LUCKNOW: Dussehri mangoes from UP’s famous Malihabad belt will now tickle the taste buds in the United States.
UP govt has dispatched a consignment of four tonnes of Dussehri to Washington DC, New York, California and San Francisco. Lucknow-based Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (CISH) sourced the mango variety from a group of 15 orchard owners of Malihabad.
“The consignment was dispatched on Monday.It would be sent by air after clearance from the US FDA approved Gamma Irradiation Facility at the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Horticulture Research,” said CISH director T Damodaran. He said the certification involves multi-layered procedures to ascertain the quality of mangoes. The batch would reach Bengaluru on June 20 and likely be dispatched to the US cities on June 22. The initiative is part of the state govt’s effort to boost mango export from the Geographical Indication (GI) certified mango belt of UP.
While the GI tagged Lucknow belt is known for Dussheri besides locally popular Lakhnawwa Safeda, the western UP belt (covering Saharanpur, Bijnor and Meerut) is famous for chausa and langda. Despite its addictive taste, mango exports from UP are extremely low — accounting for less than 2% of the total mango exports from India.
“The opportunity lies in the fact that UP accounts for 35% of the total mango produced in India. And on the global scale, India’s share in mango produce is about 46%, However, India exports only 6% of mangoes,” said infrastructure and industrial development commissioner Manoj Kumar Singh. He added: “To facilitate export of UP mangoes to foreign markets, state govt is working to establish a comprehensive testing and treatment centre, spread over 50 acres of land, near the upcoming Noida airport. In fact, a land acquisition process for it is underway.”
Singh said a quality check and certification facility in the vicinity of the Noida airport will give huge impetus to exports via cargo planes to buyer countries.
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