The ‘Noorjahan’ mango, grown in Madhya Pradesh’s Alirajpur area, is commanding a higher price this year due to a bigger production and larger fruit size than previous year.
A farmer stated on Sunday that the ‘Noorjahan’ mango is priced between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 per piece this season, and that, unlike previous year, the harvest of this kind of mangoes has been good this time due to favourable weather conditions.
Locals believe that ‘Noorjahan’ mangoes are Afghan in origin and are exclusively grown in the Katthiwada region of Alirajpur district, around 250 kilometers from Indore, near the Gujarat border.
“The three Noojahan mango trees in my orchard have produced 250 mangoes. The fruit has been priced between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 per piece. Bookings have already been done for these mangoes,” said Shivraj Singh Jadhav, a mango cultivator from Katthiwada.
He said people who have booked ‘Noorjahan’ mangoes in advance include fruit lovers from Madhya Pradesh as well as neighbouring Gujarat.
“This time the weight of a Noorjahan mango is going to be between 2 kg to 3.5 kg,” Jadhav added. He said ‘Noorjahan’ trees could not flower properly due to unfavourable climatic conditions in 2020.
“In 2019, one mango of this variety weighed around 2.75 kg at an average and buyers paid as high as Rs 1,200 apiece for it,” he added.
The ‘Noorjahan’ variety produces fruits towards the beginning of June. These trees start flowering in January-February. A ‘Noorjahan’ mango can grow up to a foot long and its kernels weigh between 150 to 200 grams, local cultivators claimed.
