The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) has developed a mobile application for reliably estimating mango yields.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data often contradicts with the estimates of the Department of Agriculture Extension.

People involved with the development at the BARI said that both individual farmers and institutions could use the app to get authentic and real time data.

They also said this type of assessment will be unique in the world in a sense that no other country measures mango output in such way.

Dr. M. Shalim Uddin, an official at the BARI, said that they were nowfine-tuning the mobile app.

He said the farmers and others will be able to use it from the next year.

Mr.Shalim said farmers will be able to count the mangoes on the tree byusing theandroid phones.

He said the farmers just need images of their trees and it will automatically show the number of mangoes.

"They can multiply the number by expected weight of the fruit."

Mr. Shalim said the methodology is using artificial intelligence for estimating the yield.

"I believe that it will give around 90 per cent accuracy," Mr. Shalim said on Tuesday.

He said this type of measurement will ensure fair price of mangoes for the farmers as they often become deceived by the middlemen while selling out gardens.

The mango farming is a cash crop in some 23 districts. Mango gardens consist of 41,676 hectaresof land in the districts.

Greater Rajshahi is the major growing area of mango.

Bangladesh produced 1.29 million tonnes of mangoes in 2018, according to the BBS.