Less pesticide, higher profit: How fruit bag transforms mango cultivation

Rajshahi's Bagha-based farmer and entrepreneur Shafiqul Islam Sana became fond of the fruit bagging method – enclosing young fruits in eco-friendly food bags while they are on trees – as he made almost double profits by applying the method to 50,000 mangoes last year. This year he is bagging some 2 lakh mangoes.

"The demand for mangoes grown in bags is high both in local and export markets for their quality. The price of such mangoes is at least one-third higher than that of traditionally-cultivated ones. Moreover, bags help reduce cultivation costs considerably," he told The Business Standard.

The entrepreneur supplies mangoes to the capital's VIP areas, such as Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara, and to super shops like Swapna, Agora and Unimart. He also exported around 21.6 tonnes of mangoes last year.

Shafiqul Islam is just one of the hundreds of mango growers in the Rajshahi region – widely popular for different varieties of mangoes – who have increasingly been using fruit bags in their gardens over the past couple of years. Currently, 30-40% of mangoes in Rajshahi, Chapai-Nawabganj and Naogaon districts are being grown in bags, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension.

Explaining that fruit bagging is a modern agricultural technology to keep mangoes safe and poison-free, agriculture officials said the method resists pests, especially fruit flies, to stop them from reaching mangoes, prevents latex burns and fungal spots, and helps farmers lower cultivation costs. The eco-friendly bags also keep the colour of mangoes intact.

Although the bagging method used to be applied to late-market mango varieties such as Fazli, Ashwina and Bari earlier for preventing insects, it is now used for early varieties like Khirsapat, Langra and Amrapali for higher prices, they added.

"The fruit bagging method is getting increasingly popular day by day. Although the bags cost some additional money, the method yields something of worth. Farmers can cut pesticide costs greatly by using the method. They can further reduce costs by using bags multiple times. It is possible with good quality bags," Palash Sarkar, director of Chapainawabganj Agricultural Extension Department, told The Business Standard.

He suggested that farmers apply pesticides at least once before bagging mangoes.

Usually, mangoes on trees need pesticides 17 to 18 times before harvesting, but when bags are used, six to seven times of spraying is more than enough, said Rubel Ali, a farmer from Shibganj in Chapai-Nawabganj, adding that his costs for pesticides had been reduced to almost one-third.

"Until Sunday last, I had bought pesticides worth TK3.2 lakh. It's huge, undoubtedly. But imagine, if you spray 18 times, how much money do you need?" asked Rubel Ali.  

"Mangoes grown in bags do not have any spots; they are clean and the colour is good. This is why there is a high demand for mangoes, especially from the elite class and foreigners living in Bangladesh," added Golam Rabbani, manager of Laser Innocent, which supplies mangoes to various super shops in the capital.

Farmers also said the prices of fruit bags have doubled in the last two years. "I am bringing the bags from China at Tk4.5 per piece this time which was just Tk2.5 earlier," Shafiqul Islam Sana of Bagha said.

Shamsul Wadud, Additional Director of Rajshahi Divisional Office of the Department of Agriculture Extension, said 9.69 lakh tonnes of mangoes were grown on 90,894 hectares of land in Rajshahi, Chapai-Nawabganj, Naogaon and Natore last year. The government looks to 11.07 lakh tonnes of mangoes from 92,317 hectares this year, he added.

The official noted that some 223 tonnes of mangoes were exported to different countries last year. "We hope to be able to export 1,000 tonnes this year," he added.