75 yrs of freedom: Malda to take part in initiative to export 75 varities of mangoes
MALDA: India has decided to commemorate 75 years of Indian Independence by exporting 75 varieties of mangoes. Malda is getting ready to take part in the initiative with different varieties from the district.
The Agricultural and Processed food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and the District Horticulture department are working together to finalise the varieties to be sent for export.
Some exporters of Kolkata have already met the officials in this regard. Different varieties of the fruit have also primarily been selected for export, including ‘Fazli’, ‘Lakkhanbhog’ and ‘Himsagar’ having geographical indication (GI) tags of Malda.
Samanta Layek, Deputy Director of District Horticulture department, said: “Among the 75 varieties many will be sourced from Malda and Murshidabad. We have a preliminary meeting with four exporters from Kolkata in presence of APEDA officials in this regard. Last year, 34 varieties were showcased in Bahrain. We are trying to send more delicious varieties of mango to other countries from Malda.”
Varieties like ‘Ashwina’, ‘Langra’, ‘Amropali’, ‘Gopalbhog’, ‘Vrindavani’, ‘Arajonma’, ‘Mulaemjam’, ‘Rakhalbhog’, ‘Diodhkumar’ have been primarily selected to be sent for export. This time the mangoes will be sent to the Middle East- Bahrain and Qatar. The exporters will take the fruits to Madhyamgram which is in close proximity to Netaji Subhaschandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata.
There the fruits will be processed in the pack house there to fly to foreign countries. The farmers or growers of mangoes are also invited to the meeting to provide high quality fruits to the exporters. In a mango festival in Bahrain last year exporters took 34 varieties of the fruit there.
Meanwhile, Malda has been getting a good deal of rain across the district for the last fortnight. According to officials, this is very much contributory to the bumper yield of mangoes. A huge number of trees also have large quantities of fruitification. The annual yield of mangoes this time is almost sure to exceed 4 lakh metric tonnes.
