Mango harvest to start in Rajshahi from May 15

This season's mango harvest in Rajshahi will start from May 15.

Rajshahi district administration took the decision in a virtual meeting with mango experts and growers in the afternoon. Rajshahi's deputy commissioner Abdul Jalil chaired the meeting.

The harvesting will start two weeks ahead of proper time, considering the prevailing drought in the region, our staff correspondent reports.

Dr Alim Uddin, principal scientific officer of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, said, "This year the mangoes can ripen in advance. Because the rainfall was low and a drought is prevailing."

Dr Alim who attended the meeting said, usually the proper harvest time for the mangoes starts from the first week of June but the dates were fixed in advance this season so that the growers can harvest ripe mangoes in time.

"All mangoes of a tree don't ripe in a day," he said.

He said the growers were given the liberty of harvesting mangoes ahead of the scheduled dates if any tree yields mangoes before the given time.

In such cases, the growers will have to consult with local agricultural offices for permission of harvesting, he added.

According to the harvest schedules, growers can harvest Guti variety of mangoes from May 15 and Gopalbhog from May 20.

The date for harvesting Laxmanbhog (Laukhna) and Ranipasand varieties of mangoes has been fixed for May 25.

Khirsapat (Himsagar) variety of mangoes can be harvested from May 28, and Langra variety on June 6.

Amrapali and Fazli varieties on June 15 while Ashwina and BARI Mango-4 from July 10.

Shafiqul Islam, a mango producer of Rajshahi's Bagha upazila, said they had to wait for at least two weeks last year to begin harvest although the district administration back then fixed the harvest date in the middle of May.