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Known to tourists as the land of silvery
beaches, Goa is now trying to tempt the taste buds of visitors
with its golden mangoes which are said to be among the best in
India.
Home to an amazing 77 mango varieties not long ago, Goa is also
eager to make its presence felt in distant fruit markets, at home
and abroad.
"(We want to) introduce Goan mangoes to the tourists, specially
the foreigners who throng Goa to enjoy its natural bounty, since
very little is known about the mango wealth of this small state,"
says state Agriculture Minister Dayanand Narvekar.
The quality of Goan mangoes was improved by its former Portuguese
rulers who are believed to have introduced the grafting method to
develop new and better varieties of the mango tree. Some forms of
grafting are thought to have spread to the rest of India from
Goa.
Foreign travellers and writers, beginning with Dr. Fryer who
visited Goa in the late seventeenth century, have praised the
Goan mango. Portuguese naturalist Garcia D'Orta, who authored the
first systematic account of Indian flora by a Western scientist
in the sixteenth century, devoted an entire chapter to the mango.
Some point to the Portuguese-influenced names of mangoes popular
in other parts of the country -- the "Aphos" or Alfonso and the
Pires or "Pairi" of nearby Mumbai -- to point to the Goan origins
of these varieties.
Goa has won "Champion of Champion" prizes for its mangoes in the
past, but much needs to be done to boost the mango harvest in the
state. In the late seventies, there were as many as 77 (rpt
seventy seven) varieties of mango reported in Goa.
Today, some of these are hardly found in the state, while others
are threatened with extinction.
Researchers of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
have found that there was, for instance, only a single tree of
the Mang Ananas variety remaining. It was called thus because the
colour of the fruit resembles that of a pineapple.
"India is in a dominant position to capture the global market for
mangoes and mango products. We need to work harder on the right
technology to make our products more marketable globally," says
Dr. Nandkumar Kamat, a scientist who recently helped organise a
workshop on mango cultivation.
No tree in history has been given so many names as the mango
tree, variously called the messenger of spring (Vasantaduta),
giver of sweet fragrance (Madhuduta), embodiment of Cupid
(Kamang), abode of cuckoos (Kokilavasa) and amorous
(Kamavallabha).
Frederick Noronha
784 Saligao
403511 Goa
Tel: 832-276190 / 278683
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