"I used to throw away guti (aanti) mangoes. They had little value. I had decided to cut down all the aanti mango trees and use the land for something else. I didn't have to. I never knew these mangoes had so much sweetness. Pran opened our eyes. I now profit most from aanti mangoes. Their nutritional value is higher than any other mango, and any product made from them also lasts longer."

So said mango grower Akhtar Hossain Rubel of Chakguas village in Bagatipara, Natore. He changed his fortunes by selling aanti and Ashwina mangoes to Pran. This year he expects to sell mangoes worth nearly Tk 2 crore from a single 105-bigha orchard.

He set the target by pointing to the yield on the trees, and aims to sell about Tk 1 crore worth of aanti mangoes. Akhtar Hossain said he has already started selling and is getting good prices.

He said: "I started growing mangoes in 1996. I couldn't sell aanti mangoes at market. Some years we had to throw away thousands of maunds. Then I decided to cut the trees down. After 2000, Pran came to this area to buy mangoes, and our fortunes changed. We didn't have to cut the aanti trees after all. Demand grew day by day, and now all my dreams rest on aanti mangoes."

The successful farmer said many farmers are now encouraged to grow aanti mangoes. Other mangoes are grown commercially, but aanti mangoes are now being grown on a large scale, because mango products made from them are of the best quality and last longer.

Delwar Hossain, a partner farmer in the same orchard, said: "I have been growing mangoes with Pran's help for 10 years. Growing under contract with Pran, I can feel fairly secure."

Delwar passed his IA and worked for a shipping company. He left the job to start growing mangoes in 2005 and has not looked back, earning a profit of Tk 10 to 15 lakh every year.

Pran has about 13,000 contract mango growers across the country. Through its agri hubs, Pran supports them in various ways throughout the year, supplying improved mango seedlings at low cost and training them in planting, fertiliser and pesticide use and disease control.

Pran buys mangoes from trained farmers at a fair price, which leaves farmers largely free of risk.

Pran collects large quantities of mangoes as raw material from Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi, Natore, Naogaon and Dinajpur, and uses them to make quality fruit drinks, mango bars, chutney and other mango products. According to the company, these products are in high demand at home and abroad, and after meeting domestic demand Pran now exports them to 130 countries.

The Pran Agro Limited factory was set up on 42 acres at Ekdala in Natore in 2000. It employs about 6,000 people, 90 percent of them women.

During the mango season, the factory gives work to about a thousand more people. Besides mangoes, it collects and processes tomatoes, nuts, pulses, guava, pineapple, turmeric, chillies and other crops in different seasons.

Hazrat Ali is deputy general manager of the Pran Agro Limited factory. He said: "By collecting improved local mango varieties and making mango products, Pran has already earned a reputation around the world. This year we started collecting mangoes on 24 May, and it will continue until August."

Noting that mainly guti (aanti) and Ashwina mangoes are collected from farmers, he said: "This year a target has been set to collect about 50,000 metric tonnes of ripe mangoes, with a market value of about Tk 100 crore."

Pulp is made from the collected mangoes in 12 steps. The rest is separated as stones and skins, which are later used as fuel.

Md Hefjal Hossain, manager (pulping) at the Pran Agro Limited factory, said Pran uses advanced technology for mango pulping. The mangoes are checked by quality controllers and then sent to the lab, and their weight is verified. Only once they pass the lab test are they taken into the factory for processing. They are then crushed through various processes and the pulp is collected and stored hygienically.

He added that the pulp is preserved with aseptic technology, which keeps it safe, fresh and flavourful for at least a year without freezing.

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