Customers buy mangoes in Yangon.

FRUIT farmers and the government are eyeing the export market as they work together to improve the quality of Myanmar mangoes.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and Myanmar Fruit and Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association (MFVP) plan to register mango farms in upper and lower Myanmar to provide the technical support needed to bring the product up to export quality, U Win Aung , the president of association, told The Myanmar Times earlier this month.

“Many countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East have expressed interest in importing our mangoes. But the quality is not good enough yet. We would like to export to them in the future,” said U Kyaw Win, deputy general manager of the ministry.

In the recent THAIFEX food exhibition in Bangkok, the ministry exhibited three kinds of local mangoes – Sein Thalone, Shwe Hinthar and Yin Kwe. Myanmar has more than 77,000 hectares devoted to mango plantations, producing more than 447,000 metric tonnes a year.

To provide technical support to farmers, the ministry along with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation established mango farms in Mandalay Division and Shan State under a two-year program to enhance agricultural competitiveness in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, said U Kyaw Win.

Last March, farmers and ministry staff took a four-day observation trip to study mango farming and technology in Thailand.

“To get Myanmar mangoes into the international market, we need better logistics – packing and transportation – as well as high-quality products,” U Maung Hein, an executive committee member of MFVP, told The Myanmar Times. “We’ve brought down the price of mangoes to US$1200 to $1300 a tonne in the Chinese market – about the same price as the Indian mango.”

The main potential export markets for Myanmar mangoes are China and Singapore, and possibly Malaysia. But the Myanmar product faces competition from Thailand, India, Pakistan and the Philippines.