'Yogi mango' among 700 varieties at UP fest

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath takes a round of the stalls after inaugurating the UP Mango Festival, in Lucknow. (Photo: PTI)

Mango lovers have a chance to taste over 700 varieties of the fruit at a two-day festival here with 'Yogi mango' named after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath being the centre of attraction of the event. Adityanath today inaugurated the two-day festival dedicated to the kings of fruits and stressed that horticulture can help double farmers' income.

"Horticulture can help in achieving the target of doubling farmers' income and officials need to make the farmers aware of it," he said inaugurating the festival which will showcase over 700 varieties of mango in the country.

"Uttar Pradesh is the leading mango growing state which also grows the maximum varieties," Adityanath said.

The chief minister also hailed the effort of holding the festival which he said will help enhance the income of farmers.

Stressing the need to encourage the different varieties of mangoes grown in the state, he regretted that in the absence of proper marketing the state was not succeeding in branding its product.

Besides the other mango varieties, the variety from Saharanpur named "Yogi" after the chief minister was the centre of attraction in the festival.

The mango growers of Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are also taking part in the festival which will conclude tomorrow.

During the two-day festival the mango producers will be made abreast with the latest techniques to augment the quality of production, Director of horticulture and food processing department, Raghvendra Pratap Singh said.

The festival will act as a platform to enhance knowledge about different varieties of mangoes and is also aimed at contributing to horti-tourism, he said.

A seminar on new techniques and redressal of problems of mango growers is also scheduled to be held during the festival besides a buyer-seller meet.