Vapour heat treatment (VHT) is mandatory for mango exports, but its use in Bangladesh is still limited, said Dr. Md. Mehedi Masud, fruit expert and former director of the Year-Round Fruit Production Project. Every mango must be freed of insects and pathogens with modern VHT technology before export, he said, but infrastructure limits force exporters to bear extra time and cost.

He was speaking at the roundtable "Fruit Processing: Problems and Prospects" at the Jagonews24 office in Badda, Dhaka, on Saturday, 27 June, moderated by editor K. M. Zeaul Haque.

• Developed countries now use laser technology to check fruit quality, and Bangladesh should introduce it so that export fruit can be sorted to a higher standard.
• If sending a kilogram of fruit abroad costs several hundred taka in freight, it is hard to compete internationally, so special incentives and lower transport costs for exporters are urgent.
• Europe has a huge market for dehydrated or dried fruit, and building a dried fruit industry in Bangladesh would open new export markets.

He called for bringing the large fallow areas in the hill regions under fruit cultivation, noting that fruit is grown in hill areas almost everywhere in the world. With irrigation, commercial fruit farming in the hills could open a new horizon for agriculture. Research institutes should develop quality technology packages for new fruits such as grapes and provide technical support to farmers rather than focusing only on selling saplings.

If fruit processing, modern storage, advanced export technology and year-round production are ensured, he said, the fruit sector could become one of the main drivers of the economy.

Other participants included Dr. Jahangir Alam Khan, BARI's Dr. Md. Golam Ferdous Chowdhury, DAE's Mohammad Arifur Rahman, BSTI's Enamul Haque, PRAN's Elias Mridha, Hashem Foods' Md. Abul Hashem, Md. Iktadul Haque, S. M. Nazer Hossain, Md. Mahatab Ali, Ismail Khan Shamim and Sohel Rana.

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