent.

Officials at DAE, which keeps production records of 45 types of fruits, say fruit cultivation generally depends on demand and the profit anticipated by the farmers.

Because of these reasons, cultivation opportunities or initiatives for other fruits are not expanding much and the import dependency on different types of fruits is not reducing, they said.

“Only a handful of fruits are occupying the majority stake in the market because the less profitable ones are not commercially farmed,” Dr Md Saiful Islam, director (in-charge) of DAE’s Horticulture Wing, told The Business Post.

“We can’t force farmers to cultivate the less profitable fruits. But what we are working on is making a zoning map that will show which areas are more suitable for which fruits,” he said.

He hoped this initiative will indulge framers to choose to cultivate fruits other than the top five and increase overall production.

Back in FY2010-11, the country had produced 1.05 crore tonnes of fruits. However, the production increased only by 17 lakh tonnes in the last 10 years.

In the past five years, fruit production remained between 1.20 and 1.23 crore tonnes. Moreover, FY21’s 1.22 crore tonnes production is 1.87 lakh tonnes lower than the previous year.

Dr Saiful said, “If a certain year saw high production in mango, the production dropped the next year. This was a huge problem that has been almost solved after the introduction of the Amrapali variety.

“Meanwhile, the Chinese lychee production has also fallen. We are working on introducing other varieties of the fruit.”

Mango

In FY21, farmers around the country had produced 25 lakhs tonnes of mango, with a 12.59 tonnes yield per hectare on average, marking a production increase by 32,520 tonnes from 24.68 lakh tonnes in FY20.

Mangoes were cultivated on 1.98 lakh hectares of land during this period, which is 8,728 hectares more than the previous year.

Five districts — Chapainawabganj, Naogaon, Rajshahi, Thakurgaon and Bandarban — produce 45.54 per cent of total mango production. Chapainawabganj produced the highest 3.82 lakh tonnes, followed by 3.49 lakh tonnes in Naogaon, 2.17 lakh tonnes in Rajshahi, 98,739 tonnes in Thakurgaon and 91,845 tonnes in Bandarban.

“This season’s mango harvest has started and so far they look good. We’ll be able to say whether production increased or not after the harvest is complete,” said Mohammad Nazrul Islam, the deputy director of DAE in Chapainawabganj.

Banana

Banana has the second-highest production rate apart from being the cheapest fruit available across the country.

In FY21, the country produced 20.60 lakh tonnes of bananas, with 22.52 tonnes of yield per hectare. However, this total was 1.68 lakh tonnes less than the previous year’s 22.28 lakh tonnes while total cultivable land also decreased by 1,383 hectares in a year.

Five districts produced 42.13 per cent of total banana production in FY21.  Bandarban produced the highest 2.47 lakh tonnes, followed by 2.43 lakh tonnes in Rangamati, 1.57 lakh tonnes in Tangail, 1.34 lakh tonnes in Kushtia and 86,946 tonnes in Khagrachhari.

Although banana production in the country’s hilly areas has been comparatively high, it is now showing a reduction trend.

Jackfruit

According to DAE, Bangladesh produced 18.69 lakhs tonnes of jackfruit on 65,364 hectares of land in FY21, with a 28.59 tonnes yield per hectare.

In FY20, the country had produced 18.65 lakh tonnes on 71,750 hectares of land — which shows that production increased by 3,490 tonnes but the cultivation area reduced by 6,386 hectares in FY21.

In FY21, Gazipur produced the highest 2.80 lakhs tonnes of jackfruit, followed by 1.41 lakh tonnes in Khagrachhari, 1.29 lakh tonnes in Bandarban, 96,100 tonnes in Rangamati and 95,750 tonnes in Bhola. These five districts produce 39.68 per cent of the country’s total jackfruit production.

Watermelon

Bangladesh produced 17.79 lakh tonnes of watermelon on 43,347 hectares of land in FY21, with a 41.04 tonnes yield per hectare. This fruit currently has the highest yield per hectare in the country.

The fruit’s cultivation area and production have both increased significantly in recent years. In FY20, 14.53 lakh tonnes were produced on 38,824 hectares of land — which shows production rose by 3.26 lakh tonnes and cultivation area increased by 4,523 hectares in FY21 alone.

In FY21, Patuakhali produced the highest 5.69 lakh tonnes of watermelon, followed by Bhola at 5.46 lakh tonnes, Khulna at 3.10 lakh tonnes, Noakhali at 88,695 tonnes, and Barguna at 81,404 tonnes. These five districts produced 89.17 per cent of the total production. Hasan Oarisul Kabir, the deputy director of DAE in Bhola, told The Business Post, “Farmers are becoming more interested in cultivating watermelon as they are benefitting more from the high prices in Dhaka and other cities.

“The total production every year is breaking the previous year’s record. We are closely monitoring the field activities.”

Papaya

In FY21, some 6.80 lakh tonnes of papaya were produced around the country on 27,473 hectares of land, with 24.74 tonnes of yield per hectare.

However, compared to the previous year, total production was down by 2.26 lakh tonnes — 24.97 per cent — as cultivation areas reduced by 10,287 hectares — 27.24 per cent — during this period.

In FY21, Bandarban produced the highest 1.25 lakh tonnes of papaya, followed by 48,994 tonnes in Rajshahi, 38,050 tonnes in Tangail, 36,194 tonnes in Rangamati, and 30,828 tonnes in Manikganj. These five districts produced 40.98 per cent of the total production.

DAE official Dr Saiful Islam said, “A research is underway to assess different aspects of fruit production in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. After we get the study report, we will be able to address the problems there.”

What about other popular fruits?

Apart from mango, banana, jackfruit, watermelon and papaya, in FY21, Bangladesh also produced 5.19 lakh tonnes of coconut, 4.70 lakh tonnes of pineapple, 4.31 lakh tonnes of guava, 2.12 lakh tonnes of Boroi (or Jujube), 2.10 lakh tonnes of lychee, 2.01 lakh tonnes of lemon, 1.55 lakh tonnes of palm, and 1.32 lakh tonnes of melon.

Out of the fruits most wanted by people, some 51,049 tonnes of orange and 45,640 tonnes of malta (an orange variety) were produced in the country in FY21.

Production of apple, one of the most sought after fruits, is so low in Bangladesh that the government does not even keep a record of it.

However, among the exotic fruits, the country produced 8,659 tonnes of dragon fruit (or Pitaya) and 389 tonnes of strawberry in FY21. According to DAE’s Plant Quarantine Wing, Bangladesh imported 6,06,746 pieces of different fruit plants in FY21.

Md Mehedi Masood, the director of Year Round Fruit Production for Nutrition Improvement Project, said, “DAE is trying to increase local production of different foreign fruits in the country as they have a demand among the people of different income classes, including upper-middle and upper.”

“Super shops are selling these fruits after importing them by spending foreign currency. We want to capture that market,” he added.