Nat’l Mango Festival to give Raipur over 250 juicy reasons to go aam-over-heels

Raipur: Raipur will host a three-day National Mango Festival on May 29, 30 and 31 at the Krishi Mahavidyalaya campus, with Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, the Chhattisgarh government’s Directorate of Horticulture and Farm Forestry, and Prakriti Ki Aur Society as joint organisers.

Organisers said the festival will showcase more than 250 mango varieties, including domestic Indian cultivars and foreign varieties, alongside an exhibition-cum-sale of mango fruits, mango-based products and mango saplings. Entry and registration are free, and both institutional and individual participants can take part.

A mango variety competition will bring together growers from Chhattisgarh and other states. The festival will also feature a mango dish competition and a mango decoration competition open to school and college students, women and members of the public. For the variety competition, participants must bring at least 5 to 10 mangoes per variety, while the dish competition requires a minimum of 250 grams of a mango product.

On May 29, entry registrations will be accepted from 9 am to 12 pm. The exhibition will remain open for visitors until 9 pm on all three days.

On May 30, a technical guidance and discussion session is scheduled from 12 pm to 4 pm for mango growers and enthusiasts, focusing on production of high-quality mango varieties suited to Chhattisgarh, processing and marketing of mango products, and state government schemes linked to mango cultivation. Organisers said the session is aimed at encouraging the next generation to take up mango farming and promoting mango production as a health-oriented livelihood option aligned with environmental conservation.

On May 31, from 12 pm to 4 pm, mango-growing farmers and entrepreneurs will share their success stories. The final day will also include an award distribution and felicitation ceremony for competition participants.

The festival’s stated objective is to familiarise the public with common and special mango varieties and distinctive mango products, while providing citizens, women, students, new entrepreneurs and farmers information on mango cultivation as a livelihood. Organisers noted the university has held the festival for the past two years and reported strong public response.