Lucknow’s ICAR- Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (CISH) has developed a technology which can extend the shelf life of the fruit, helping it reach European and Russian shores. The king of fruit is highly perishable and is usually exported to these places via the sea route, leading to major losses.
However, news of the said technology was not received well by the mango farmers of UP’s Malihabad belt as the institute selected some ‘progressive exporters’ from Saharanpur and Meerut among other places whose produce will be exported to Russia and Europe. They expressed doubts about the efficacy of the technology and displeasure at the fact that they had not been talked to while it was being developed.
“The Institute has developed CISH-Metwash and ethylene absorbent technology to extend the shelf life up to 35 days and control post-harvest fruit diseases,” said T Damodaran, director, ICAR-CISH, Lucknow.
The development was revealed at a meeting of all stakeholders (exporters, farmers, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and ICAR-CISH on January 9, in New Delhi.
The institute claimed that after a series of experiments, the technology combining the two processes, maintains the fruit at 17°C throughout the supply chain and will provide a shelf life of 35 days. A certain kind of paper will be fixed in every box that will absorb the ethylene which is released from the fruit, which helps it to ripen.
The plan for mango export from U.P. to Europe and beyond via the sea route has also been finalised with the cooperation of APEDA and the state government.
Damodaran said that the major bottleneck in export by sea route was the limited shelf life of mangoes, but with this technology it has been resolved and supplies to the European market are being facilitated. “A protocol has been prepared for it. It will take 32-34 days from harvesting to distribution for sale,” he added.
To manage the data from the orchards selected, an Artificial Intelligence-based solution will be developed. “A Kolkata-based firm will develop an app which will help monitor the fruit in real time, and it has been decided to involve the firm to manage the data,” he said.
According to the research institute, progressive farmers have been identified and trained in the new technology to produce export-quality mangoes with pesticide residues under acceptable limits to avoid rejection from the markets.
“Exporter KS Ravi, Innova Agri Bio Park Ltd, Bengaluru, will target European and US markets; Dev Das Agro Private Limited, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, will export North Indian mangoes to Russia and Uzbekistan.
“Export of mangoes from U.P. will provide highly profitable returns to the farmers. Vineeta Sudhanshu, general manager, APEDA, New Delhi promised to provide financial assistance in showcasing North Indian mango varieties in Italy in the upcoming season,” said the director through a statement.
“U.P. mango exports are limited to Arab countries due to the proximity with India. “The export beyond Arab countries was not possible because air freight is highly expensive. With the new technology, we’ll be able to export the fruit to far off countries by sea route which is much cheaper than other modes,” said PK Shukla, principal scientist and HOD of crop protection, CISH.
“Currently, the export rate of U.P. mangoes is 0.1% which is next to negligible, the reason being U.P. being landlocked. By the time the fruit reaches the seashore, it gets ruined. However, that’s not the case with states closer to the seas,” he added.
“The shelf life of mangoes after it is packaged is only 4-5 days,” said Insram Ali, president, All India Mango Growers’ Association.
Among the mangoes that will be exported are Meerut and Saharanpur’s Chausa and Lucknow’s Dussheri.
Meanwhile, Ali labelled the technology a gimmick, which will achieve little. “If the institute has developed a path-breaking technology, why has it not been shared with the growers of Malihabad? Since the technology has been shared with a selected number of farmers, it will benefit only them. What about the rest of the growers?”
“The institute should speak with all farmers and discuss thread-bare what actually has been developed and whether it will be cost-effective for us or not,” Ali said.
He also expressed apprehensions that the exported fruit would even pass the customs in European countries. “Those countries are very strict with imports and do not allow any pesticides on fruits. At the first instance of detecting chemicals on it, the fruit will not be allowed to enter the country.”
However, the institute said the technology developed is completely organic and does not include any chemicals.
