The tropical and subtropical climate of Bangladesh is very conducive to fruit crop production. There is a wide variety of fruits in Bangladesh and about 60 varieties of fruits are grown here, a small part of which is commercially cultivated. Considering the amount of land and production in Bangladesh, the fruits that are grown on more land and quantity are jackfruit, mango, litchi, citrus fruits, pineapple, banana, kul, papaya, guava and coconut which are considered as the main fruits. Besides, a lot of minor fruits are grown in Bangladesh. At present, the daily requirement of a full grown person is only 74.42 grams as against the demand of 200 grams. As such, the annual demand for fruits in Bangladesh, which has a population of 160 million, is 117.60 lakh metric tons. About 43.46 lakh metric tons of fruits are produced from 1.38 lakh hectares of land in Bangladesh (BBS, 2012). As a result, only 36.22% of our current production is being met. On the other hand, 61% of the fruits produced in our country are available from May to August and the remaining eight months produce 39% of the remaining fruits. Per capita fruit availability is even lower in the eight months from September to April.
The problems, prospects and characteristics of the fruit crop are completely different from the field crop. Therefore, cultivation of fruit crops and setting up of new orchards requires different knowledge and experience from field crops. There are many problems in fruit production in Bangladesh. Notable among these are-
* Shortage of cultivable land
* Lack of improved varieties of high yielding, disease and insect tolerant, adaptable to adverse weather conditions
* Irregular fruit retention
* Seasonal availability
* Inadequate quality planting material
* Lack of care and high prevalence of diseases and insects
* High post-waste
* Lack of awareness of farmers in fruit cultivation
* Slowing down technology transfer and hindering marketing
Nice post.....