BARI Mango-12 is still hanging on tree while almost all other sweet varieties have already been harvested. This palatable late variety can be a staircase of prosperity.

A total of 25 lakh tons of mangos from 2 lakh hectares of land is produced in the country each year. Around one third of this is from Rajshahi-Chapainawabganj region. Mango mainly harvested in May-July in Bangladesh. The huge production in these 3 months pushes the farmers towards an awkward situation. Mango growers confront loss due to low price.

Mango cannot be stored for a long as it is a climacteric fruit that ripens and rots rapidly. Moreover, transport and marketing system is not modern enough. Specialized cold storage, cooling van, vapor heat treatment facility- these are not available up to now. In addition, selling this huge mango in local market within a short time is about to absurd. Processing and increasing export can mitigate a bit the miserable condition but that will not be able to prevent the price lowering due to abundance. Furthermore, in the case of export promotion there is a scarcity in capability of competition regarding safe production, transport price and other relevant issues compared to other countries around the globe.

Expanding the harvesting period to Aug-Sep by varietal improvement can be a suitable solution to this. With this view in mind, the Regional Horticultural Research Station (RHRS), Chapainawabganj developed the variety BARI mango-12 in 2019. The variety is late, fibreless and sweet (TSS-24).

Dr. Md. Mokhlesur Rahman, Chief Scientific Officer of RHRS, Chapainawabganj says, BARI mango -12, locally called Gourmati, starts getting maturity at extreme late in August when harvesting of all other palatable varieties is over. So, BARI mango-12 is sold at a higher price. There is no chance of losing rather is every possibility of elevated benefits and economic prosperity.

In this regard Dr. Md. Kamrul Islam, Principal Scientific Officer, mentions that the wise and advanced farmers are coming up with this late BARI mango-12 variety instead of peak seasonal varieties and getting benefitted to a great extent. RHRS, Chapainawabganj is patronizing and providing advocacy service to establishing and nurturing orchard of this path-finding variety. Rapid expansion of this variety is being expected.