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Mangoes grown in Arabian desert
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Saturday, 28 June, 2008, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Mango, often referred to as the 'king of fruits' is being cultivated successfully in the arid Arabian desert, thanks to the efforts of an industrial city in Qatar and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). Around 3,000 trees on a mango orchard developed in the Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC), 80 km north-east of the Qatari capital of Doha have started bearing mature-green, ready-to-pluck fruits. The trees are planted across a four-acre plot four yeas ago and now the trees are around four-to-five feet high. Each tree is now laden with 1-20 fruits. The whole project came about following a trip to India by Qatar's deputy PM and minister of energy and industry Abdullah bin Hamad al Attiyah some years ago. During the course of the trip Al Attiyah visite RIL's Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat and was attracted by a mango orchard there. Called Dghiribhai Ambani Jakhi Baugh, it was the realisation of a dream of the Reliance founder to grow an orchard like the one Mughal emperor Akbar had centuries back.
The Dhiribhai Ambani Lakhi Baubh has over one lakh mango trees. It grows nearly 40 varieties of the fruit, including ever popular ones like Alphonso, Kesar, Ratna and Neelam, and even foreign varieties like Tomy Atkins and Kent of the US, and Lily, Keit and Maya of Israel, and the products under the brand name RIL Mangoes are sold in the markets across the world.
According to reports, after the Qatari minister expressed interest in having a similar orchard, officials from Reliance Petroleum visited Qatar and inspected the site located at RLIC in Ras Laffan in 2002 and the project was launched in 2004. Today, as many as 10 varieties of the fruit, including Alphonso and Kesar, are being grown in the orchard.
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