This year's mango exports have formally begun. The target is 4,000 tonnes, which is double last year's.

Agriculture Secretary Wahida Akter inaugurated the exports on Thursday morning (25 May) at the central packing house in Shyampur, Dhaka. Present were Rabindrashree Barua, additional secretary of the agriculture ministry; Badal Chandra Biswas, director general of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE); Tajul Islam Patwary, director of the Field Services Wing; Arifur Rahman, director of the mango export project; and Jahangir Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetables and Allied Products Exporters' Association.

The event was organised by the export-quality mango production project and the exporters' association. About 10 tonnes of mangoes were being exported to four countries on the day.

According to the agriculture ministry, 23.50 lakh tonnes of mangoes were produced on 2 lakh hectares in the 2011-12 financial year, and in 2021-22 Bangladesh exported 1,757 tonnes of mangoes to 28 countries.

The agriculture secretary said Bangladeshi mangoes have a good reputation worldwide. The country produces more than 24 lakh tonnes, yet only 1,757 tonnes were exported last year. "Although we are seventh in the world in mango production, exports are very low. Exports must rise, and every obstacle will be removed. If necessary, packing houses will be set up near the production areas," she said.

To raise output of export-quality mangoes, the agriculture ministry has taken up the export-quality mango production project, which the DAE is implementing from 2022 to 2027 at a total cost of Tk 47 crore in 46 upazilas of 15 districts.

In the 2022-23 financial year, with project support, 350 demonstrations of mango production under good agricultural practice were set up, along with 604 new orchards of export varieties, 240 fertiliser and pest management demonstrations in existing orchards, and 200 demonstrations of quality mango production using modern technology (pruning, bagging and pest management).

The demonstrations are being set up in clusters, and 371 growers in nine upazilas have so far been brought under them. To improve quality and cut post-harvest losses, farmer groups have been supplied with mango pluckers, hydraulic mango harvesters, garden tillers, foot pumps, LLPs and hose pipe sets.

Because Bangladesh lacks the capacity to issue good agricultural practice (GAP) certificates, mangoes cannot be exported to mainstream supermarkets in Europe and America. If the manpower and capacity to certify mangoes under GAP can be built, exports to developed countries will increase greatly.

To speed up exports, the project is carrying out a pest risk analysis (PRA) for mangoes, developing good agricultural practice, and using GIS technology to exchange and store information on demonstrations and farm technology. Product profiles are being prepared for five exportable mango varieties.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.