Suitable climate supports plenty of mango sprouting in Rajshahi

Like the previous years and with the advent of the spring after winter, the mango trees come into blossom in abundance amid favourable climatic conditions everywhere in the region, including its vast Barind tract.

The blooming mango flowering at this stage predicts an excellent production of the most popular fruit in the region this season if the climatic condition remains favourable till its harvesting, experts and scientists said.

Principal Scientific Officer of Fruit Research Station Dr Shadiqul Islam said the prevailing climatic conditions are suitable for mango flowering and budding and thousands of mango trees have already worn eye-catching looks with huge blooms, reports BSS.

Flowering began in the middle of January and will continue till mid-March.

Around 65 to 70 per cent of mango trees have already sprouted buds in Chapainawabganj while 75 to 80 per cent in Rajshahi. The remaining trees are expected to sprout within the next couple of weeks.

Dr Islam said the farmers have been caring and taking care to prevent the flower from dropping and damaging as well as to make mango farming successful everywhere.

There are around 35 lakh mango trees of different ages on some 23 thousand hectares of land in the region, said officials concerned with the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

The number of growing mango trees has been increasing in the region for the last ten to fifteen years as a result of greater interest among the people. Mango, the leading seasonal cash crop of the northwestern region, vitalizes the overall economy of the Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj districts.

Dr Mukhlesur Rahman, Principal Scientific Officer of the Regional Horticulture Research Centre, said every year new mango orchards, especially of Amrapali, BARI mango-3 and 4 varieties are rapidly increasing in the districts.

Naogaon was long known for paddy cultivation, but for the last couple of years, it became the highest mango-producing district, surpassing the mango capital of Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj.

Dr Rahman said Chapainawabganj still has the highest amount of land covered by mango orchards, but Naogaon saw a one-and-a-half-time increase in its mango farm acreage annually over the last 10 years, according to the latest official data given by the DAE.

The area covered by mango orchards in Naogaon increased by 14,925 hectares in the period; while the increase was 9,520 hectares in Chapainawabganj.

Mango farming is not only increasing, but it is changing as well. Instead of creating mango orchards for a hundred years or more, farmers are targeting only 10 years.

Normally 10 mango trees are planted in one bigha of land, but in the new farming method, farmers can plant up to 200 trees in the same space, said Md Nuruzzaman, a mango grower of Porsha upazila of Naogaon.