Mango festival showcases Pakistan's best varieties in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad hosted its 10th Mango Festival on Wednesday, bringing together farmers, researchers, exporters and mango lovers from across Pakistan.

More than 100 mango varieties were displayed at 30 stalls, most of them grown in Punjab. The event gave visitors a chance to see, taste and buy rare mangoes from different regions of the country.

Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, an organizer of the festival, said the event aims to boost exports and bring Pakistan's finest mangoes together in one place.

"We're trying to enhance exports of Pakistani mangoes and showcase the best variety at one venue," Khan said. "Collectively, there are more than a hundred varieties on display here, most of them from Punjab. Producers and exporters are here today, and we're connecting farmers directly with consumers."

Visitors traveled from across the country to sample rare and unusual mango varieties. Among them was Sardar Tanveer Sarwar, who praised the taste of two well-known types.

"First, there is Sindh's Sindhri, then Multan's Anwar Ratol," Sarwar said. "Once you eat it, you will feel as if sugar has been added to it. It is so sweet. That is why it is considered one of the sweetest mangoes in the world."

Vendors at the festival sold unusually large mangoes, with some fruits weighing more than a kilogram. Syed Jaffer Gillani, a mango vendor, showed off a variety called Neelam.

"This is Neelam, a variety of Sindhri," Gillani said. "It weighs about 1,500 grams. It is enough to make juice or pulp for an entire family."

Organizers said they hope the festival will encourage more research into mango farming and help drive higher exports in the coming years. They said that connecting farmers with buyers and exporters at events like this could open new markets for Pakistani mangoes abroad, thereby strengthening the country's agricultural sector and rural economy.