Ambassadors, high commissioners and heads of mission of about 20 countries in Bangladesh on Thursday visited safe mango production activities in Chapainawabgani as mangoes were being produced there following the good agricultural practices to increase its export abroad.
In the afternoon, they visited the mango orchard of farmer Ruhul Amin, who was following good agricultural practices in mango production, at Kandbona village in Nachole upazila.
During the visit, the envoys appreciated this initiative of Bangladesh and were impressed by the safe mango production process, said a press release of the agriculture ministry.
Agriculture minister Md Abdus Shahid, state minister for commerce Ahasanul Islam Titu, state minister for rural development and cooperatives Md Abdul Wadud, local lawmaker Md Ziaur Rahman, agriculture secretary Wahida Akter, foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council executive chairman Shaikh Mohammad Bokhtiar and envoys of Brunei Darussalam, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, Bhutan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Libya were present during the visit.
Besides, the Bangladesh representative of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations joined it.
After the visit, agriculture minister Md Abdus Shahid said that the mangoes of Bangladesh were unique in taste and smell, and were very popular abroad too.
Bangladesh has the potential to export a huge amount of mangoes every year, while it can export only about 3000 tonnes of mangoes now, he said.
The agriculture minister said that the main obstacle behind the mango export was the lack of good agricultural practices in its production. 鈥楽o, we have started producing safe mangoes following the good agricultural practices. Today, the envoys of different countries visited this programme,鈥� he added.
State minister for commerce Ahasanul Islam Titu said, 鈥榃e, the agriculture, commerce and foreign affairs ministries, will do branding of our mangoes abroad together so that we can increase mango export.鈥�
Agriculture secretary Wahida Akter said that Bangladesh started following good agricultural practices in mango production. The envoys witnessed safe mango production activities today, which will help increase the country鈥檚 mango export, she added.
Currently, Bangladesh is exporting mangoes to 38 countries. In 2021, mangoes worth about US$ 1.5 billion were exported. Around 1,757 tonnes of mangoes were exported in the financial year 2021-22, while 3,100 tonnes in the financial year 2022-23.
