Weekend rains in parts of northern India have brought cheer among the mango growers, who are now expecting bumper sales.
Malihabad (Uttar Pradesh), June 19 : Weekend rains in parts of northern India have brought cheer among the mango growers, who are now expecting bumper sales.
Farmers in the "mango-heartland" Malihabad in Uttar Pradesh say he recent heavy rains have enhanced the quality of fruit.
"Rains are always good for the mango crop. We were anyway waiting for it so that the colour of the mangoes could be improved. It has increased their market value," said Mohammad Khalid, a mango grower.
In Malihabad alone, where mangoes are grown in an area of 8,500 hectares and production is in the range of 150,000 metric tonnes, farmers expect a summer bonanza with a rise in prices due to better quality this year.
"Rains have brought lot of gain for us. Water was very much required for these trees here," said Abid Hussain, another mango grower.
Uttar Pradesh has an area of 0.27 million hectares under mango cultivation, and the farmers, are dependent on nature for the success of failure of their harvest.
India has been looking forward to export mangoes to US markets after Washington recently lifted the ban on Indian mangoes last month.
US-India Business Council expects Indian mangoes to dominate the 250,000 tonnes US market.
About 1,000 varieties of mangoes are grown in an area of 2.5 million hectares across India.
Apart from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are major mango-growing states in the country.
India is the world's largest producer of mangoes and exports about 30,000 tonnes of the fruit to nearly 40 countries including Britain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Canada.
ANI