The Expo Mango Fair in the Dominican Republic has become a tradition that attracts producers, traders, consumers and academics from around the country and abroad. Last year the country exported 10 million kilos of mangoes in its different presentations.
The Ministry of Agriculture reported on Friday that the cultivation of mangoes has become an ecotourism attraction in Bani, also known as the Mango Capital. The country has 69,500 commercial plots planted with the fruit and last year's mango exports amounted to $11.5 million dollars.
The crop generates more than 4,000 direct jobs, an amount that triples in the harvest season.
Hundreds of farmers from different producing areas participated in the tenth version of the fair, which was opened between last Thursday and Sunday, presenting the different mango varieties and the latest technological advances in its crop production.
The fair aims to promote and encourage the production, processing, marketing and consumption of Dominican mango as well as making the genetic diversity and Technological Innovation for this crop well know.
Apart from promoting the different mango varieties, the support given by the producers to this fair allows them to hold business forums between the different actors of the production, marketing and processing of the fruit.
Most of the mango is produced in the southern region of the country. More than 85% of the total productive area is in the provinces of Peravia, San Cristobal, Azua, San Juan, Barahona and Bahoruco.
The main countries of destination for the Dominican mango exports are: the UK, Netherlands, USA, Germany, Canada, Spain, Netherlands Antilles, Belgium, France, San Martin, Japan, Italy, Guadeloupe, Austria, Ukraine, Martinique, Poland, Turk and Caicos Islands, Switzerland and Haiti.
70 percent of the exports are of the Keitt variety; 15% of Tommy Atkins, and the remaining 15% is of other varieties.
Source: EFE