The Chuadanga district administration has set the dates on which mangoes may be picked from trees. The decision was taken at a tripartite meeting in the conference room of the Chuadanga deputy commissioner on the afternoon of Monday, 13 May.

Picking of Anti, Guti and Bombai varieties will begin on 16 May, Himsagar on 24 May, Langra on 30 May, Amrapali (BARI Aam-3) on 10 June, Fazli on 15 June and Ashwina (BARI-4) on 1 July.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Chuadanga, mango orchards cover 720 hectares in Chuadanga Sadar upazila, 220 hectares in Alamdanga, 739 hectares in Damurhuda and 625 hectares in Jibannagar this season. The district's production target is 30,810 tonnes.

Bibhas Chandra Saha, deputy director of the DAE in Chuadanga, said no one could pick immature mangoes outside the district-wide schedule. Legal action would be taken against anyone who broke it.

Chuadanga Deputy Commissioner Dr Kissinger Chakma said immature mangoes could not be picked for commercial purposes under any circumstances, and no chemicals could be used to ripen or preserve mangoes. If mangoes were ripened illegally or stored for that purpose, action would be taken under the Consumer Rights Protection Act 2009 and the Safe Food Act 2013.

The meeting was chaired by Dr Kissinger Chakma. Present were DAE deputy director Bibhas Chandra Saha; Abdul Kuddus Mohaldar, president of the district mango traders' association; general secretary Abul Kalam Azad; Abdul Karim Biswas, senior vice-president and chairman of Karpasdanga union parishad; and mango traders Kajal, Ayub Ali, Lajuk, Shamsul Master and Mizanur Rahman Mizan.

Also present were district marketing officer Shahidul Islam, Sadar upazila agriculture officer Afrin Binte Aziz, Damurhuda upazila agriculture officer Sharmin Akter and Jibannagar upazila agriculture officer Alamgir Hossain.

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