CropsAt a Jago News round table in Dhaka on 27 June 2026, agricultural economist Dr Jahangir Alam Khan said only a tiny share of Bangladesh's fruit is exported and called on the country's embassies to work harder to find new markets.
Building at least 10 skilled SMEs in each of Bangladesh's 64 districts, along with cold chain expansion, easy finance and public-private partnership, could transform agro processing within a decade, speakers said.
Fruit expert Dr Md Mehedi Masud has demanded that those who destroyed farmers' fruit in the name of formalin be brought to justice and that the affected farmers be compensated.
Without storage, processing technology, good packaging and easy certification, large amounts of Bangladesh's mangoes go to waste, Naogaon agri-entrepreneur Sohel Rana said.
Although Bangladesh produces more fruit, large quantities rot in season, and the fruit-processing industry cannot develop sustainably without a bigger budget for agriculture and horticulture, says economist Dr Jahangir Alam Khan.
Chapainawabganj dried fruit entrepreneur Ismail Khan Shamim says small and medium enterprises must be brought in if Bangladesh is to build a Thailand-style market for processed fruit.
FruitsAt a Dhaka roundtable on 27 June 2026, fruit expert Dr. Md. Mehedi Masud said 65 percent of Bangladesh's roughly 15.2 million tonnes of annual fruit output comes in four months, and called for storage, processing and year-round production.
AgribusinessBangladesh's fruit-processing industry was struggling with an export incentive cut from 20 to 10 per cent, costly loans and dearer raw materials, Hashem Foods managing director Md Abul Hashem told a roundtable on 27 June 2026.
Formalin is never used on fruit in Bangladesh and the idea is a misconception, the project director of the DAE's exportable mango production project told a Jago News round table.
CropsPoor coordination between research institutes, the DAE, the Department of Agricultural Marketing and entrepreneurs was holding back Bangladesh's fruit processing industry, BARI chief scientific officer Dr Md Golam Ferdous Chowdhury told a Jago News round table on 27 June 2026.
Mangoes in the Rajshahi region will now be bought and sold by the kilogram, ending the long-standing "dhalan" practice under which traders took extra fruit without paying for it.
