A lot of newsprint and newsreel have been spent on discussing at length various aspects of the EU ban on Indian Alphonso mangoes. Media agents have played up the issue as a near catastrophe. Turns out, reality is not near what has been said or shown

Jayashankar Menon | @TheDollarBiz

The ‘King of Fruits’ has lost an empire. The decision by the 28-member European Union to temporarily ban the import of Alphonso mangoes from India has triggered protests from not only the Indian community in Europe, but also local lawmakers and traders. The decision came after the EU’s Standing Committee on Plant Health found 207 Indian fruit consignments contaminated by pests such as fruit flies and other quarantine pests. Even UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has come out in support of the ban, claiming it was necessary because the pests were a threat to the country’s $541 million salad crop industry of tomato and cucumber. But the masses are already missing the king.

Keith Vaz, Member of Parliament, House of Commons, UK.
The British MP of Indian origin has claimed that the EU ban is “Euro nonsense and bureaucracy gone mad”

Karel De Gucht , Trade Commissioner, European Union.
The EU Trade Commissioner has often been accused of shooting first and asking the question later

Not so sweet

People involved in the Indo-UK mango trade claim that losses due to the ban will run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wholesalers and retailers in Indian-dominated regions of UK have opposed the ban, saying it will hit them hard. Keith Vaz, British MP of Indian origin recently said, “This is Euro nonsense and bureaucracy gone mad. Indian mangoes have been imported to Britain for centuries. I am furious with the lack of consultation with those who will be ultimately affected by the ban.” Vaz has already written to the European Commission President after his constituents in the city of Leicester made a plea. The MP has also written to the Indian Prime Minister to ascertain if India was consulted on the matter.

“Leicester held the first UK Mango Festival last year and it was an outstanding success. Millions of British people have eaten these mangoes for ages and they certainly don’t seem to have had any adverse effect on us. If this ban goes ahead, we will have to cancel this year’s festival,” Vaz added. A shopkeeper in Leicester said the ban could see city retailers’ profits fall by thousands of pounds. Rajesh Pabari told a news agency that last year, he had made over $15,000 by selling mangoes during their eight-week growing season. Another trader Dharmesh Lakhanit told a TV channel that “the fruits are ‘very valuable’ to Leicester’s economy.”

Even Lord de Mauley, UK’s Environment Minister has entered the fray, claiming his ministry was working on lifting the ban as soon as possible. “India is a key trading partner and these temporary restrictions affect a tiny percentage of the successful business we conduct with them. We are working closely with our Indian and European counterparts to resolve the issue and resume trade in these select products at the earliest,” he added. India, on its part, has threatened to drag the EU to the WTO over the decision while the Union Commerce Minister has warned that the EU’s decision to slap a ban on import of the Alphonso mangoes will have “very negative fallout on trade ties.”

Mangonomics

According to studies, globally around 5.17 million hectare area is under mango cultivation and about 40 million MT of mangoes are harvested annually. Major mango producing countries in the world include India, China, Thailand, Pakistan, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Nigeria. Of the total area under mango cultivation, 44% is in India, which accounts for about 38% of the global production. Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar, Gujarat, West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the major mango producing states in India, with UP firmly at the top. What stands out though is the fact that Maharashtra, which has the highest area under mango cultivation, ranks 10th in terms of productivity. India’s productivity of mango is in the range of 5.52 MT/hectare and 7.84 MT/hectare.

Of the total fresh mango exports from India in FY13, over 61% went to UAE

Exports: Big potential still

India exports mangoes to more than 30 countries. Although every third mango produced in the world is from India, it has very little share of the international market. In the year 2000, India’s share in the global mango trade was just 5.97% in volume and 3.96% in value terms. Over the next 10 years, these numbers plummeted further to 4.36% and 3.11% respectively. It’s worth noting that from the year 2006, US and Japan allowed the import of Indian mangoes, thereby opening up new doors for Indian mango growers. But despite this, exports are not increasing at the desired pace. The major reason behind this is the unavailability of requisite infrastructural facilities in the production areas. According to the Ministry of Commerce, India exported $48.54 million worth of fresh mangoes in FY2013, with more than 60% of it being exported to UAE (UK was at no.2; see chart titled, ‘Destinations for Indian fresh mangoes’). What is also interesting is that Indian mango exports to EU are just a fraction of its total exports. Similarly, over the last 10 years, while the average price of exported Indian mangoes have almost doubled, in terms of quantity, they jumped about the 60,000 to 70,000 MT/year mark (see chart titled, ‘Indian fresh mango exports’). This makes it abundantly clear that there is an immense growth potential for mango exports from India, the recent EU ruling notwithstanding.

Of wasted decades...

Back in the early 70s, scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) ‘crossed’ various mango varieties to arrive at the most desirable cross-breed. After 25,000 such crosses, they succeeded in bringing out the Amrapali and Mallika mangoes, derived from Dusehri and Neelam. Unfortunately, their finds were confined just to the laboratory files for many years. Dr. Anand Kumar Singh, himself a top mango breeder and head of the fruit division of IARI, while speaking to The Dollar Business says, “While Amrapali is a cross between a Dusehri mother and a Neelam father, Mallika is a cross between a Neelam mother and a Dusehri father. The process of crossing different varieties of mangoes might sound hassle-free, but it is a long and tedious process.” The distinct characteristic of the pair is that the trees are concise and a farmer can easily plant 100 hybrid trees in an acre of land. When tested, these trees started yielding fruits within just three years and the mangoes were fibreless, sweet, firm and had an attractive skin and flesh colour. Despite the fact that these trees were ideal for mass production, India still wasn’t ready for the commercialisation of these mangoes. According to Singh, for a quarter of a century after these two hybrid varieties of mangoes were found, no one showed any interest. It took stagnating food grain yields, lack of irrigation and increasing cost of inputs, to convince farmers to take a serious look at mango farming. Since two-thirds of Indian farmers were small and marginal, there were political motivations too as the government started contemplating ways and means to boost agricultural incomes. “Wasted years and opportunities,” you could say!

...and a sweet revolution

In Bankura district of West Bengal, fertile lands were identified all the way up to the Chota Nagpur plateau. Ramlal Mandi, a small farmer of the area, had one-acre barren land. He was encouraged by a local voluntary organisation – Nari Vikas Sangh – to plant mangoes in 2006. Three solid years of hard work paid off as Mandi’s barren land in Gobindosol village near Jhilimili gave way to mango and cashew trees. Many small farmers across the country soon started growing mangoes with vegetable inter-cropping. This became a key driver of the revolution in the cultivation of India’s most loved fruit. If back in FY2002, mango trees were planted in excess of 15 million hectares of land yielding 10 million tonnes of the fruit, a decade later, the numbers have climbed 56% (to 25 million hectares) and 72% (to a record 17 million tonnes!) respectively. Revolution. Truly. The formation of the Horticulture Mission dates back to 2005. The government started providing grants and subsidies to small farmers and helped them all the way from nurseries to plantations. But convincing a small farmer to grow a crop that will give returns only a decade later is a tough task. Some achievement for the likes of several voluntary organisations in the country, one of which is the Nari Vikas Sangh. Dr. Singh of IARI is very optimistic. “Only 5-6 years have passed since these hybrids became popular. Wait till they reach their high point by the tenth year,” he says.

Mission Possible

Even as mass interest in the topic of ‘EU ban on Alphonso mangoes’ continues to mount, hybrid mangoes are silently gaining share in the largest importing maket for Indian mangoes – UAE. Other varieties of mangoes are also expected to be released in the domestic market before being shipped overseas. As for the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), it is confident that the EU trouble will disappear for good and that mango exports will grow at an exponential rate in the years to come. And most importantly – that the new hybrids will prove more than scientific discoveries. New markets, new hybrids, and truckloads of optimism. Hope abounds.