RECORD MANGO PRODUCTION IN 2018/19

MBABANE – The National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBoard) has affirmed that the country has recorded high levels of mango produce that is ripe and ready for market.

This pronouncement follows a national surveillance conducted by the Board  to determine how much production of the fruit, currently in season, had local farmers acquired.

Namboard Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Siphephiso Dlamini highlighted that through a national survey that was conducted, there were approximately over 2 000 tonnes of mango produced by local fruit growers this season with roughly 70 per cent ready for the market.

This was in comparison to an average 122 tonnes per year that the nation would record in the previous years. He mentioned that five varieties were produced, which were, the Tommy Atkins, Heidi, Kent, Sabre and Sensation.

Volumes

 The rise in volumes was attributed to both the favourable weather conditions this year as well as the growth in number of farmers growing mangoes in the past year.
It was disclosed that more than 30 000 seedlings were bought and sold to farmers in the past three years through the 10 000-fruit tree per year sourcing project pursued by NAMBoard.

It was stated that most of these had reached their first year of harvest this year.
“A good section of local retailers and markets are evidently sourcing their fruit from local farmers, under the continuing local sourcing initiative promoting buying of local famers produce,” explained Dlamini. 

The CEO explained that Namboard had increased its focus on this product line for now until it moves to the market.
Buyers were urged to find the famers with the ripe produce and anyone who may need such information will be requested to contact Encabeni Fresh Produce Market offices.

Recorded

“The amount of mango produce recorded this season has created an opportunity to explore the export market. A few of the commercial farmers are already exporting and this continues to be under development.

“NAMBoard is also assisting with some export of the high-quality produce to a few SADC markets including the South African markets in Johannesburg Tshwane, Durban as well as Botswana,” said Dlamini.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: