Home ›› 28 Jun 2022 ›› Nation
Naogaon has made its mark in mango production and in recent years the district has become one of the largest mango producing districts in the country.
Naogaon is well known as the largest rice-producing district in the north. Recently, bumper mango production has been added to the list of achievements of the district.
Many young entrepreneurs in the district are inclining towards cultivating mango as it is profitable. Mango orchards in the district have increased almost three times in the past decade and now Naogaon is competing with Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj in mango production.
The young entrepreneurs are making a hefty profit by exporting mangoes to different countries of the world.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, traders exported 15 tonnes of mangoes with their help in 2021 and this year they are planning to export more.
Meanwhile, on June 20, a young mango farmer from Sapahar exported 100 tonnes of Amrapali to the UK.
Farmers in the district demanded speedy implementation of economic zones and the setting up of mango storage facilities to expand mango-centric trade in the district.
According to the DAE Naogaon, there were 9,270 hectares of mango orchards in the district in 2013.
Sapahar, Porsha, Patnitala, Dhamoirhat and Niamatpur upazilas of bordering the district is known as the Barind area. Even a decade ago, farmers in the area had to rely on cultivating Aman paddy once a year because of water scarcity. The socio-economic development in the area lagged far behind due to this.
But the farmers did not have to look back after they turned away from cultivating rice and began mango farming.
In a decade, mango orchards have tripled in the district. Currently, there are mango orchards full of different varieties of the fruit on 29,465 hectares of land in the district.
The target for mango production per hectare is 12.5 tonnes. DAE has set a target of producing about 3,8,435 tonnes of mango this year.
Traders from different districts are coming to the markets of Sapahar, Porsha, Niamatpur and Patnitala for the last two weeks to buy mangoes.
Currently, traders are selling Langra variety of mango at Tk 1,800-Tk 2,300, Nakfazli vat Tk 1,600-Tk 2,200 and Amrapali variety at Tk 3,000-Tk 3,500 per maund. Of these three varieties, Naogaon’s Amrapali mango is most in-demand in the domestic market.
Young entrepreneur Sohail Rana has set up integrated agricultural farms called Barindra Agro Park on 150 bighas of land in Godownpara of Sapahar.
He has planted different varieties of mango including Amrapali, Bari-4, Gaurmati, Banana Mango, Katiman, Langra, Himsagar, Fazli, and Miyajiki on 70 bighas of land specifically to export abroad.
“I exported eight tonnes of Amrapali and Banana Mango varieties to England and Qatar and made double the profit compared to the domestic market last year,” he said.
This year he plans to export 50 tonnes of Amrapali, Bari-4, Gaurmati and Banana Mango varieties abroad.
Mango farmer Monem Shahriar, a young entrepreneur from Haripur village in Sapahar, said he stopped cultivating paddy and established mango orchards of Amrapali and Fazli varieties on eight bighas of land five years ago.
“I made my first harvest after a year and a half and made a hefty profit. Since then, I expanded my orchard to 12 more bighas of land,” he said.
Ashraful Islam, a mango farmer from Ghatnagar in Porsha, said, “I have wrapped about 70,000 mangoes in my 75 bigha orchard in packets to save them from insects. This lessened the cost of pesticides,” said the farmer.
The mangoes that will be exported abroad are quarantined in Dhaka. Mangoes are only allowed to go abroad after testing whether they have any diseases or pesticides.
This year, the traders are planning to expand the export endeavour to more countries.
Deputy Director (Acting) of the DAE Naogaon, AKM Manzoor-e-Mawla said that the main reason for the increasing demand for the mangoes of the district in both the domestic market and abroad is that the soil in the region is clayey and loamy.
When the mango season is coming to an end in different districts of the country, Amrapali mangoes are still bountifully available here.
Farmers are benefiting from being able to sell mangoes at higher prices at the end of the season. Mango orchards are growing at a significant rate in the district every year as the business is profitable.
Naogaon Deputy Commissioner Khalid Mehedi Hasan said local markets have been widened by evicting illegal establishments to facilitate mango farmers to expand mango into a centralised trade in the district.
He added that monitoring teams are working in every market to ensure that farmers get a fair price for mangoes.
“To increase the mango yield in the district in future, farmers are being encouraged and trained to cultivate mangoes in modern ways in collaboration with the DAE,” he said.
He expects that farmers will benefit more if an economic zone is implemented quickly in the district.
