Global conference on mango in Lucknow from June 21

Lucknow is hosting a global conference on mango and the challenges facing the crop and its growers in backdrop of changing climatic conditions.

India, being the world’s second largest producer of fruits, is endowed with rich genetic diversity of over 1,000 mango varieties. Although India is the leading mango producer, the per hectare yield is much lower compared to several other countries.

The international event ‘Augmenting Production and Utilization of Mango: Biotic and Abiotic Stresses’ is being organised from June 21 by Lucknow-based Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (CISH), a constituent of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The event would witness presentations on the theme and lead speakers from potential mango growing countries namely USA, South Africa, Astralia, Spain, Indonesia, Thailand, etc.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Harish Rawat will be present for the All India Mango Show. The event will also feature ‘Mango Expo-2011’ to showcase mango varieties from different regions of India, technological innovations and stalls from input supplying firms, agencies and institutions.

CISH Director and Organizing Secretary for the conference H Ravishankar said India topped the list in mango production and acreage at 15.02 million tonnes and 2.51 million hectares respectively.

However, India’s productivity at about 6.80 tonnes per hectare was much behind countries, such as, Brazil (16.8), Indonesia (10.9), Pakistan (10.6), Mexico (10.5), Bangladesh (9.5) and China (8.8).

He said mango provided plenty of opportunities, but posed number of challenges of production, post harvest management, processing into value added products and utilisation of mango wastes.

With the changing climate scenario across the globe, many new biotic and abiotic stresses were emerging as challenges. Besides, new scientific and technological innovations had also been developed leading to better understanding of genes, genomics, physiology, production systems and utilisation, which required to be harmonised to ensure profitability and sustainability in mango production, he noted.

In this background, the conference aims to provide an interactive platform for deliberation on issues confronting the global mango industry and develop a roadmap for sustainable production and utilisation of mango through networking.

The four-day conference will have four workshops on conservation technologies, genes and genomics, production of quality planting materials and eco-friendly technologies.