Alphonso Mango Growers in Maharashtra Irked Over Gujarat Seeking GI Tag, Oppn Wants Govt to Intervene

New Delhi: Alphonso or Hapus mango growers along Maharashtra’s Konkan coast have raised their concerns over two universities in Gujarat seeking the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the Valsad Hapus variety of mango. Opposition parties in Maharashtra has urged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government to intervene, reported Hindustan Times.

Known as the “king of mangoes”, Alphonso or Hapus variety of the fruit from the Konkan belt had received the GI in 2018. However, mango grower raised alarm after they came to know that the two Gujarat universities – Navsari Agricultural University and Gandhinagar University – have sought the same recognition for the Valsad Hapus, another variety of mangoes.

Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) MLA Rohit Pawar posted on X on Saturday (December 7) about the development and said that the application has been made under the ‘One District One Product’ initiative in 2023.

Pawar urged the government to intervene and said that “there is a threat to the recognition of Konkan Hapus”.

“Hapus from Konkan is in demand across the world, and the farmers here have protected it with great effort. Hapus is their livelihood. The largest economic turnover in Konkan happens through Hapus mangoes,” he added in the post written in Marathi.

Thereafter, Hapus mango growers from Konkan also became vocal about their concerns over the Valsad variety of the fruit getting GI tag.

“They can ask for any other name, for instance, ‘Valsad mango’; why do they want it to be recognised as ‘Hapus’,” said Ajeet Gogate, founder president, Devgad Taluka Mango Growers Cooperative Societies Limited (DTMGCSL), in Jamsande, Sindhudurg district, reported Hindustan Times.

“We have to see if the application to the Geographical Indication registry has come for final hearings, following which we will intervene. We will also write to the state government seeking intervention as the matter is related to the livelihood of Konkan farmers,” he added.

Gogate said that this will impact the identity and equity of the Konkan produce

Earlier, a letter written by BJP MP from Valsad Dhaval Patel to Union minister of commerce and industry Piyush Goyal in March this year had stated, “They want the Navsari and Valsad to be included as part of Konkan region, given their geographical alignment with the coastal Sahyadri region along the Konkan coast.”

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