KOZHIKODE: The rich scent exuded by mangoes, which have matured and become ripe naturally, will obviously allure passersby to the venue of the mango festival being held at the Comtrust Grounds at Mananchira Square here.
Even as the heavy rains lash the city it is quite fascinating to watch hundreds of people line up in queues with bags full of mangoes waiting for their turn to weigh the fruit. The scene evokes the memories of the long wait that one endured in front of the shops selling food grains at subsidized price. The expo which began on Wednesday and will be on till July 3 has already become a hit, as it has stolen the heart of mango lovers of the region.
The lovers of the King of Fruits have beem lured here surely by the slogan of the expo- ‘Enjoy mangoes without the fear of carbide’. “The feeling that these mangoes are fresh and good attracted me to the expo,” said Shantha who purchased over 8 kg of different mangoes. Mango varieties including, Alphonsa, Banganappally, Kalapad, Mallika, Neelam, Rumania and small-sized ones like chakarakatty are available at the expo and the prices range from Rs 400 to Rs 150 per kg.
“Malayalis are very much fond of mangoes, but the sales have gone down drastically of late with the people becoming aware of the consequences of consuming the fruits ripened by application of calcium carbide. In the city markets where 25-30 loads of mangoes used to be sold earlier, the seasonal sale has reduced to below five loads as reports on artificially ripened mangoes spread,” says Suhair Muhammed, a Kannur-based wholesale merchant of mangoes whose family has been in mango business for several decades. The mangoes with the brand name ‘CeePee Mangoes’ at the expo organised by Daya Nagaram Cultural Collective, Pothammal, are supplied by the Kerala Mango Trading Company at Palakkad, which is owned by Suhair.Ripened and raw mangoes are selling like hot cakes at the expo.
“We encourage people to buy raw mangoes and they know how to ripen them without using chemicals,” says Suhair. His firm sources mangoes directly from the farms in Palakakd, Andhara, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Recently the firm also started encouraging mango farmers in Palakkad to grow the fruits organically after assuring them that it would buy the mangoes at special prices.
“When we ripen 1,000 kg of mangoes naturally which would take about two weeks time, we may have to incur a loss of about 300 kg. Hence, we are compelled to charge the customer the extra amount. Many traders, however, resort to using carbide to ripen the fruits and hence are able to cut their losses. They use 5 kg of carbide, which costs only Rs 80, for 1,000 kg of fruits and vola, the mangoes ripen in 16 to 48 hours,” adds Suhair.
At present the expo is being held at eight venues in Malabar. Suhair said that his new venture is a social service, as most of the shops hesitate to purchase naturally ripened mangoes since these cannot be stored for long unlike those ripened using carbide.
Anyway, he is all the more thrilled at the response the expo has received here.
The brand Cee Pee mangoes also maintains a website http://ceepeemangoes.com showcasing the features of various mangoes and tips on healthy consumption.