BSS) – Mango plucking festival for the current season kicked off in the district today with harvesting of local mango varieties.

The mango harvesting season in Rajshahi formally begins with the collection of the ‘Guti’ variety in accordance with the `Mango Calendar` announced by the district administration. Other varieties, including Gopalbhog, Khirsapat, and Himsagar, will follow later in the season.

Mango growers expect that the sales of the summer fruit in the district may exceed over Taka 3,500 crore this year as over 30,300 hectares of land were brought under mango cultivation here, official sources said here.

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has fixed a target for producing 366,000 metric tons of mango in the district and the market price of the mango is expected to vary from Taka 3500 crore to Taka 4000 crore, the officials sources added.

Accordingly, some orchards in Naogaon have started harvesting mangoes from today. However, the opening day was not very busy in the mango markets of the district.

While visiting the wholesale mango market in the district town, it was seen that there was not much crowd in the market. There was no hustle and bustle of buyers and sellers.

Maruf Hossain, owner of Jannat Fal Bhandar in the district, said that mango plucking has not yet started in the commercial orchards of Naogaon. Mangoes of different varieties cultivated near their homes have started ripening. Farmers are bringing them to sell, but in very small quantities. Small mangoes are being sold at a wholesale price of Taka 800 to 1200 per maund.

Good varieties of sweet mangoes have not yet started to come in the market, he said.

The largest mango market of the district is Sapahar Mango Market. It was seen that traders and employees are spending their time idly in the market. One or two mango sellers are coming on bicycles and vans to sell mangoes.

Imam Hossain, general secretary of the Sapahar Mango Market Traders` Association, said that early varieties of small mangoes, Gopalbhog and Himsagar are not cultivated much in Naogaon. In commercial gardens, Nak Fazli, Amrapali, Bari Mango-4, Hadibhanga and Gaurmati mangoes are cultivated more.

Amrapali is the most cultivated mango in the district. About 60 percent of the mangoes cultivated in the district are Amrapali. According to the schedule set by the district administration, these mangoes will come to the market from June 18, he said.

When Amrapali starts coming to the market, the Sapahar mango market will be bustling, he added.

However, when Nak Fazli, Langra and Haribhanga mangoes come to the market from the first week of June, the market will become bustling with the presence of buyers and sellers.

The district administration has fixed the time for mango harvesting in the Naogaon district on May 12. According to that `mango calendar`, the Gutija variety of mangoes has come to the market from today. Gopalbhog will come to the market from May 28 and Khirshapati or Himsagar mangoes will come to the market from June 2.

`Nak Fazli` mangoes, which have been recognized as a GI product, can be also collected. Apart from this, Langra and Hadibhanga can be collected from June 10, Amrapali from June 18, Fazli and Banana mangoes from June 25 and Bari mango-4, Gaurmati, Ashwina and Katimon mangoes from July 10.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Awal said that unripe mangoes cannot be collected or taken to the market before the specified time.

However, if the mangoes ripen prematurely due to weather conditions, mango farmers can reschedule the date and collect mangoes ahead of time as per the instructions of the concerned upazila administration and agriculture department.

To prevent adulteration of mangoes, the administration will keep special vigil at various markets including Sadar Bazar of Sapahar upazila, Nochnahar, Saraigachi, the largest mango market in the region before transportation.