Staff correspondent :

Packaging works were already completed for sending the first consignment of mango to Italy from Bagha upazila of the district of the current season.On Wednesday evening, the mangoes were sent to Dhaka and those are expected to be sent to Italy today (Thursday).Confirming the issue Upazila Agriculture Officer Shafiullah Sultan said mangoes are being exported to Italy this time in the initial stage of the current season of the delicious fruit.He said 300 kilograms of mangoes, which are local varieties, to be exported through Adab International, an exporting entity in Dhaka, in the preliminary stage.Shafiqul Islam, owner of Sadia Enterprize, a mango growing organization, said the advanced variety mangoes are very much tasty and its demand is comparatively higher than many other varieties in local markets.”We are trying to export it to make the variety popular in foreign markets,” he said, adding the mangoes were sold at Taka 100 per kilogram for export.Meanwhile, the juicy and delicious fruit Mango has started appearing in the markets of Rajshahi city and its adjacent areas as its harvesting began today morning, abiding by the instruction of local administration.Like the previous years, some of the indigenous varieties have appeared in the markets as farmers and traders have started harvesting mangoes since the morning following the instruction.Mozder Hossain, deputy director of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), told BSS that most of the mangoes will mature and ripen within the stipulated time and then those could be harvested normally.He said some of the indigenous varieties of mangoes have already ripened. But the other delicious and famous varieties- -Gopalbhog, Khirshapat and Langra- need some more days to be ripened.According to the administrative decision, the farmers can pluck local varieties from today, while Gopalbhog from May 15, Ranipachhand May 20, and Himsagar or Khirshapat from May 25.They can also harvest Langra from June 6, Amropali and Fazly from June 10, Ashwina and BARI Aam-4 from July 10, Gormati from July 10 and Ilamati from August 20.

Mozder Hossain said there are mango orchards on 19,578 hectares of land with 63,986 trees in the district and the target has been fixed to produce around 2.58 lakh tonnes of mango worth around Taka 1,500 crore this year.

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