“Special arrangements are being made to send this exclusive variety of mango to the President, Prime Minister and other important dignitaries,” said District Magistrate of Bhagalpur Rahul Singh.
“The district administration has placed orders for more than 21 quintals of mangoes. Nearly 425 packets—five kilograms each — are being prepared,” he added.
Rahul Singh had convened a meeting in this regard and the orchard of one Ashok Choudhary was selected for procuring mangoes. “Ashok’s orchard is known for producing the best quality of Jardalu aam (mango),” said Agriculture Officer Dinesh Kumar Singh.
He added that before dispatching the fruits, the quality of mangoes would be re-checked. Though Ashok is elated that mangoes from his orchard would go to the President’s and the Prime Minister’s residence, he still has one desire unfulfilled. “I would love to send these mangoes to US President Barack Obama, too,” he said.
Rich harvest
Agriculturists in Bihar feel that this year’s intense heat has helped yield a bumper crop of the two favourite summer fruits in the state — mango and litchi.
“We expect to reap a rich harvest of popular mango varieties like Malda, Bambaiya, and Fazli in the next few days,” said A K Jha, a senior official of the Agriculture Department.
Mango is a biennial fruit with every alternate year being a lean year, but 2010 is incidentally an on-year for mango. Fruits are growing in full bloom in most parts of Bihar on an estimated area of one lakh hectare.
Similarly, the litchi crop, with orchards spread over 30,000 hectares in Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Darbhanga, Champaran and Sitamarhi in North Bihar, is likely to be good as it thrives in dry weather condition, Jha said.
DH News Service
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