BSS, Rajshahi :
More campaign on safe mango which are being sold everywhere in Rajshahi and Chapainawabgonj districts at present has become an urgent need for welfare of the growers in general, speakers at a public gathering here said.
They mentioned that the mango growers are incurring huge loss despite of bumper production due to low price as the wholesalers and businessmen from the capital Dhaka and other major cities are not coming here to purchase the seasonal delicious fruit adequately.
They were addressing the campaign titled “Food Safety Policy and Law:
Post-harvest Handling and Business Opportunities for Safe Production and Marketing of Mango” held at Godagari Upazila Hall room of the district yesterday. More than 100 farmers, traders and wholesalers attended the meeting.
Agriculture Sustainable and Socio-Economic Development Organization
(ASSEDO) organized the motivational meeting practical training in association with Promoting Food Security and Livelihoods of Marginalized People of Barind Tract Project and Oxfam-Novib.
Upazila Chairman Md Ishaque addressed session as chief guest while Upazila Agriculture Officer Mozdar Hossain and President of Godagari Press Club Alamgir Kabir Tota spoke as special guests with Khalid Hossain, Upazila Nirbahi Officer, in the chair. ASSEDO Executive Director Agriculturist Rabiul Alam addressed the meeting as focal person.
By dint of adequate precautionary measures, growers and traders are now selling safe and hygienic mango abundantly in markets and other growth centers in the two districts, famous for mango production, this season, which is good news for the consumers in general, said the speakers.
Local district and upazila administrations are issuing certificate of safe mango among the traders to attract and encourage other wholesale businessmen and traders from the capital Dhaka and other major cities in the country to purchase the harvested mango without any fear and anxiety, they added.
Mango is the leading seasonal cash crop of the region and dominates the economy in the two districts famous for the delicious fruit. So, there is no alternative to make the growers and others concerned habituated in maintaining hygienic condition and other best practices from production to marketing.
There are about 30 lakh mango trees of different ages and varieties on some 32,816 hectares in the region with creation of many more new mango orchards and increased mango farming in the homesteads in recent years.
To attain the cherished goal of safe mango harvesting and marketing, the mango farmers and businessmen are being brought under requisite training in phases. Modern technologies are being promoted commercially in the process to protect mango from unethical mixing of formalin and other harmful insecticides besides facilitating the farmers to get quality and better yield and price.
Rabiul Alam said more than 1,200 mango farmers and traders were brought under training on value chain coupled with safe production, harvesting, transporting and marketing in phases under the project. This year, 1,500 bags were distributed among the growers on pilot basis. If the technology was used, there will be no spot on mango.
The initiative aimed to determine which of the bagging materials and forms gave the best quality of fruits, determine the effect of the bagging materials and forms on pest incidence and find out which of the bagging materials and forms gave the highest yield and net income.
In this way, 4,000 pre and post-harvest mango-bagging process is being
implemented through which the cash crop could be protected from all kinds of diseases and pests that will boost the volume of exportable mango.
More campaign on safe mango which are being sold everywhere in Rajshahi and Chapainawabgonj districts at present has become an urgent need for welfare of the growers in general, speakers at a public gathering here said.
They mentioned that the mango growers are incurring huge loss despite of bumper production due to low price as the wholesalers and businessmen from the capital Dhaka and other major cities are not coming here to purchase the seasonal delicious fruit adequately.
They were addressing the campaign titled “Food Safety Policy and Law:
Post-harvest Handling and Business Opportunities for Safe Production and Marketing of Mango” held at Godagari Upazila Hall room of the district yesterday. More than 100 farmers, traders and wholesalers attended the meeting.
Agriculture Sustainable and Socio-Economic Development Organization
(ASSEDO) organized the motivational meeting practical training in association with Promoting Food Security and Livelihoods of Marginalized People of Barind Tract Project and Oxfam-Novib.
Upazila Chairman Md Ishaque addressed session as chief guest while Upazila Agriculture Officer Mozdar Hossain and President of Godagari Press Club Alamgir Kabir Tota spoke as special guests with Khalid Hossain, Upazila Nirbahi Officer, in the chair. ASSEDO Executive Director Agriculturist Rabiul Alam addressed the meeting as focal person.
By dint of adequate precautionary measures, growers and traders are now selling safe and hygienic mango abundantly in markets and other growth centers in the two districts, famous for mango production, this season, which is good news for the consumers in general, said the speakers.
Local district and upazila administrations are issuing certificate of safe mango among the traders to attract and encourage other wholesale businessmen and traders from the capital Dhaka and other major cities in the country to purchase the harvested mango without any fear and anxiety, they added.
Mango is the leading seasonal cash crop of the region and dominates the economy in the two districts famous for the delicious fruit. So, there is no alternative to make the growers and others concerned habituated in maintaining hygienic condition and other best practices from production to marketing.
There are about 30 lakh mango trees of different ages and varieties on some 32,816 hectares in the region with creation of many more new mango orchards and increased mango farming in the homesteads in recent years.
To attain the cherished goal of safe mango harvesting and marketing, the mango farmers and businessmen are being brought under requisite training in phases. Modern technologies are being promoted commercially in the process to protect mango from unethical mixing of formalin and other harmful insecticides besides facilitating the farmers to get quality and better yield and price.
Rabiul Alam said more than 1,200 mango farmers and traders were brought under training on value chain coupled with safe production, harvesting, transporting and marketing in phases under the project. This year, 1,500 bags were distributed among the growers on pilot basis. If the technology was used, there will be no spot on mango.
The initiative aimed to determine which of the bagging materials and forms gave the best quality of fruits, determine the effect of the bagging materials and forms on pest incidence and find out which of the bagging materials and forms gave the highest yield and net income.
In this way, 4,000 pre and post-harvest mango-bagging process is being
implemented through which the cash crop could be protected from all kinds of diseases and pests that will boost the volume of exportable mango.
