The Khirsapat mango of Chapainawabganj, known as the capital of sweet mangoes, has been registered as the country's third geographical indication (GI) product. Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun handed over the certificate at a ceremony organised by the Ministry of Industries on Sunday morning.

The certificate was received by Dr Modan Gopal Saha, director of the Horticulture Research Centre (Gazipur) under the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), and Dr Md Shafiqul Islam, chief scientific officer of the Chapainawabganj Regional Horticulture Research Station.

The registration certificate for Chapainawabganj's Khirsapat mango as a GI product was issued by the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (DPDT) under the Ministry of Industries.

Mango growers and traders in Chapainawabganj are delighted at the formal recognition as the news spreads. Those involved say that, along with recognition of the Khirsapat name, growers and traders in the region will now profit by exporting the mango to world markets.

Dr Md Shafiqul Islam said the GI certificate brands Chapainawabganj's Khirsapat mango, and this recognition will later bring intellectual property rights, benefiting the district's Khirsapat mango at home and abroad.

He said that from now on no one can market this mango under another name, and buyers will not be cheated. To raise production commercially and to a higher standard, farmers will be trained through the local Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and the horticulture research centre, and certificates will be given to growers.

He said 35,000 tonnes of Khirsapat mango are produced every year on 3,400 hectares in Chapainawabganj district alone.

Of about 250 mango varieties in Chapainawabganj, Khirsapat is the tastiest and most popular. Outside the district it is also known as Himsagar. The medium-sized, roughly oval fruit averages 8.6 centimetres in length and weighs 250 to 350 grams. The skin of the ripe fruit is slightly yellow and the flesh yellowish. It is fibreless, juicy and pleasantly fragrant, with an average sweetness of 23 per cent.

Grown commercially, the mango has met domestic demand and for the past four years has also been exported to Europe, the Middle East and other parts of the world. Growers, orchard owners, traders and their organisations had long demanded GI recognition for it.

The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, the Chapainawabganj district administration and the regional horticulture research station eventually took steps to protect the mango's rights. On 2 February 2017, applications were made to register Chapainawabganj's Khirsapat, Langra and Ashwina mangoes as GI products. Of the three, the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks recognised Khirsapat.

The story began about 200 years ago, when Maharaja Sutangshu Kumar Acharya Bahadur of Mymensingh set up a mango orchard at Kansat in Chapainawabganj, where Khirsapat was grown alongside other fine varieties. The Khirsapat is also mentioned in a 1955 invocation verse of alkap, a local folk song form. Today the variety is grown commercially in five upazilas of the district.

Folk culture researcher Professor Dr Mazharul Islam Tur said the Khirsapat's name appears among 250 mango varieties in the verses of the ancient alkap songs, and the district gazetteer also refers to Khirsapat as a Chapainawabganj mango.

Emdadul Haque, general secretary of the Kansat Mango Aratdar Association, said demand for the mango will grow in the domestic market, there will be more scope for export, and commercial production will rise.

Agriculturist Md Manjurul Huda, deputy director of the DAE in Chapainawabganj, said that with the GI certificate, Khirsapat mangoes will carry a tag when marketed, so buyers can recognise them and other mangoes cannot be passed off in their place. Farmers will get a fair price, the mango will be branded, and the history and heritage of the country's mangoes will be preserved internationally.

Congratulating the people of Chapainawabganj, Deputy Commissioner A Z M Nurul Haque said steps will be taken on commercial production and expansion of the mango and on marketing it at home and exporting it abroad. It was a long-standing wish of the district's people and will be a milestone for the district's development, he said.

Khirsapat currently makes up 30 per cent of the mangoes produced in the country. Through GI recognition, it will now also be recognised as Bangladesh's own product.

Source: Dhaka Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.