Orchard tour, other events mark UP mango fest
LUCKNOW: An orchard tour and other events marked the sixth UP Mango Festival organised by the Awadh Growers’ Association in collaboration with UP horticulture department and Nabard in Kakori on Sunday.
Over 300 families and people from other cities like Kanpur, Allahabad and Delhi enjoyed the ambience of the Abbasi orchard here. A few foreigners visiting Lucknow relished mangoes at the festival.
The festival was initiated six years ago as a brand building exercise for UP’s mangoes and to support small/marginal farmers, create eco tourism and boost agri-business.
The mango festival supports and promotes local businesses, small farmers and producers, aiming to establish Lucknow as the ‘mango capital’ of the world. The initiative was led by Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah. “This orchard is more than 100 years old. It has been replanted many times and currently it has Dussehri mango trees. We have Chausa and Lucknow Safeda in adjoining orchards where we took visitors around for a visit. After spending almost 22 years in Dubai, I came back to look after my ageing parents and our family orchards,” said Shahid Abbasi, owner of the orchard.
A number of visitors flocked to the orchard to create memorable moments with their near and dear ones. Eminent eye surgeon Dr Sanjeev Hansraj cycled from Lucknow to the orchard in Kakori to spread the message of a clean environment.
Actor Asheesh Kapur, tourists from the US – Spencer, Maggie and Amisha were among other visitors. Jeweller and poet, Lata Kadambari and her family who drove to the orchard from Kanpur relished the mangoes. Satyajit Puniani and his family who drove to the festival from Delhi were impressed by the ecofriendly décor, crockery and cutlery at the orchard.
Shankar Narain, DGM, Nabard and his team participated in the orchard tour and committed to promote more orchards. Raghuvendra Singh, director, horticulture was appreciative about the event and said the department looks forward to more progressive farmers taking mangoes to the world stage.
Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah, founder of the festival, said: “This event has been made possible because of the amazing team that has worked with me over the last 2-3 months. I look forward to taking the festival to more locations each year and promoting UP’s mangoes to ensure that orchards don’t get converted to commercial land.”