‘Less mango export likely this year from Uttar Pradesh’

Mango growers of Uttar Pradesh have suffered losses this year due to poor production owing to adverse weather conditions.

“This year mango production will be between 10 lakh tonnes to 15 lakh tonnes only.

There is 70 per cent drop in mango production as compared to previous year.

The exports from UP are also negligible as due to low production, mango growers are not able to export it,” President All India Mango Growers Association (AIMGA) Insram Ali told PTI.

“Some mango growers are exporting, but the total export will be very less”, he said.

“Last year there was bumper production of about 44 lakh tonnes mangoes. But this year production has gone down by onethird,” Ali said.

Last year, due to bumper produce, the juicy mangoes were in the reach of common man and the rates hovered between just Rs 20-40 a kg but this year it is over Rs 50 per kg.

The mango belts in Uttar Pradesh, which include Lucknow (Lucknow, Malihabad, Bakshika-Talaab), Saharanpur and Sambhal-Amroha-Muzaffarnagar districts had registered poor flowering this season due to which mango lovers abroad had to be disappointed, he said.

In Uttar Pradesh, mango is produced in 2.5 lakh hectare.

Popular varieties like chausa, dashehari, fazli, gulab khas, langra, mallika and amrapali are produced in the state.

Renowned mango grower Haji Kalimullaha Khan, a Padamshri awardee and known for developing a rare technique for growing more than 300 varieties of mangoes of different shapes, sizes and hues on one tree, said there was a decline in mango production this year.

THE LUCKNOW BELT, WHICH PRODUCES WORLD FAMOUS DUSSEHRI MANGOES, ALONE COMPRISES 40% OF THE STATE’S ANNUAL MANGO PRODUCTION.