Sweet mangoes turn sweeter for farmers in Andhra Pradesh

Growers are chalking out plans to export at least 4,000 tonnes of quality mangoes to the Middle East and other countries this year.

After Alphanzo from Maharashtra and Dasheri from Uttar Pradesh, Banginapalli mango from Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the most sought after fruit in the country.

Commissioner of Horticulture, Andhra Pradesh, Chiranjiv Choudhary said Andhra Pradesh had exported over 1,500 metric tonnes of mangoes (Banginapalli, Rasalu varieties) to diffident countries in 2019. The export of mangoes had declined in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "We are expecting a good yield this year and planning to export more mangoes to various counties," he said.

Mango farmers in Andhra Pradesh have been growing Banginapalli, China Rasalu, Pedda Rasalu, Totapuri, Neelam, and Suvarnarekha varieties. As many as 3,76,494 hectares of land is under mango cultivation in the state. Chittoor district tops the list with 1.12 lakh hectares of land under fruit cultivation.

Officials said the Banginapalli variety forms 60 percent of total mango production in the state. One tonne of mango costs between Rs 50,000 and Rs 70,000 in the domestic market. Exporters sell one tonne at Rs 2.3 lakh in international market.

Horticulture department officials said that mango gardens were in full bloom in the state and the yield is to be above normal this summer. The department is expecting an estimated yield of over 46 lakh tonnes of mangoes in the 2021 summer

"In a bid to promote the mangoes of Andhra Pradesh, we will be organizing buyer-seller meeting on March 16 in Vijayawada and March 26 in Tirupati. We are expecting the participation of exporters from Maharashtra. Our focus is on exporting quality mangoes from AP to foreign counties particularly the Middle East countries," Chiranjiv Choudhary said.