Rajshahi mango farmers happy with catimon variety

Rafiqul Islam has established an orchard of catimon mango variety at his village inspiring many of his co-villagers to follow the path bringing a new dimension to the village's economy.

Islam, a farmer of Maria village in Durgapur upazila of the district, had collected 1,100 saplings of the variety at Taka 180 per piece from Dinajpur and transplanted those on 25 bigha of land on pond embankment around three years back. Flowers started appearing in the subsequent year.

 ‘Catimon', a mango variety of Thailand, is giving mango round the year in the district breaking the existing record of around three and half months harvesting season from May to mid August of the delicious fruit.

Experts said the tree of exotic variety contains mango and flower or budding simultaneously giving yield three to four times in a year against the single one of the conventional varieties.

Rafiqul Islam said the number of fruits was non-satisfactory due to less weight and height of trees on the following year. But he got three to five kilograms of yield from each of the trees on an average during the last two consecutive seasons. He's hoping to get mangoes four times this year.

Giving a salient feature of the variety he also said this mango isn't the seasonal variety of mango but it's testy and sweet and market demand is also high compared to other varieties.

Normally, mango harvesting and marketing take place from mid May to hardly mid August in the region from immemorial time.

But there is an exception in terms of the Catimon variety which is still available in the local markets. The mangoes are being sold at Taka 8,000 per mound at present meaning that Taka 200 per kilogram. One kilogram of mangoes contains four to five mangoes.

Umme Salma, District Training Officer of Department of Agriculture Extension, said the new variety of Katimon mango is being cultivated on around ten hectares of land here.

As a result of taking care of the trees regularly, there is an inspiring growth of the fruits and the mangoes produced on the trees are being sold at a high price. For this reason, more farmers are interested in cultivating the variety.

Shakatwat Hossain Munshi, a mango farmer of Kanaiprara village under Puthia upazila, said almost every year new varieties of mangoes are being cultivated and by testing the quality of those mangoes, farmers finally cultivate those commercially.

Dr Shafiqul Islam, Principal Scientific Officer of Regional Fruit Research Station, said they are conducting research on Thailand's variety to assess its extent of disease infestation.

However, the variety has already reached the farmers' level directly creating a new dimension in the field of mango farming.

With the passing of time many high yielding mangoes and modern technologies are coming and enriching the mango production sector gradually vibrating the region's economic sector.

Dr Islam said mango farming in Ultra High Density Mango Planting (UHDMP) method has gained popularity as the growers are getting additional income after the best uses of the method in the region, including its vast Barind tract.

The modern farming system has brought a new dimension to the local economy side by side with diversifying the cropping pattern in the region.

Hefaz Uddin, 60, a resident of Bailkapara village of Nachole upazila in Chapainawabganj, has been earning money from his land regularly through adopting the method for the last couple of years.

In 2018, he planted 100 trees of BARI-4 mango variety leaving behind the conventional variety on his one acre of land after getting intensive training on UHDMP.

He got yield from 84 trees next year, fetching Taka 51,120. "I had harvested 6.7 kilograms of yield from each of the trees on an average," Hafez said with a smiling face, while talking to BSS on Thursday.

Expecting more income from his land with the application of new agricultural technology, he said the UHDM orchards are contributing a lot towards extra income giving better life to the beneficiary family members at present.

 Like Hefez Uddin, many other farmers have attained economic emancipation after adopting the UHDMP method that has brought a remarkable change in the area for the last couple of years.