The mango season is officially over, yet Kansat, the traditional mango market in Shibganj upazila of Chapainawabganj and the district's largest, is as busy as ever. As mainstream supplies dwindle, late and year-round varieties keep the yards full: growers arrive daily with Ashwina, BARI-4, Gourmoti, Katimon, Banana Mango and Khirsapat.

Current retail prices at Kansat are Tk 80–100 a kilogram for Ashwina, Tk 150–180 for BARI-4, Tk 160–180 for Gourmoti, Tk 170–180 for Katimon and Tk 180–200 for Banana Mango, with wholesale rates by the maund somewhat lower. Growers Ashraful Islam and Abdus Salam said end-of-season Katimon is making Tk 6,000–8,000 a maund, BARI-4 about Tk 7,000–8,000 and Banana Mango about Tk 8,000 — satisfactory against the cost of production.

The novelty this year is off-season Khirsapat, also known as Himsagar, the GI-registered variety that normally reaches the market in May. A few Shibganj growers have had experimental success getting it to fruit in August; some orchards still have Khirsapat on the trees, and buyers are offering Tk 20,000–25,000 a maund at the orchard gate.

Golam Mostafa, a grower from Argara village, said he had switched to Katimon and Gourmoti after seasonal mango stopped paying, and grafted Katimon branches onto Khirsapat trees to change the variety. The grafted branches bore Katimon, but the old parts of the trees flowered too; with care, they set Khirsapat out of season. He has already sold about Tk 80,000 worth at roughly Tk 25,000 a maund, with a last picking due in two weeks. He calls the method experimental and believes it could open a new door for mango growing if it is scientifically verified and taken to commercial scale.

Dr Md Sharaf Uddin, chief scientific officer (acting) at the Regional Horticulture Research Centre in Chapainawabganj, said Khirsapat is in demand at home and abroad, but growers often miss out on price because the whole crop lands at once at the start of the season. Off-season fruiting of the variety had not been known to the centre before, he said, and it will now work on it.

Based on reporting by Bangla Tribune's Rajshahi correspondent Dulal Abdullah. Source: Bangla Tribune