Profusely mango bearing trees at different orchards in Rajshahi have brought smiles on growers as they are now hopeful of bumper production of early varieties this season.
The mango plucking is expected to begin from the first week of May.
Keeping in focus nor’wester and hailstorm during the mango cultivation time, farmers had taken necessary preparation with support from agriculture officials. Therefore, the mango orchards have not been affected much in storms.
Being drenched with summer rain, the young green mangoes are growing fast. So far, there was no report of pest attack in any mango orchard. As a result, the mango orchard owners and mango farmers are hoping for a good yield. They opined, if only 20- percent of the total young mangoes now on the trees are survived, they would get a bumper production.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Rajshahi sources informed, a total of 17,465 hectares of land were brought under mango cultivation in the district this year. Nearly 90 percent of the trees are bearing young green mangoes. The target of mango production in the district has been fixed at 213,426 metric tonnes. The local variety (Ati mango or mangoes grow in a tree that was generated from its seed not through taping of branch) mango is expected to be plucked from trees by the first week of May and the quality mangoes will available in the market by second week of May.
The number of Mango trees, however, were growing in numbers in the district continually. Last year, mango orchards were on 17,420 hectares of land in the district while in the previous year, mango orchards were on 16,961 hectares of land. Since a record amount of land has been brought under mango cultivation, there might be record in mango production this year as well. The DAE has fixed a target of producing 15.58 metric tonnes of mango per hectare of land this year.
The agriculture officials hoped, there would not be severe damage of mango due to adverse weather condition because the recent rainfall of last week helped a smooth growth of the young green mangoes.
Mango orchard owners and mango farmers are taking care of the green mangoes through various ways. They poured water at the bottom of tree trunks before the flowering of the trees, sprayed insecticides on the leaves and now they were applying insecticides for the second time on young green mangoes so that those are not attacked by pests..
