In this article we will discuss about:- 1. Botanical Name of Mango and its Cultivation 2. Mango in Sanskrit Scriptures 3. Important Characteristics 4. Nutritional Value 5. India’s Position 6. Commercialization in Agriculture 7. Development.
Botanical Name of Mango and its Cultivation:
The Mango, Mangifera indigo L., belongs to the family of Anacardiaceae, is one of the most important tropical and subtropical fruits of the world and is popular both in fresh and processed forms. It is called king of fruits on account of its nutritive value, taste, attractive fragrance and health promoting qualities. In many languages it is called the mother of all tropical fruits and is the national fruit of India. Mango has been in cultivation in Indian subcontinent for well over 4,000 years and has been the most favorite fruit since ages.
Historical facts revealed that mango was introduced to India archipelago from the main land. Some researchers are of the view that it had originated in the Indo-Burma region. Presently, besides India, it is being cultivated world over especially, in the South and South-East Asian countries, African countries, tropical Australia and the USA. In USA mango is grown mostly in Florida, and Hawaii. Mango is also grown in Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, Caribbean Islands and Cambodia.
Mango in Sanskrit Scriptures:
Mango has been portrayed in the ancient paintings and sculptures, Hindu folklore and mythology, legends and in the sacred Sanskrit Scriptures dating back to 2000 BC. Mango continued to be grown as a seedling tree until the establishment of the Moghul rule in India. During the Moghul period seedling trees were designated as distinct varieties and attempts were made to propagate them vegetative.
Akbar, the great Moghul emperor, (1556 to 1605 AD), planted mango orchards of 0.1 million trees near Darbhanga in Bihar. This was the time when Mango actually got the royal patronage. In India the first systematic record of varieties of mango was available in “Ain-e-Akabari”, the biography of Akbar, AD 1590, by Abu Fazal. However, mango orchard remained the prerogative of the “Rajas and Nawabs” for a very long time. Mango cultivation has now been taken up commercially.
Important Characteristics of Mango:
The mango tree is a large branched perennial tree with height of 30-40 m and a crown radius spreading about 10 m. The flowers are produced in terminal panicles of 10-40 cm long and each flower has 5 petals of 5-10 mm long. After flowering, the fruit, which is a drupe, takes three to six months to ripe. The Mango fruit varies considerably in size, shape, color, presence of fiber, flavor, taste and several other characters.
The shape of the fruit varies from rounded to ovate-oblong or longish, with the length ranging from 2.5 to 30 cm in different varieties. The weight of mango goes up to 2.5 kg for some varieties. However, the average size of mango available to India marked weighs about 200-350 grams.
The ripe fruit is yellow, orange and red in colour; usually reddish on the side facing the sun. Mango is well adapted to tropical and sub-tropical climates. The ideal temperature ranged for mango is 24° to 30° C during the growing season, along with high humidity. A rainfall ranging from 890 mm to 1,015 mm in a year is considered to be ideal for growing mangoes. Dry weather before blossoming is conducive to profuse flowering. Mangoes, ripe or unripe, are widely used as a fresh fruit.
It is also used to make juice, milk shake, pulp, jam, jelly, pickle, and chutney. Ripe mango is often cut into thin layers, desiccated, folded and then cut and sold as mango chewy bras. Pieces of the fruit can be mashed and used in ice-cream. Dried unripe mango, mainly amchur is used as a spice in India.
Nutritional Value of Mango:
Mango is nutritious and excellent source of carotene as compared to other fruits.
A 100 gram of edible portion of the mango contains about 1990 μg of beta-carotene (vitamin A), which is much higher than in other fruits. The total carotenoids in mango increase with the stage of ripening. Eating mangoes in the season may provide a store of vitamin A in the liver, sufficient to last for the rest of the year and highly beneficial for the prevention of vitamin A deficient disorder, like night blindness. Mangoes, both ripe and unripe, are very good a source of vitamin C.
About 16 mg of vitamin C is present in 100 gram of mango. Ripe mango provides a good source of calories and supplies 74 kcal per 100 gram.
India’s Position in World of Mango:
India ranks first among World’s mango producing countries accounting for 52.6 per cent of world’s mango production. It is grown over an area of 1.2 million hectares in the country producing 11.0 million tones. It constitutes 22.1 per cent of total area under fruit crops (5.6 million hectares) and 22.9 per cent of total production of fruits (47.9 million tons) in the country. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab are major mango producing states.
The mangoes contribute a major share in the exports of horticulture item as well. During 2008-09, the country’s exports of mango and mango-based products were reported at Rs.627.81 crore.
Commercialization in Agriculture —Traditional to New Crops:
Mechanization, diversification and commercialization in agriculture resulted in shifting of cropping pattern from traditional crops to new crops, which had contributed to the increased area and production under Mango. Changing demand pattern also contributed significantly to shifting of more area and production of mango. However, marketing and processing of mango have not picked up commensurate with the level of production.
Further, supportive mechanism in the form of agriculture inputs, post-harvest infrastructure set up, such as packaging, pre- cooling, cold storage, pack houses, marketing system, and institutional credit have not come up in proportionate to the increase in production of fruit.
Even though India is the world’s largest producer of mango, it accounts for less than one per cent of global mango trade. Around 95 per cent of India’s mango exports are routed to the Middle-East countries, whereas only 5 per cent is channeled to other countries like Europe, America, Japan, Hong Kong etc.
Further, exports of mangoes in the processed form remain limited. Besides, high perishability, seasonality in production and absence of post-harvest facility, lack of standardized supply chain system, etc. resulted in loss of about 25-30 per cent of the total mango production during post-harvest period.
This reduces further availability of fruits for consumption, value addition and export. There are issues such as weak institutional arrangements, limited marketing facilities, lack of coordination among the various organizations etc. have acted as hindrance in the growth of mango. The whole lot of the issues encompasses the Supply Chain System (SCS) within the mango processing sector. The importance of this study on mango lies in addressing these issues affecting the above mentioned parameters.
Development under Agri-Export Zone (AEZ) of Mango in India:
The Government of India in the year 2001-02 has announced formation of AEZs in selected areas of different states and later it was incorporated in the Export Import (EXIM) Policy. The concept of Agri Export Zone attempts to take a comprehensive look at a particular produce/product located in a contiguous area for the purpose of developing and sourcing the raw materials, their processing/packing, leading to final exports.
The entire report is centered on a cluster approach of identifying the potential products, the geographical region in which these are grown and adopting an end to end approach of integrating the entire process right from the stage of production till it reaches the market. In India 11 Mango AEZ’s were formed in various regions.
Out of 11 mango AEZs in India, 5 AEZs are located in Andhra Pradesh followed by Maharashtra (2), and 1 each in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. In Andhra Pradesh there are 10 districts where mangoes are cultivated while these are 9 districts in Maharashtra, 7 districts in Uttar Pradesh, 8 in Gujarat, 2 in West Bengal and 5 in Tamil Nadu. The State Agricultural Marketing Board is the nodal agency for implementation of the AEZs. The National Horticulture Mission (NHM) identified mango as one of the core commodities having scope for further growth.
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) since its inception in 1986, has been playing a major role in the export of mango and mango based products by providing various services at both national and international level.