Bangladesh's main mango season ends in August, yet in September hundreds of vans of mangoes still roll into Kansat market in Shibganj, Chapainawabganj. Most are Katimon, a year-round variety from Thailand, and behind them is top working, grafting new scions onto old trees. Farmers now put 500 to 1,000 scions on a single tree instead of five or six, so mangoes are available all year, The Daily Star reports.
Department of Agricultural Extension figures show Katimon grew on less than one hectare in Rajshahi, Natore, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj in 2014 and on 4,757 hectares in 2025-26, 4,462 of them in Chapainawabganj. Mehedi Masud, who directed the year-round fruit production and nutrition project at the time, said 2,000 saplings were distributed through horticulture centres in 2014 and farmers in Shibganj were taught to fruit trees all year. Some urged that the trees be cut down then, he said; now the variety has spread nationwide, and the credit belongs to farmers.
Prices stand out. On 19 September Katimon sold at Kansat for Tk 7,000 to 7,500 a maund (about 37kg), Banana mango for Tk 17,000-18,000, Ashwina for Tk 5,000-6,000 and BARI-11 for Tk 8,000-10,000, against Tk 1,200 to 3,000 a maund in the main season. Retail Katimon is Tk 150-180 a kilo this year, down from Tk 300-400 two or three years ago. Shibganj agriculture officer Md Nayan Mia said 450 to 500 tonnes of Katimon, worth an average Tk 6-7 crore, change hands at Kansat every day. Abdul Wahed, president of the Chapainawabganj chamber, puts off-season Katimon sales at Tk 300-400 crore a year and expects Tk 500-700 crore by December this year.
Farmers are changing tactics. Hasan Ali, who has a 12-bigha orchard, grafted Katimon onto Fazli, Ashwina and Guti trees because those varieties no longer pay. Abdur Rakib of Mobarakpur said grafting Katimon onto a Khirsapat tree and caring for it brings blossom on both the mother tree and the graft, giving a mixed harvest. Hashem Ali of Darichak Bil said breaking off the first flowers of Banana mango in the main season brings a second flowering two months later.
Md Sharaf Uddin, chief scientific officer at the Regional Horticulture Research Station (the Mango Research Centre), cautioned that while breaking blossoms and applying a hormone before flowering has had some success, there is no guarantee everyone will succeed; a tree whose blossom is broken in season may not flower again. Trials on varieties that are genetically late have a better chance, he said.
More late varieties are coming. BARI Mango-19, a hybrid of BARI Mango-3 and -4 with a strong stalk that should cut storm losses, is ready for release and would be on sale from 15 July to mid-August, Sharaf Uddin said; a hybrid of Amrapali and Langra that looks and tastes like Langra may follow as BARI Mango-20, in season from August to mid-September, and both could be released within a year. Md Khaledur Rahman, deputy director of the Chapainawabganj Horticulture Centre, said two late varieties known in India as Kananbhog and Late Amrapali are being observed for two to three years before promotion.
Source: The Daily Star
Comments
(0)