As many as 13 varieties of mangoes ripened naturally are beckoning scores of people to Lalbagh in Bengaluru for a month from May 29 to June 27, 2015, official of the horticulture department here said.
"We are training mango farmers to ripen mangoes naturally and have eradicated carbide which is carcinogenic and other chemicals from the ripening process," said an official overseeing the Mango Mela.
"We are not using any chemical to ripen the fruit. The mangoes here are totally chemical free. We use ethylene to ripen the mango provided by the government," said B.V. Manjunath Reddy, mango farmer from Bandapalli, Kolar district, Karnataka.
Reddy said 100 ml of ethylene available in liquid form is enough to ripen two tonnes of mangoes.
"We mix 100 ml ethylene in water and then dip mangoes which have reached their ripening stage and ripen them without any chemicals," added Reddy.
Some mango varieties on offer are Mallika, Badami, Raspuri, Shikargutti, Sindhura, Malgova, Totapuri, Neelam, Amrapali and Kesar among others.
In the 13th edition of the annual exhibition-cum-sale of mangoes, the Karnataka state mango development marketing board in association with Karnataka horticulture department helped mango farmers to set up 100 stalls.
"This year, we are estimating the sale of 1,010 tonnes of mangoes in the annual event," said K. M. Parashivamurthy, additional director of horticulture (Fruits).
Kolar district is the major producer of mangoes in Karnataka and cultivates the fruit in 46,000 hectares. Other mango producing places in Karnataka are Ramanagara, Tumkur, Chikballapur, Dharwad, Bengaluru rural, Belgaum, Bengaluru Urban, Haveri, Shimoga and North Karnataka.
Another fruit on offer at the event is Jackfruit available in five varieties of Swarna, Lalbagh Madhura, Byrachandra, Tubugere and Janagere.
