National Mango Festival begins in Mirpur Khas

MIRPURKHAS: Three-day national mango and summer fruits festival begins today in Mirpurkhas. It will continue till June 10.

All arrangements for the festival have been finalised at Sindh Horticulture Research Institute which is scheduled to be inaugurated at 5:00 pm by the minister for agriculture.

The mango varieties on the basis of quality will be judged on the second day of the festival. A seminar will also be held on the same day.

The experts would read papers on latest developments in techniques for improvement in mango crop.

The festival will showcase several varieties of the fruit including Sindhri, Dasehri, Chonsa, Langra, Anwer Rattol, Neelum, Tota Pari, Gulab Khasa, Collector, Dilpasand, Began Phali, Desi and others.

It merits mention here that the Punjab Agriculture department has also planned to hold Mango Production Competition 2018-19 in Lahore with an objective to boost per acre yield of the fruit.

A spokesman of Agriculture department Najaf Abbas said that growers from Multan, Khanewal, Rahim Yar Khan, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalpur, Vehari, Bahawalnagar and Jhang districts would be eligible to take part in the competition.

Farmers possessing more than three acres of land can give applications for the contest and the last date for submitting applications is 11th of July.

The competitors will have to show mango varieties including Samar Bahist, Chaunsa or Sindhari and White Chaunsa in the competition.

Interested mango growers can get application forms from office of their district appointee Assistant Director Agriculture (Ext) or Agriculture Officer (Ext). Farmers may also download these application forms from official website of Agriculture Department.

The spokesman further said that this mango competition will pave a way to increase production of best varieties/quality of mangoes in Punjab.