In the mango orchards of Marathwada’s villages — one of the giant outdoor larders that makes India the world’s largest mango producer — it now matters how the Chinese spell Alphonso or Kesar.Here in obscure dot-like villages in central Maharashtra, the centuries-old fruit is making market history with mainland China, with the tricky Chinese script written on boxes bound far north by sea.‘‘We think the Chinese will develop a taste for our mango because they are Asian,’’ says Rajendra Baldawa, who has a BSc degree under his belt, in Pimpalwadi village, Aurangabad, 400 km from Mumbai.In a season when coastal Konkan counts Alphonso losses from unseasonal showers — the State Agriculture Commissioner S.K. Goel calls this a ‘‘bad year’’ for Maharashtra’s crop — there is this one story of promise.Twenty tonnes of the oblong, light apricot-coloured Kesar variety of mangoes from rural Marathwada are being dressed up — dunked, for instance, in 47 degree hot water — for an 18-day sea voyage to Shanghai and Beijing. Maharashtra’s first mango export to China will compete with Philippine and Thai harvest on sale in the Hulian supermarket chain.Back in Marathwada, mango growers who received fixed rates of Rs 35-50 per kg for export, gravely discuss — in Marathi — the tastes of a global palate. Will the Chinese take to our mango faster than the ‘‘Londoners’’ did, years ago?With a state government team, two Chinese ‘‘inspectors’’ visited the Baldawas’ 20-acre orchard last year. ‘‘I don’t know how to pronounce their names,’’ Rajendra admits. ‘‘This is the sixth year Londoners will eat our farm’s mangoes, but we hear that they still don’t know how to cut it.’’By June 1, from a port near Shanghai, Marathwada’s mangoes — a uniform size of 350-400 gm each — in cardboard boxes with Chinese lettering, will travel by road for sale in supermarkets.‘‘After permission arrived last year, this is our first commercial sale in China,’’ says Ram Kharche, MD, Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB), Pune. ‘‘We plan to send two more containers by sea and air.’’The Chinese clients sent a script for the packaging. ‘‘We copied it carefully,’’ says Sunil Borade, advisor (exports) MSAMB. He was in Beijing and Shanghai for mango promotion last year. ‘‘For UK consumers, we have to send booklets on how to cut and eat the mango. I think the Chinese won’t need that.’’
