For the first time, the tasty Gobindabhog mango is going to England from a remote village in Jhenaidah's Kaliganj upazila.

On Tuesday (16 May), 1,000 kg of mangoes from two farmers were formally prepared for export. They will be sent to England from Dhaka. About 10 tonnes of mangoes will be sent from the village in phases this season.

The mangoes come from the orchards of farmers Habibur Rahman and Tabibur Rahman of Kashtabhanga village in Kashtabhanga union, with overall technical support from the Kaliganj upazila agriculture office.

Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim Anar was chief guest at the first export packaging event, which was also attended by upazila chairman Jahangir Siddique Thandu, upazila agriculture officer Mahbub Alam Roni and upazila vice chairman Shibli Nomani.

Mango grower Habibur Rahman said he has grown various fruits for a long time, mainly mango and lychee. His roughly 9 bighas hold Gobindabhog, Himsagar, Langra, Rupali and Tile Bombai mangoes. This year he talked with officials of Global Trade Limited, a Dhaka mango exporter, and then contacted the agriculture office. On their advice the fruit was tended following good agricultural practice rules. On Tuesday mangoes from his orchard joined Bangladesh's mango exports.

He said Gobindabhog mangoes are being sent to England in the first phase, followed by Langra, Himsagar and Rupali.

He added that local traders are currently buying green mangoes at Tk 25-30, but export-grade mangoes are being sold from the orchard at Tk 50 a kg. Sadayein Khan Fahadi, representing the exporter, said the first shipment of Gobindabhog mangoes was taken from Kashtabhanga village and will be sent to England.

He said there are plenty of mangoes in the country this year. They will take the mangoes to the Bangladesh centre packaging house at Shyampur in Dhaka for testing, and export them from there.

Kaliganj upazila agriculture officer Mahbub Alam Roni said this is the first time mangoes, like other crops, have had a chance to be exported from Kaliganj. It is great news for farmers, and in future farmers here may also be able to export other crops after meeting local demand.

Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim Anar said: "It is very good news that people in England will now eat mangoes from Kaliganj upazila. This is the first time mangoes have been exported from here. Following on from this, I believe dragon fruit, lychee and vegetables from my constituency will get the chance to be exported."

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