Bangladeshi mango exports to Russia for the first time

A Rajshahi-based farming company is exporting Gourmoti and Katimon varieties of mango to Russia.

An Air Arabia flight left Dhaka for Russia Saturday morning with 200kg of Gourmoti and 75kg Katimon mangoes, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). 

"This is the first time Bangladeshi mangoes are making an entry to Russia," said Mafizul Islam, deputy director (export) at the Plant Quarantine Wing of the department.

The farming company MTB Agro and Garden collected the mangoes from the orchards of a farmer named Najim Uddin in Nachole upazila of Chapainawabganj, he added.

Md Mahtab Ali, CEO of the MTB Agro, said, a Russian company called National Electric LLC, which worked for the Rooppur power plant, is importing the mangoes.

"We have been trying for the last three years. This time, we saw success by ensuring good farming practices through many laboratory tests, and overcoming bureaucratic tangles," he said.

The embassies of the two countries worked together to set the milestone, Ali said thanking Kamrul Ahsan, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Russia, and Alexander Vikentyevich Mantytski, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Dhaka.

“Gourmoti and Katimon varieties fruit for all the year round, but for the maximum benefit, we adapted it for harvesting in only August and September months when the season for all other varieties ends,” the farmer Najim Uddin said.

Shamsul Wadud, regional additional director of DAE, said over 380 tonnes of mangoes were exported from Rajshahi, Naogaon, and Chapainawabganj districts so far this year.

In accordance with Russian mango import policy, Bangladeshi mangoes were tested at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and sent to Russian authorities last year.

Russian authorities qualified our mango samples for export for the next five years, he said.