Mango orchard leasing and trading
Leasing someone else's mango orchard for one or more seasons and selling the fruit. One Sokhipur orchard costs about Tk 833 per tree per year to lease; wholesale from the orchard runs Tk 1,320 to Tk 7,700 a maund.
- Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
- Version 1
Mango orchard leasing and trading
- Starting capital
- ৳42,000 – ৳30,00,000 Editorial estimate
- Manpower
- 2 – 10 people
- First sale
- 180 – 270 days Editorial estimate
- Break-even
- 7 – 10 months Editorial estimate
- Kind of work
- Farm · Hard
About the business
Owning an orchard is one thing; taking someone else's orchard for a season is a different business altogether. The trees are not yours, the land is not yours - you are buying one season's fruit, and how that fruit turns out is not settled when you sign. That is the gamble. Take a real set of numbers. At Sokhipur in Tangail three young men leased a 4.5-acre Gourmoti orchard of 1,200 trees for ten years, on terms that pay the owner Tk 1,000,000 every year - about Tk 833 per tree per year, or roughly Tk 222,000 an acre. That season their own spending, bagging included, came to about another Tk 2,000,000. Selling wholesale from the orchard at Tk 7,700 a maund, they expected Tk 2,000,000 profit after costs. But not every mango is a Gourmoti. On 15 May 2026, opening day at Baneshwar bazar in Rajshahi, tree-ripened guti mango fetched just Tk 1,320 a maund and most of it went to pickle factories. Tk 7,700 against Tk 1,320 - the whole of profit and loss sits between those two prices for the same crop. And one thing nobody mentions: in Joypurhat the wholesalers buy from households at 45 kilos to the maund and sell to shops at 40 kilos to the maund, so five kilos in every maund is gone on the scale before a single mango has spoiled.
Unit economics
| Item | Range | Evidence | Suggest a correction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly working capital | ৳5,000 – ৳2,50,000 | Editorial estimate | |
| Selling price | ৳1,320 – ৳7,700 / unit | Market quote | |
| Variable cost | ৳660 – ৳4,620 / unit | Editorial estimate | |
| Gross margin | 40% – 50% | Editorial estimate | |
| Time to first revenue | 180 – 270 days | Editorial estimate | |
| Break-even time | 7 – 10 months | Editorial estimate | |
| Cash cycle | 0 – 7 days | Editorial estimate | |
| Waste / loss | 11% – 13% | Market quote | |
| Daily capacity | 0.5 – 20 | Editorial estimate |
What you need to start
- Fruit bagging bags, pesticide and spraying materials, and crates for carrying the fruit. Bagging adds about Tk 100,000 per acre.Starting stock
- Trade licence from the union parishad, municipality or city corporation: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, non-judicial stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type. This is a buy-and-sell trade, so it is required.Licence
- A lease deed with the orchard owner on non-judicial stamp paper. Term, annual payment, payment dates and what happens if the crop fails should all be written in. The Sokhipur precedent is a ten-year contract at Tk 1,000,000 a year.Licence
- Judging a season's yield from the standing trees - the whole business rests on it, because the lease price is fixed before the fruit exists. Then pruning, protecting the flowering, timing the sprays and bagging.Skill
- Permanent year-round labour (four at the Sokhipur orchard), and on the selling side the orchard wholesaler, an aratdar at Baneshwar or Akkelpur, and pickle-factory buyers.Supplier
- The leased orchard is the workplace. The Sokhipur precedent is 1,200 mango trees on 4.5 acres. Tree count and variety set the price, not the area of land.Workspace
How the work is done
- 1Go looking for an orchard in September-October, long before flowering. That is when owners start thinking about leasing the coming season and the asking price is still lower.
- 2Count the trees, write down the variety and find out their age. The price is set by tree count and variety - the 4.5-acre Sokhipur orchard held 1,200 trees at Tk 1,000,000 a year, about Tk 833 a tree.
- 3Find out how many maunds came off that orchard in the last two or three years, asking the owner and the neighbours separately. Setting your price on the owner's word alone is the surest way to be cheated.
- 4Put the agreement in writing - how many years, how much a year, on what dates, and what happens if the crop fails. The Sokhipur contract runs ten years at Tk 1,000,000 a year. Execute it on non-judicial stamp paper.
- 5Start work in November. Prune the old panicles and branches, wash the trees down with a water spray in December, spray the new leaves in January - skip these and the February flowering will not come right.
- 6Decide about bagging early, because this is where the money changes. Bagging costs about Tk 100,000 more per acre, but the fruit stays free of pesticide and fetches a far better price.
- 7Fix your year-round labour. Besides the two partners, the Sokhipur orchard keeps four permanent workers all year and takes on extra hands at selling time.
- 8Respect the official picking date. In Rajshahi in 2026 only ripe guti mango could come to market from 15 May, and the haat leaseholder announced by loudspeaker that unripe fruit would be fined.
- 9Settle the weight of a maund before you sell. Forty kilos or forty-five - if it is not written down, five kilos a maund simply disappears.
- 10Get quotes from more than one buyer - the orchard wholesaler, the arats at Baneshwar or Akkelpur, and the pickle factories. Guti mango's real buyers are the pickle traders; local people do not eat it.
- 11Once you are buying and reselling, take a trade licence from the union parishad or municipality, and record the weight and price of every consignment.
Seasons
- JanLow
- FebLow
- MarLow
- AprLow
- MayHigh
- JunHigh
- JulHigh
- AugHigh
- SepHigh
- OctLow
- NovLow
- DecLow
Where it works well
- Strong fitChapai Nawabganj · The country's principal mango district, and where the Gourmoti variety was first found in 2012. Orchard leasing is oldest here.
- Strong fitNaogaon · The mango belt around Sapahar is growing fast, and late-season varieties with it.
- Strong fitNatore · Guti and Boishakhi picking starts in May, and Gourmoti has spread here too.
- Strong fitRajshahi · Baneshwar in Puthia is the district's biggest mango market; in 2026 that haat alone was auctioned for Tk 35,960,000.
- Strong fitTangail · Sokhipur has 200 hectares of mango including 30 of Gourmoti, and the documented late-variety lease is here.
- PossibleDinajpur · A northern mango area that also supplies the tail of the season.
- PossibleJoypurhat · A nakfazli wholesale market runs from 5am to 7am by the Railgate in Akkelpur.
- PossibleKushtia · There are orchards and good road links to Dhaka.
- PossibleMeherpur · The district has large old orchards including the Mujibnagar plantation, but a comparatively small market.
- PossibleSatkhira · The country's earliest mango comes from here, so the start-of-season price is good.
Risks and cautions
- HighDemand: The lease is paid before the crop is seen, but the price is settled after it is picked. Under the Sokhipur contract the owner takes Tk 1,000,000 a year whatever the yield. Yet the spread is enormous: guti at Tk 1,320 a maund at Baneshwar on 15 May 2026 against Gourmoti at Tk 7,700 from the orchard in 2024. In Joypurhat, nakfazli fell Tk 400-600 a maund in a week once supply rose after Eid. In a bad-price year the lease does not shrink; only your profit does.
- HighOther: The margin goes on the scale. At Akkelpur in Joypurhat wholesalers buy from households at 45 kg to the maund and sell to shops at 40. Saiful Islam of Badalgachhi sold three maunds at Tk 800 and had to hand over 15 kilos extra. A retailer, Kamrul Islam, reckons shopkeepers clear Tk 400-500 a maund. Whoever leases an orchard and comes to sell stands exactly where the household stands in that trap.
- HighSpoilage: Mango does not wait once it ripens, and the government fixes the season's dates. In Rajshahi in 2026 nothing could be picked before 15 May and unripe fruit brought to market was to be fined. Once the fruit turns, it goes at whatever price is on offer - on opening day at Baneshwar most arats had not even opened, and the grower still had to stand there with his fruit.
- HighWorking capital: Spending starts in November and money arrives between May and August. The Sokhipur orchard spent about Tk 2,000,000 in a season including bagging, on top of the Tk 1,000,000 lease. Pruning, washing, several rounds of pesticide, bagging and four permanent workers' wages all come long before any fruit is sold. Run out halfway and the bagging or a spray gets skipped, and that alone drops the price for the whole season.
- MediumDependency: The trees are not yours. If the owner fells them, sells the land or disputes the terms, the leaseholder has few remedies. The Sokhipur owner says himself that having leased that orchard out he is now planting another with a Taiwanese variety - the owner has his own plans, and when they change the leaseholder carries it.
Videos and interviews
84:16
2:50
6:02
21:0965 varieties of mango in one garden. Mango Farming | Bangladeshi Mango
গ্রামীণ চাষী - Village Farmer
Stories about this business
Six bigha leased for 10 years for year-round mango; about Tk 4 lakh in sales last year, over Tk 3 lakh profit
A nursery owner in Sharsha, Jashore, planted a Katimon mango orchard on 3 bigha in 2018 and later leased 6 bigha for BARI-11. He sells mangoes at the orchard for Tk 350 a kg during Ramadan.
- Reasons
- Weak demand, Good quality
From 70 jujube trees at Tk 35,000 to a 10-acre orchard: over Tk 8 lakh from 13 mango varieties in a season
A family in Boalkhali, Chattogram, built a fruit orchard on fallow, saline-flooded land. Selling foreign and rare mango varieties earned over Tk 8 lakh in one season.
- Capital
- ৳35k
- Ran for
- 72 months
- Reasons
- Weak demand, Good quality
The 5.5-bigha mango orchard was cut down because the fruit no longer paid
This orchard owner felled 5.5 bighas of Khirshapat, Langra and Amrapali trees: spraying, bagging, labour and irrigation costs had risen while the price of mangoes had not. About 100 hectares of orchard have been cleared in Charghat upazila in five years.
- Reasons
- Price drop
Entrepreneurs in this business
The people running this business today — you can visit them, ask questions and learn.
Nur Islam Sardar's Year-round Mango Orchard and Nursery
Mango orchard leasing and trading · Nursery and sapling production
Year-round BARI-11 and Katimon mangoes, in the market out of season
Sharsha, JashoreSince 2018
- Sells products
- Visitors welcome
Moin-ul-Alam Bulbul's Katimon mango orchard
Mango orchard leasing and trading · Nursery and sapling production
An orchard of year-round Thai Katimon mango, selling fruit and grafted saplings
Meherpur Sadar, MeherpurSince 2021
- Sells products
- Takes orders
- Visitors welcome
Shahinul Islam's Integrated Farm
Quail farming · Ginger and turmeric farming · Mango orchard leasing and trading
Quail eggs and chicks, local chickens, Haribhanga mangoes and sack-grown ginger
Mithapukur, RangpurSince 2006
- Sells products
- Teaches
- Gives advice
Nakkhatra Tripura's Online Mango Sales
F-commerce page selling · Mango orchard leasing and trading
Selling Khagrachhari Amrapali mangoes on Facebook since 2018
Khagrachhari Sadar, KhagrachhariSince 2018
- Sells products
- Takes orders
- Delivers
জাকিউরের আমবাগান
Mango orchard leasing and trading
At Zakiur's orchard there are mangoes all year round
Bochaganj, DinajpurSince 2016
- Sells products
- Visitors welcome
- Gives advice
Growers Group
Mango orchard leasing and trading · Malta and orange farming · Dragon fruit farming
Safe, largely organic mango and mixed-fruit orchards on 45 bighas, built from the savings of 15 agriculturist friends
Nachol, Chapai NawabganjSince 2021
- Sells products
- Gives advice
Where to buy
বাংলাদেশ কৃষি গবেষণা ইনস্টিটিউট (বারি)
The research institute behind the vegetable, fruit and pulse varieties: improved seed and saplings, and cultivation training.
মহাপরিচালক মহোদয়ের দপ্তর, বারি, গাজীপুর, GazipurUsed by 18 businesses
ইস্পাহানী এগ্রো লিমিটেড
Sells seed, bio-pesticides and crop-health inputs.
Trade Intercontinental (17th Floor), 213/A, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208Used by 5 businesses
রাজশাহী চেম্বার অব কমার্স অ্যান্ড ইন্ডাস্ট্রি
The business body on Station Road, Rajshahi — the local centre for mango, rice and Sonamasjid land-port trade.
Chamber Bhaban, Station Road, Rajshahi. Tel: 0721-812122; Fax: 0721-812133; Mob: 01409990570-71 (Secretary), 01409990577 (President)Used by 4 businesses
নাটোর চেম্বার অব কমার্স অ্যান্ড ইন্ডাস্ট্রি
The business body at Lalbazar, Natore — local contact for the paddy, mango and molasses trades.
Chamber Bhaban, Lalbazar, Natore. Tel: 0771-62480, 62809 (Office)Used by 4 businesses
সিনিয়র কৃষি বিপণন কর্মকর্তার কার্যালয়, রাজশাহী
The government agricultural marketing office for Rajshahi district, handling local market prices, marketing licences and market monitoring.
RajshahiUsed by 2 businesses
Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetables & Allied Products Exporters Association (BFVAPEA)
Association of fresh fruit and vegetable exporters — helps with export clearance, packing houses and buyer links.
28/1/C, Toyenbee Circular Road, Rahmania International Complex, 5th floor, Room# 11-12, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000Used by 4 businesses
হর্টেক্স ফাউন্ডেশন
Training, quality and packing support for horticulture export, and help connecting with overseas buyers.
Sech Bhaban (3rd Floor, Western Side), 22 Manik Mia Avenue, Shere Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207Used by 4 businesses
বনায়ন
Fruit, medicinal, spice and ornamental saplings, seeds, pots and garden accessories, wholesale and retail, with production centres in Mymensingh and Savar.
Mirpur 12 Cantonment, Dhaka 1216 (production centres: Mymensingh and Savar)Used by 7 businesses
Florida Farms BD
Mango saplings of more than 180 local and foreign cultivars, plus other tropical fruit saplings.
32/4 A, Hajiganj Road, NarayanganjUsed by 2 businesses
প্ল্যান্টস বিডি
Mango, flower, medicinal and indoor plant saplings, seeds, fertiliser and garden tools, delivered to all 64 districts.
Kanchon Bazar Proshadpur, Manda, Naogaon 6510Used by 9 businesses
Sources
সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ
Collected: 16 Sept 2026Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ
What changed
No corrections have been published yet.
Questions and answers
No questions yet. You can be the first to ask.
Similar businesses
Agriculture & farmingLemon and pineapple farming
Lemon and pineapple orchards on hill slopes and fallow land. A hali of lemons is Tk 20-30 in Dhaka in September and Tk 100-120 in Ramadan; Madhupur pineapple is Tk 20-25 each wholesale.
- Capital
- ৳41k – ৳1.8 lakh
- People
- 1 – 6
- First income
- 400 – 730 days
Agriculture & farmingQuail farming
Cage-reared quail. Laying starts in 35-45 days; an egg costs about Tk 1.20 to produce and sells wholesale at Tk 2.80-3.50. The market is narrow, and the bigger money is in selling chicks.
- Capital
- ৳35k – ৳2.5 lakh
- People
- 1 – 3
- First income
- 35 – 49 days
Agriculture & farmingBanana cultivation
350-400 plants to a bigha, fruit in 10-13 months. Tk 150-200 a plant to grow, Tk 350-450 a bunch to sell, and the extension department puts profit at Tk 120-180 a plant.
- Capital
- ৳35k – ৳80k
- People
- 1 – 4
- First income
- 300 – 395 days
Agriculture & farmingWatermelon farming
A three-month coastal crop. Tk 30,000-35,000 a bigha to grow, Tk 80,000 to a lakh a bigha in a good year, and a selling window only about two weeks wide.
- Capital
- ৳35k – ৳3.5 lakh
- People
- 2 – 10
- First income
- 90 – 120 days