Tender Mango Exhibition 2007

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Tender Mango 2007 An unprecedented event, 3-days Tender Mango Fair ' Midi Maavu 07' will be held at Sagar, Karnataka from April 23rd to 25th 2007.

Tender Mango, locally called as Appe Midi in Kannada is much sought after for making pickle that lasts for 2-3 years without any artificial preservatives. Ordinary tender mango sells at 1 rupee per mango while the better varieties are priced at Rs 2

Main objective of the fair is conservation of the diversity, documentation and to sensitize the local farmers & villagers about the need to conserve these. Shimoga and Uttara Kannada districts of Karnataka have a rich diversity of pickle mango trees.

Due to industrialization, hydro-electric projects and felling of trees for timber, more than a lakh pickle mango trees are believed to have lost in the last 6 decades. Some outstanding varieties are lost for ever. While harvesting, since picking up each tender mango is very difficult, traders cut off whole branches. This causes damage to the tree and some are lost in due course.

"Just mention Mangoes and everybody thinks of and has programs only for Fruit Mangos. Unfortunately, a pickle mango with so much diversity is neglected. Western Ghats is home for thousands of wild mango varieties. It is this mango that only is available for local poor villagers. So, we are focusing on conservation of these varieties as well of the ethnic recipes, methods of pickle making and scores of other cooking methods that is still in human memory and not in black and white", development journalist & executive secretary Shivanand Kalave describes.

Fair will have exhibition and limited sale of Appe Midi. "We hope to get at least 700 varieties for exhibition from around 100 km radius", Shivanand hopes. There will be group discussions and exchange of experiences on pickle making, various pickle mango varieties etc.

Maavina Mane, (House of Mangos) will have demos, tasting opportunities of local Tender Mango recipes like the famous appe huli, gojju, saasve, chatney, tambli etc. Streeshakti organizations, Self-help groups will offer their culinary expertise and will offer its taste to visitors.

Sale of grafted appe midi plants is another attraction. A souvenir, containing history, contact addresses of grafts men and achievers in the field & in-depth features on Midi Maavu will be released.

Points out Lakshimarayana Hegde, in whose Hegde Farms the fair will be held, "In our area, there are many farmers with 10 gunta farmland. For such people two good opportunities are there to augment their income. One : Producing grafted plants. Second : Pickle making. We would like to offer proper guidance and give the much necessary inspiration and drive for such ventures." Hegde is the Chief Secretary of the Fair.

On all the three days, there will be exhibition of an expected number of 700 varieties of appe midis that will be brought by farmers, grafting experts and volunteers from around 150 kilometers radius.

Stalls:
There will be 50 stalls selling products like appe midi pickle, grafted plants etc. Since there is huge demand for both, organisers can not give a guarantee that each one will be able to get these products. However, they may make use of this opportunity to get in touch with the right kind of producers of grafts/ pickles etc and procure them in near future.

Maavina Mane (House of Mangoes)
All the three days, experienced housewives will prepare 10 - 15 types of preparations from tender mango. Visitors can go, discuss with them, learn the recipes and even taste a mouthful of these rare ethnic preparations.

Prizes
One of the appe midi that is judged as the best by the panel of judges will receive a cash award of Rs 5,000. In addition, there will be regional awards of Rs 1,000 each for different river valleys and areas.