Chief minister Naveen Patnaik visits the annual fruit festival in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, May 24: The directorate of horticulture said they were planning to export amrapali mangoes cultivated in Rayagada district to Japan, after exporting the fruits to Bangladesh.

It was announced at the state-level annual fruit festival that began today on the Adivasi Ground here.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the three-day exhibition that will conclude on May 26.

Speaking on the inauguration ceremony of the fruit festival, agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy said steps had been taken to export the exclusive mangoes from Odisha to Japan. An official in the directorate said the amrapali mangoes had been cultivated on 1,200 hectares at Kashipur of Raygada district — which would be harvested in the next 10 days. Earlier, the state government had started exporting mangoes of Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar to New Delhi and Bangladesh this summer.

The dusehri mangoes of Dhenkanal, langra of Mayurbhanj and himsagar of Keonjhar are the major varieties of mangoes, which are being exported from the state.

Odisha annually produces around eight lakh tonnes of mangoes, of which 40 per cent are high-quality varieties such as dusehri, keshari, amrapali and mallika. A total of 264 varieties of mangoes are found in the state.

Similarly, the directorate will also export jackfruits to New Delhi, keeping an eye on Sabitri Puja to be celebrated on May 28.