Picking of Gopalbhog mangoes has begun in Natore. Deputy commissioner Abu Naser Bhuiyan formally inaugurated the mango harvest programme on Saturday (20 May).

The same day, a view-sharing meeting on picking and marketing safe, chemical-free mangoes was held in a mango orchard in Kolakantanagar village, Gurudaspur upazila.

The deputy commissioner said the district administration was determined to remove all obstacles to picking, marketing and transporting mangoes and to ensure safe fruit reaches consumers. Administrative monitoring to ensure chemical-free fruit will continue. "With everyone's joint efforts, the honey season will be sweet," he said.

The meeting was presided over by Gurudaspur upazila nirbahi officer Srabani Roy. Speakers included Md Abdul Wadud, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE); upazila agriculture officer Harunur Rashid; and Abdur Rauf, president of the Ahmedpur mango wholesalers' owners' association.

Under the district's mango picking schedule, mangoes can be picked from the trees as follows:

• Gopalbhog from 20 May
• Ranipasand and Lakshmanbhog from 25 May
• Khirsapat from 30 May
• Langra from 10 June
• Mohanbhog and Amrapali from 20 June
• Fazli and Haribhanga from 25 June
• Mallika from 5 July
• BARI-4 from 10 July
• Ashwina from 20 July
• Gourmati from 20 August

Natore expects to harvest 80,400 tonnes of mangoes from 5,747 hectares of orchards this year, with a market value of about Tk 740 crore.

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