Bombay Mango Festival 2004

It;s that time of year again. Mango season is nigh!

After the success of last year's festival, Bombay's Mango Festival 2004 will be held over five days from April 28th to May 2nd at the SNDT Complex in Juhu.

The aim of the festival, simply, is to bring the very best mangoes of the Konkan (vetted before dispatch by quality control centers run by the Agricultural University) directly to the consumer. However, the ultimate objective is to create employment by value addition and the development of backward linkages in the domestic and export sector.

The mango districts of the Konkan region (namely Ratnagiri, Raigad, Thane and Sindhudurg) of Maharashtra are particularly conducive to the cultivation the delicious Alphonso mango. Realizing that the farmers of the Konkan have no direct access to markets and need to find new ones, and that consumers rarely get their hands on quality mangoes, the NGOs and cooperative societies of the region conceptualized the Mango Festival as an ideal forum to market the product while simultaneously educating the consumer about the different grades of Alphonso and the various agricultural bi-products of the Konkan.

Col. Sudhir Sawant, MLC (also Chairman, Sindhudurg Zilla Krishi Pratisthan) who's been a stalwart, promoter and committee member of the Mango Festival since it's genesis in 2002 will continue to lend it his full support. This year Prahlad Kakar will act as consultant to the festival. Passionate about the fruit he's of the opinion that "the quality is decided by the size, shape, outer texture of the fruit and flavor. Alphonso is arguably the best mango in India, and therefore, possibly in the worldÂ…"

Reportedly grown in 111 countries, the mango is one of India's most significant fruit crop accounting for over 50% of world mango production. Although India grows more than 1300 varieties of the fruit, only 20 to 25 have commercial status and are cultivated on a large scale in the major mango growing states of U.P., A.P., Bihar and Maharashtra.

The mangoes will be sold under the brand name Ambo Konkan, and incidentally, the word "ambo" means "mango" in the Malavani dialect. The brand name will be accompanied by the name of the Tehsil or district as well as the code number of the farmer. For the first time, the consumer will be assured of the quality, region and district of the Alphonso mangoes he buys.

Through mango and processed food exhibitions, seminars, cultural programs, the five day Bombay Mango Festival 2004 will create a common platform for buyers, sellers, farmers, scientists, academicians, traders, exporters, the corporate sector and Government agencies.

The Mango Festival is dedicated to its long term goal and will establish a permanent office in Bombay to further the trade potential of the Konkan.