Haitian Mango Francisque available to the world

Mango is one of the Haiti's main agricultural export products ($10.0 million per year, 10% of its total mango production) and it shows an excellent potential for growth. Mango Francisque ranks fifth on the list of ten most commercial varieties in demand on the international market. According to a CRS press release, the ranking of the top ten varieties of mango goes like the following in a descending order: Tommy Atkins, Ataulfo, Keit, Kent, Mango Francisque, Man Doc Mai, Edward, Alphonso, Kesar, and Sundhri,".

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Haitifs export of Francisque mangos excludes the production of certain departments, like the Southeast and production of the South because of long distances to packinghouses, poor road conditions, and the fact that existing packinghouses lack the capacity to absorb the volume of export quality fruit during the peak harvest seasons. Sadly, about half of the fruit is lost before it reaches markets.

The U.S is the largest exporter of Haitian Mangoes. Somewhere between 30,000 and 45,000 Haitian households produce Francisque mangoes and analysis indicates that it lift average income for these households by between $140 and $200 per year. The importers have stated that they would like to import higher quantities of Haitifs high value Francisque variety, but lack of supply prevent them from doing so. Last year, during an auction in Florida, a basket with four units of Mango Francisque obtained a maximum price of US$ 45. According to figures from the National Mango Board, the US received 2,451,420 boxes of Mango Francisque in 2015, a significant increase over the previous yearfs figure. During the same period in 2014, a total of 2,231,141 boxes was exported. The number of mango trees in Haiti is estimated at 10 million (USDA, 2010). Approximately 10% of these trees produce the Francisque variety, which is the only variety selected for export.

Recently, with the assistance of cooperatives of Mirebalais (COPACMI) and of Saut d'Eau (COPACSE), a project named gChanje Lavi Plantè" (Changing the Lives of the Farmers) has been undertaken. The project "Chanje Lavi Plantèh will support about 15,000 growers of Francisque mango varieties in a way so that they can improve production and increase export. The project will train the farmers with the best practices of seedlings, planting and maintenance. The project will be supported by the Haiti HOPE project, funded by USAID.

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Melanie Gritz says...

Delicious my favorite

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