The official mango season will soon be here however, the first shipment of season’s first alphonso mango from Kokan region was exported to UK (London) this week under the able leadership of Global Kokan, a decade old bilateral organization working towards development of the Kokan region at the grassroot level. 21 boxes of 1 dozen Ratnagiri Hapus mangoes arrived in London in February. The first box of 1 dozen Alphonso mangoes fetched a record price of £51(or INR 5000/-). The other 20 dozen have received rates of £30 each. (Or INR 3000/-). The first shipment of 21 dozen Ratnagiri Hapus (GI tagged Alphonso) Mangoes thus reached overseas in the first phase of the exports which will see a steep rise in the coming months. This is for the first time, mango exports have begun in the month of February.

Sanjay Yadavrao, Founder, Kokan Bhumi Pratishthan & Global Kokan explains, “Over the years not just in our country but also western countries have received Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh mangoes in the name of Hapus. The country’s first e-commerce platform, conceived by Global Kokan has been set up by bringing together 100 farmers from Konkan who will direct market their platinum brand of mango (Alphonso)”. This global brand of Kokan Alphonso will launched in the Capital on 1st Of March by the hands of former Minister of Commerce & Industry Shri. Suresh Prabhu, under whose able leadership the GI tag for alphonso was received, we thus intend to make the B2B and B2C Hapus trade more organized and transparent”.

The main focus of this initiative by Kokan Bhumi Pratishthan is to ensure that mango aficionado’s receive best quality alphonso mangoes, naturally ripened and GI-tagged mangoes from the Konkan’s mango belt like Devgad, Rajapur, Vijayadurg at best rates and help sustain lacs of mango farmers.  This global brand of Kokan Hapus will ensure that the mango lovers of the country and overseas can taste the sweetness of real, authentic, naturally ripened Hapus Mango”. He further adds “This year Global Kokan also plans to export mangoes to London, Germany and other European markets”. The initiative is supported by Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB), mango cultivators and APEDA.

Ketul Patel from Fruit of Lebanon (Western International Market, UK) was honored to purchase the first 21 dozen Ratnagiri Hapus mangoes this year. With the help of Tejas Bhosale, a Marathi importer from London and Deepak Parab, an entrepreneur from Konkan Agro Export, authentic Hapus from Konkan arrived in London in February. Babu Avsare of Padve village in Rajapur, Pandharinath Amberkar of Kumbhavade village and Jaywant Velye of Wada Tiware village had the opportunity to export Hapus mango from Rajapur directly to London through this initiative by Global Kokan.

Konkan Bhumi Pratisthan, is an NGO working in alliance with mango growers from Kokan and its surrounding areas. The organization has been religiously encouraging exports and working towards creating awareness on how can consumers identify real Alphonso, why does a customer pay more for Alphonso variant of mango from Kokan, issues faced by the Kokan farmers during logistics and more.

Sanjay Yadavrao further adds, “Last year, Alphonso Mangoes got an autonomous identity, as due to Pandemic, direct market was established by the farmers with the consumers since the markets were closed. During Covid, 70%, organic hapus mangoes were sold through direct selling by Konkan mango farmers, consumers, thus got to taste original alphonso. Covid thus proved as a boon to mango growers from Kokan. We at, Global Kokan urge masses to buy directly from farmers through the e-commerce portal and give them major margins for their year-long efforts”.

He says, “Devgadh & Ratnagiri Hapus are the bestsellers while Vijaydurg, Jaigadh, Kelshi and it’s nearby areas has the best ecosystem that favours the hapus plantation.  The crop in this region is very delicate & golden, yellow. We call it a platinum category mango and this variant will also be made available by working with best farmers & mango growers from the region”

Global Kokan, this year aims to sell 1 lakh dozen mangoes directly from Konkan to European markets from the farmers. Tejas Bhosale and Sachin Kadam, two young Marathi entrepreneurs from London, are marketing Hapus Mango in Ratnagiri, Rajapur and Devgad in the European market. Three women entrepreneurs Rajashree Yadavrao, Sunayna Ravrane and Supriya Marathe from Konkan, have taken the initiative for developing this e-commerce platform to boost direct sale of alphonso mangoes.