A festival showcasing different varieties of mangoes grown by farmers across the State and from nearby States began at Government Boys Higher Secondary School grounds here on Friday.
Inaugurated by Collector T.P. Rajesh in the presence of Superintendent of Police P. Kannammal and other officials, the 23{+r}{+d}All India Mango Festival, would give visitors a chance to see over 30 varieties of mangoes.
Popular varieties including Alphonso, Senthura, Neelam, Malcova were on display.
More than 250 farmers from various districts in the State and farmers from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh displayed their products.
Organised by the Horticulture Department, galleries made of mangoes attracted huge crowd.
Also, demonstration would be held on producing value-added mango food products, pulp production and other food varieties out of mango during the 22-day festival. Cultural competitions will also be held everyday and best mango exhibiting farmers would be awarded.
Various government department stalls explaining about schemes being implemented were also part of the festival.
Organisers said that the district leads in mango production in the State as it is cultivated in over 40,000 hectares. Hence to encourage farmers, the festival is held every year, they added.
Also for the first time, Police Department was allotted a stall, in which various weapons, including AK 47, were on display. Visitors thronged the stall in large numbers as personnel explained to them the application of each weapons.
Farmers were encouraged to go for value-addition of the product so as to reap the huge export market. Farmers were asked to go for processing mangoes into jams, pickles and canned fruit that were also kept on display. Officials from various government departments, farmers and the pubic participated in large numbers.
