Exhibition will be held till May 30, mela to end on June 15
Many varieties of mangoes and jackfruit will be on display and sale at Lalbagh from May 23. While the exhibition will be on till May 30, the mela will continue till June 15.
Mango varieties such as Badami, Malgova, Mallika, Sindhura, Raspuri, Neelam, Dusheri, Sakkaregutti, Totapuri, Banganapalli and Benishaan will be on sale, along with jackfruit varieties such as Swarna, Lalbagh Madhura, Lalbagh Bheema, Mottam Varika, Toobugere and Janagere. These fruits will be sold at discount of 25 per cent.
Of the 90 stalls that will be put up at the mela, mangoes will be sold in as many as 75 stalls, while jackfruit will be sold at the remaining 15 stalls.
The mela will be held from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. G. Satish, director of Horticulture Department, told reporters here on Wednesday that the department was hoping to sell around 600 tonnes of mangoes at the mela.
Naturally ripened
The mela has been organised with the objective to connect farmers directly with consumers without any middlemen, and for making naturally ripened fruit available to the public.
While the State is known for mango production, Bangalore gets mangoes from Kolar, Ramanagaram and Chickballapur, said R. Jayaprakash, managing director of the Karnataka State Mango Development and Market Corporation.
He said that due to the lack of adequate rainfall, mango production in the State was just around four lakh tonnes. The State’s average mango production is around 10 lakh tonnes.
“Due to low production, the prices of the seasonal fruit are high. A price fixation committee has been formed to assess the quality of produce and fix prices for mango varieties to be sold during the mela,” he said.
‘EU not major market’
Asked about the ban on import of mangoes by the European Union, he said that the EU was not a big market for India. “Of the 8,000 tonnes exported from India, a majority goes to the Gulf countries.” He also refuted allegations that the sale of mangoes had dropped in the city.
