Online mania

First online portal from the state to sell varieties of organic local mangoes.

May 16, 2013 06:19 pm | Updated 08:24 pm IST - Hyderabad

Arefa and her daughters checking the orders online. Photo: Nagara Gopal.

Arefa and her daughters checking the orders online. Photo: Nagara Gopal.

Finding it hard to get mangoes which are sweet and pesticide free? And if you have found any, the sweetness isn’t up to your expectation? Mango lovers from across the globe can now buy mangoes online, sourced from Hyderabad, with the launch of the first online mango store AR4 by an ex-bank employee, Arefa Rafee and her techie husband.

What makes them happy is the fact that customers are willing to pay a premium price for something they like, “which is half the objective. It not only shows the awareness of the customers about pescticide but also highlights the fact that the city is waiting waiting for that one sweet bite,” explains Arefa at their office-cum godown at Himayatnagar.

AR4 has developed a mango farm where different varieties of exotic organic mangoes are grown without chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides by following the 100-year old methods of farming to get best quality mangoes as they growers claim. “It is a tedious process in our farms but when we have set out to start an online business we have to put in our best. We allow the mangoes to ripe on the trees to a great extent then they are plucked carefully, de-sapped, washed to avoid any damage during this process. They are ripened in the traditional hay method without the use of carbide which is a carcinogenic chemical,” explains Arefa.

As the first online mango store from Andhra Pradesh Ar4 have their own orchards and so the produce is also limited in quantity. “We can send mangoes to all major destinations in India and abroad on first come first serve basis. We got a stupendous response from our first harvest in 2011, locally, in 2012 we have sent mangoes all over India and mango lovers admired the natural taste of organic mangoes,” says Arefa.

Ar4 has over six varieties of mangoes which are grown in their farm and the fruits are sold subject to availability.

Check them out on: http://www.ar4mangoes.com/

How natural

1) By enriching the soil with natural fertilizers. It makes the soil healthy and the soil in turn gives strength to the plants, natural taste and nutritions to the fruit.

2) Natural fertilizers like FYM, green manure, vermi, panchagavya, jeeva amrutham, neem, castor, etc are used to enrich the soil.

3) Natural pesticides like neem powder solution, neem seeds solution, 5-10 leaves decoction, buttermilk spray, chilli-garlic spray, etc are specially prepared on the farm under supervision and sprayed as per the requirement.

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