Many farmers are seen showing interests towards intercropping of mango with various cereal crops especially paddy in the region including its vast Barind tract because the method gives additional income to the farmers.
Farmers have brought around 35,000 hectares of land under the intercropping method in Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Naogaon and Natore districts, said Dr Alim Uddin, Principal Scientific Officer of Fruit Research Station in Rajshahi on Sunday.
He said intercropping not only increase total crop production but also help improve soil health and fertility with no negative effect on mango yield and quality. Besides, intercropping create additional job opportunity needed for intensive crop production.
In the wake of adverse impact of climate change, the farmers face trouble to depend on only paddy cultivation for the last couple of years. To get more income and to recoup the losses, they are cultivating paddy, onion, garlic, brinjal, mustard, turmeric and papaya with mango as intercropping. By dint of excellent output, the farmers created new mango orchards in the new method.
“I have an eight-bigha of mango orchard of intercropping with various seasonal crops. I am getting additional income from the farming,” said Jamal Hossain, a farmer of Charghat Upazila in the district.
Mangoes grow almost everywhere in the district but Poba, Charghat and Bagha have a long-lasting tradition of producing quality fruits.
As the growers reap large sums of money from mango farming, it encourages many others towards farming mangoes, Hossain added.
Many varieties of mangos such as Guti, Langra, Fazlee, Khirsapat, Mohanbog, Ashwini, Gopalbogh, Haribhanhga, Amropali, Bari 34, and 11, Nakfazlee, Gouromoti, are now cultivated in the region.
Md Nurzzaman, a farmer of Jamgram village under Patnitala Upazila, said, “Nakfazlee mango plants were grown here 10-15 years ago. This mango is tasty, and it has less fiber and is less perishable and has demand in the market.
So, the cultivators are more inclined to cultivate this variety of mango.”
He said the cultivators earn more income from mango cultivation than other crops. For this the cultivators are more interested in mango cultivation.
Dr Sharaf Uddin, Senior scientific officer of Regional Horticulture Research Station, said various processed food-items particularly juice, soft drinks, pickles, jams and jellies can be manufactured through processing of mangoes. This sector can contribute a lot to the region’s economy as the
processed foods are in enormous demand, apart from their high market values.
He said every year new mango orchards especially of Amrapali, BARI mango-3 and BARI mango-4 varieties are rapidly increasing in the region.
Mango is a perishable item. So, it needs immediate consumption or processing for its value addition. Besides, various natural calamities like storms, hailstorms, gusty winds, tornados and droughts cause a significant portion of produced mangoes to fall out of trees.
However, the modern processing plant can make the fallen mangoes valued food items and protect them from getting damaged.