Mango Production, Postharvest Physiology and Storage - Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and Packaging - page 250

14
Mango Production, Postharvest
Physiology and Storage

C. K. Narayana, D. V. Sudhakar Rao and Susanta K. Roy

INTRODUCTION world production. The Food and Agriculture Organization

(FAO) does not report separate production and trade statis-
tics for mangoes; rather, they are combined with mangos-
teen and guava. Therefore, it is rather difficult to get ac-
curate statistics on mangoes. The 2007 data on area under
mango cultivation and their production in leading countries,
as reported by Anon (2007), is given in Table 14.1. India,
China, Thailand, Indonesia, and Pakistan are the top-five
mango-producing countries in the world. Mangoes from
India and Pakistan are prized for their unique aroma and
flavor throughout the world.
Mango is the most important crop occupying about 43%
of the total area under fruits in India, and this fruit accounts
for 28% of the total production of fruits. The state-wise area
and production indicates that the Andhra Pradesh continues
to be the leading mango-producing state (Table 14.2), fol-
lowed by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, and West Bengal
(the top-five states).
Mango was the fourth most rapidly growing fruit in
international trade after taro, single-strength citrus juice,
and cassava tapioca (PHDEB, 2005). The world trade in
mangoes, including re-exports, grew almost to three times
between 1995 and 2005, with yearly exports estimates at
about 650,000 metric tons. The major mango exporting
counties included Mexico, Brazil, Pakistan, India, Philip-
pines, Ecuador, Peru, South Africa, and Thailand. The
leading importers of mangoes were the United Arab Emi-
rates, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United States, the United
Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Japan
(PHDEB, 2005). The production and marketing of export-
quality mangoes requires interventions “from farm to fork,”
as listed in Box 14.1.

Origin and distribution
Mango ( Mangifera indica Linn) is as old as agriculture and
is associated with the civilization of man. Records suggest
that it has been in cultivation in the Indian subcontinent for
more than 4,000 years. Mango belongs to the family Anac-
ardiaceae and is reported to have originated in Southeast
Asia in general and Indo-Malaysian region in particular.
Besides Indian subcontinent, mangoes are found in several
countries of the tropical and subtropical world. Mangoes
were spread from their place of origin to different parts
of the world by missionaries, travelers, voyagers, explor-
ers and invaders (Mukherjee, 1997; Anon, 2006). Mango
is regarded as “national fruit” of India, Pakistan, and the
Philippines (Anon, 2007).
The mango, though known to the people of Indian
subcontinent, was unknown to botanist until 1605, when
Carol Clusius first mentioned it in his writings. The name
“Mangifera” was given for first time by Bontius in 1658
when he referred to this plant as “arbor Mangifera” (the tree
producing mango). Later it was mentioned in the literature
as Mangifera indica Ray, Mangas domestica Hermann, or
Mangas sylvatica Rheed. Linnaeus also referred to it as
Mangifera arbor in 1747, prior to changing the name to its
present form ( Mangifera indica L.) in 1753, in his much
quoted book Species Plantarum (Mukherjee, 1997).

Area, production, and trade
Mangoes are produced in over 90 countries worldwide.
Asia accounts for approximately three-fourths of the total