Gohar, Rasha, Shola, Sard Gola, Jagir, Arbaaz, Baac, Bumbai Laal, Kamil, Aarm, Botal, Gul Mohar, Turbat, Laal Pota, Aman, Sangam, Hajiwala and Mr 2. Do you know what these are? They’re varieties of mango grown in Sindh, though most would only know the common Sindhri, Langra, Anwar Ratole, Seroli, Dussehri and Chaunsa varieties.

“And even in the ones you know there are varieties which you don’t know of,” said Inayat Hussain from Bahawal Khan Lashari who set up a stall at the recent 49th National Mango and Summer Fruits Festival 2014 in Mirpukhas.

“For example, there is the Dussehri which is small in size that is known among mango growers as the black variety and then there is the other Dussehri which is bigger and longer that is known as the white variety. The latter is also more nutritious.”

The festival, organised each year by the directorate of the Sindh Horticulture Research Institute, Mirpurkhas, was held slightly late this year due to a lack of funds, it was explained. Though most people are enjoying the beginning of the mango season, Mr Hussain said that the mango season in Mirpukhas was more than half over already. “The mangoes you’ll be getting until August or September won’t be from Sindh,” he explained. “They come from Punjab and other areas.”

“The types of mangoes you aren’t familiar with are not produced in quantities like the ones you know,” said Liaquat Ali of the Haji Ghulam Mustafa farms. “There just might be one tree of a certain kind of mango here. Also some are exported right away and never enter the local market.”

Nevertheless there were many mangoes at the festival, and the judges tasted each from every stall in a separate room — like court judges’ chambers.

“To keep us from mixing them up, the mangoes have been carefully labelled,” a mango judge told Dawn. “And to keep us from getting sick after consuming so many, we forwent dinner the previous night.”

“This is Sindh’s biggest mango festival and the biggest event in Mirpurkhas,” he went on. “The hall it is held in has been specially constructed for it. The farmers take it very seriously even though the prizes are not very big. Mind you, there are three prizes, each with three sub-categories, so that’s nine prizes in all. It’s a matter of prestige to have won at the festival.”

There were no mangoes for sale at the festival. “We only exhibit,” said one farmer. One of the guests pointed out that the festival has now just become a way of pleasing VIPs, especially visiting politicians, who are gifted the mangoes in the hope of getting favours.

The second day of the three-day festival also saw a seminar on mango fruit management. Asiya Kanwal, a researcher at the seminar, said that it wasn’t just the mango that is sold. Farmers can use its pulp to produce mango juice or utilise the fruit in other ways such as in pickles or preserves. But in order to do that, the farmers need technical knowledge.

Throwing more light on the matter, horticulturist Rasool Ali Baloch said that the farmer should also be knowledgeable about the ideal conditions for growing the fruit such as the quality of air, water, soil, fertiliser, pesticides, etc.

One farmer at the festival insisted that you can tell just by touching a mango whether or not its tree had been watered well and got good soil and fertiliser.

Most of the farmers were concerned about various pests, such as the Mango Hopper that sucks the cell sap from tender shoots, Mango Thips that cause similar harm, Mango Shoot Borer that feeds on the inside stem, and Mango Scales that besides sucking sap also inject toxic substance into the plant. Then there’s the Mango Mealy Bug that crawls on leaves, shoots and stems, and Mango Fruit Fly or maggots that feed on the fruit pulp, posing a major threat to mango trees. All these pests have a particular time of peak activity, like the fruit fly is a problem in June.

News from next-door India is that the fruit fly has already caused major damage to their mango produce this year. When Mohammad Ayub Baloch, a caretaker at the Government Fruit Farm in Mirpurkhas, was asked if this meant the Pakistani mango would do better in the foreign market, he smiled broadly. “Sindh mangoes, especially the Sindhri mango, have their own place and demand in the foreign market,” he said in a satisfied tone.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2014