A Mango Festival organised by Pran has begun in Dhanmondi. Growers from the country's famous mango-growing regions have come with their own mangoes to what is billed as the country's biggest mango festival.

The festival opened at 10am on Thursday (10 July) at Rabindra Sarobar in Dhanmondi and runs until Saturday. All kinds of mangoes grown in the country are being displayed and sold.

The origins, history and heritage of different mangoes are being presented to the younger generation, and various games and traditional cultural performances from rural Bengal have been arranged to make the festival more attractive. In the cultural segment, the popular band Warfaze, singer Oishee and other well-known artists were due to perform that afternoon.

The Pran Mango Festival runs daily from 10am to 8pm, and people of all walks of life can attend free of charge.

In the morning, stalls selling mangoes and processed foods made from mangoes had been set up on the Rabindra Sarobar grounds. A stage for the concert was being built on the main platform, with corners for various games nearby.

Buyers had been coming since the fair opened. Munnujan, a buyer from nearby Dhanmondi 15, said: "It is undoubtedly a good initiative. Mangoes from the traditional areas are available here, so I bought some."

Grower Rakib Hasan brought mangoes from the Raipara orchard in Rajshahi. "Raipara is a 200-year-old orchard in our area. I have brought Fazli mangoes from there, and they are selling here for only Tk 50 a kg. Amrapali, BARI-4 and Mallika mangoes from our area are at another stall, and we are selling those at Tk 80 a kg," he said.

He said they had brought the mangoes under Pran's direct supervision, and an event like this is a big help to growers.

Eliyas Mridha, managing director of Pran Group, said: "Pran Group is the largest buyer of mangoes in the country. In the mango season we collect mangoes from about 10,000 contract farmers across the country and turn them into juices and drinks that we bring to consumers all year round. Through this fair we have given growers from several districts famous for mangoes the chance to display their different mangoes, so that they can present their taste, heritage and history to the younger generation."

He added that the market for mango products in the country is now about Tk 1,500 crore and that there is huge demand for Bangladeshi mangoes abroad, which calls for branding. "Pran has become a source of national pride. Pran makes juices, drinks, mango bars and pickles from locally grown mangoes and exports them to about 148 countries. Our goal is to take Bangladesh's mangoes to every corner of the world through Pran juices and drinks."

Md Moniruzzaman, executive director of Agricultural Marketing Company Limited (AMCL) (Pran), said this is the first time they are holding the Mango Festival. Cultural events, games and other attractions open to everyone have been arranged to make it festive for the younger generation.

Asif Zaman, senior manager of the fair's organiser Marketing Events, said that although attendance was somewhat low in the morning because of bad weather, the fair was expected to be busy in the afternoon, when the main stage would be ready for the concert. "We are trying to overcome the disruption from rain and make the fair lively," he said.

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