The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Mango festival begins today

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Sunday, May 11, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Mango festival begins today

Special Correspondent

As many as 150 endemic and exotic varieties of the ‘king of fruits’ will be on display.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It will be a festival of mangoes at the Chandrasekharan Nair stadium here for three days from Sunday.

As many as 150 endemic and exotic varieties of the King of Fruits will be on display at the Mango Festival being organised by the Department of Agriculture in association with the State Horticulture Mission, Horticorp and the Kerala Agricultural University.

Apart from local names like ‘varikka,’ ‘neelam,’ ‘kalappadi,’ ‘sindooram’ and ‘chandrakaran,’ exotic types such as ‘jehangir,’ ‘daseri,’ ‘alambur banishan,’ ‘salem,’ ‘banglora’ and ‘panchavarnam’ have arrived at the venue.

The ‘firangiladuva’ mango from North Kerala is small but more delicious than most other varieties.

An array of mangoes from Palakkad, the ‘Mango City of Kerala’ is set to steal the limelight at the show.

Visitors to the exhibition can buy mangoes of their choice and taste them. The event also features an exhibition and sale of value-added products made from mango.

And for those who would like to pick the fruit from their own premises, there is a variety of saplings on sale.

The highlight of the final day’s programme on May 13 is a cookery competition on mango-based dishes.

Winners will get a cash award and certificate.

Meanwhile, the ongoing Honey Festival at the same venue attracted a large number of visitors on Saturday. Chairperson of Kerala State Women’s Commission Sreedevi, who visited the fair venue, exhorted women to take up apiculture to augment their family income.

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