NAOGAON, Feb 24: The booming mango flowers at this stage signals a bumper yield in the district this year.
Sources at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said to fulfil the production target of 0.5m tonnes, farmers of all eleven upazilas of the district are cultivating mangoes on some 18,527 hectares of land including small, medium and big orchards and homesteads.
Of them 9,000 hectares in Porsha upazila, 4,000 hectares in Sapahar, 2,200 hectares in Patnitala, 950 hectares in Niamatpur, 615 hectares in Dhamoirhat, 400 hectares in Naogaon sadar, 400 hectares in Manda, 360 hectares in Mohadevpur, 340 hectares in Badalgachi, 146 hectares in Raninagar and 116 hectares in Atrai upazila have been cultivated.
Amrapali, Ashina, Khirsha, Fazlee, Mallika, Haribhanga, Nyangra, BAARI-4 and BARI-15 varieties are the popular among the growers.
About 90 per cent mango trees have already massively bloomed and the process still continues amid suitable climatic conditions. The trees have worn eye-catching looks with huge blooms.
Growers have started taking extensive preparations, cares and measures to make this year's mango farming a grand success.
One Abu Yusuf of Basuldanga village under Saphar upazila said he has Amrapali and Ashina varieties of mango orchards on five acres of land.
Farmers in my area are showing more interest in mango farming in the recent years as we are earning huge profits from the fruit than that of the crops like paddy, wheat, mustard and maize, he added.
Farmer Omar Ali of Joypur village said, "I started taking good care of the mango trees from December last year and are now spraying pesticides on the trees for protection of the flower."
"If the ideal weather continues, it will lead to bumper production and we hope a good earning this season", he added.
Additional deputy director of DAE Mahbubur Rahman said farmers are provided with the latest technologies to boost the cultivation of the mango across the district.
Farmers did not get the fair price of the mango last year. However, they are expecting high yield and good price of the fruit this season, Mr. Rahman added.
