Why much of the world hasn't tasted Indian mangoes
₹50 lakh due to a freak hailstorm. This year I am hoping to recover the losses," he said, sitting on a charpai, under the shade of giant mango trees spread across the 25-acre orchard. The oppressive June heat, closing in on 50 degrees Celsius, is a little more bearable here.
Production in eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh has been lower this year due to adverse weather while growing areas in southern and eastern India have been hit by low yields due to untimely rains and prolonged heat stress. For Indian consumers, the mango season spans four months—from April to July— with supplies peaking with rising mercury and ebbing with the progressing monsoon. This year has been pricey—the best varieties are in short supply, which means retail prices are upwards of ₹100 per kg.
One could still get prized southern or western varieties on ten-minute-delivery grocery apps—but those aams cost an arm. At the orchard next to Siddiqui’s, a contractor oversees workers neatly arranging Dasheris in boxes that will be dispatched to India’s financial capital, Mumbai. But the fruits have been harvested two weeks ahead of maturity and so are less sweet and fragrant.
This annoys Siddiqui. “What will the consumer in Mumbai think of our Dasheri?" Quality is paramount for the grower and exporter, whose produce competes with the famed Alphonso variety from coastal Maharashtra and Kesar from Gujarat, both within and outside of India. Siddiqui isn’t worried only about what consumers in Mumbai will think as he also caters to many in the Arab world.
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