Ismail Khan Shamim, a successful dried fruit entrepreneur from Chapainawabganj, said he entered the fruit processing industry to ensure fair prices for the fruit farmers grow. To build a strong market like Thailand's, the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector must be involved, he said.

He said this at a round table titled "Fruit Processing: Problems and Prospects" at the Jago News office in Dhaka on the morning of Saturday 27 June. Jago News editor K M Ziaul Haque presided over the event, which was attended by officials of various ministries, entrepreneurs and farmers.

Ismail Khan Shamim, general secretary of the Shibganj Mango Producer Co-operative Society in Chapainawabganj and owner of "Nawabi Mango", said he currently makes four products: dried mango, dried pineapple, dried papaya and mango bars. Before each product is marketed, emphasis is placed on ensuring quality through research and development (R&D).

He said the rapid growth of the dried fruit industry he saw on visits to Thailand in 2019 and 2022 inspired him. Seeing how that country built a big market in the sector within a few years, he realised that processing Bangladesh's neglected and surplus fruit could make an important contribution to the economy.

To build a strong market like Thailand's, the SME sector must be involved, he said. If large companies source products from SME entrepreneurs and create opportunities to market them internationally, the whole sector will benefit.

Describing the practical challenges, he said 10 to 12 kg of mangoes are needed to produce one kilogram of high-quality dried mango, while many Thai products are made at comparatively lower cost. Local entrepreneurs are also at a big disadvantage competing with foreign products that come in through smuggling or by evading duty.

To take the industry forward sustainably, state patronage, effective policy support and a long-term action plan are needed, he said. In particular, if incentives and investment for processing jackfruit and other local fruits can be increased, farmers, entrepreneurs and the national economy will all benefit.

Also present were Dr Jahangir Alam Khan, former vice-chancellor of the University of Global Village, researcher and agricultural economist; Dr Md Golam Ferdous Chowdhury, chief scientific officer of the Post-Harvest Technology Division of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI); Dr Md Mehedi Masud, former project director of the Year-round Fruit Production Project and fruit expert; Mohammad Arifur Rahman, director of the DAE's exportable mango production project; Enamul Haque, deputy director (food and agriculture) of BSTI; Ilias Mridha, managing director of PRAN Group; Md Abul Hashem, managing director of Hashem Foods Limited; Md Iktadul Haque, former general secretary of the Bangladesh Agro-Processors' Association (BAPA); S M Nazer Hossain, vice-president of CAB; Md Mahatab Ali, executive director of Kaju and Coffee Agro; and Naogaon agri-entrepreneur Sohel Rana.

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