Now e-trade in mango in WB from this year

Kolkata, Jun 13 (UNI) The luscious mangoes are set to go hi-tech with the introduction of e-trading by the West Bengal Horticulture department.

Speaking at a press conference on 'Mango Mahotsav', Department secretary Sanjeev Chopra today said, ''The e-trade, to be introduced by this year-end, will help farmers sell their produce directly by being present at their own place.'' E-trade will ensure less wastage of this delicious fruit and the farmers would also get maxium profit, he said.

''They don't have to come to the market or 'mandis', where the crop suffers huge loss,'' he said adding that the initiative would increase the income of the farmers.

Announcing the 'Mahotsav', that would be held from June 15-17 in the city, Mr Chopra said the main objective was to market mango as a brand and make it commercially viable.

''We are stressing on expanding the domestic as well as the global market by improving the quality of mangoes and creating different brands,'' the secretary said.

Last year the first consignment of Alphonso mangoes was sent to the US and next year Canada and Japan are the targetted markets.

Mr Chopra said, ''We already have our presence in UK, Russia and Bangladesh, but we are concentrating on the west due to its size and huge demand.'' The department is also stressing on the R&D activities for overall mango promotion, starting from the production to marketing.

Mangoes constitute 44 per cent of the state's total fruit growing area. West Bengal produces some of the best varities like Himsagar, Lakhanbhog and Fazli.

''We want to market Himsagar and the rest as brands,'' Mr Chopra said adding that the state would export about 100 tonnes of table variety this year of the total 51,339 tonnes.

The other initiatives are to rejuvenate the 40-year-old orchards, name the unamed varieties, produce more hybrid mangoes and identify them through geographical indicators.

UNI