Tripura makes remarkable progress in mango cultivation , south Tripura tops in production

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, June 14, 2023

Mango , the sweet summer fruit which lessens the effect of heat, has emerged as the 3rd in terms of area of coverage of cultivation after Pineapple and Banana and fourth in production. In terms of popularity and production also mango is next only to jackfruit, banana,pineapple and citrus . The climatic condition , fertile soil , sub-tropical climate and abundant rainfall spur mango cultivation . Keeping this mind the agriculture department headed by senior minister Ratan Lal Nath today organized a show of mangoes produced in Tripura in the sprawling orchard of the horticulture department in Nagicherra area.

The minister himself as well as officials of the department informed media persons that three important hybrids and cultivars like Amrapali, Himsagar, Mallika and some other local types are grown commercially in different parts of Tripura. “The area under Amrapali cultivation is much higher than Himsagar and Mallika ; the farming community of Tripura earns a lot of income from cultivation these varieties of mangoes” said Ratan Lal Nath, the minister for agriculture in his speech. Besides being used as table fruit ,mango is a popular fruit among house-wives for making pickles ,squashes ,syrups and other value added products . In Tripura mango is produced as a major fruit crop and consumed green and ripe. There is still lot of potential for expanding areas of cultivation , production and value-added products.

The minister informed media persons that in terms of productivity south Tripura tops all other districts as 11,595 matric tons of mangoes are annually produced there over 2272 hactres of land . In Gomati district the annual production is 8134 matric tons over 1595 hactres of land. This is followed by Sepahijala district where the annual production is 5355 matric tons over 1052 hactres of land . In west Tripura the annual production is 6958 matric tons over 1367 hactres of land . In Khowai the production is much less as only 4148 matric tons of magoes are produced annually over only 815 hactres of land . The Dhalai district is much higher in this regard with an annual production of 7055 matric tons over 1386 hactres of land. The Unakoti district brings the rear with an annual production of 3624 matric tons over 712 hactres of land while in the north district the annual production is 5848 matric tons on 1149 hactres of land .

The rate of mango productivity in Tripura as a whole is 5.09 matric tons per hactres but the total annual production all over the state is 52717 matric tons on 10,357 hactres of land. The agriculture department is implementing four major schemes for increased mango production in the state by giving various subsidies and by extending help in the form of free sapling among farmers. The cost benefit ratio here is 2.19.