Saudi Arabia’s western province is well-known for its high humidity and hot weather due to its proximity to the Red Sea coast. An array of delicious tropical fruits is being grown there, including mangoes.
The country is known for growing mango in many cities in the southern region such as Jazan city. However, this fruit found its way to being grown in vast orchards in western and northern regions of the nation, including Qunfudhah and Umluj city. There are more than 400,000 mango trees in Qunfudhah, which ranks the city crop second in terms of significance in the Kingdom, after Jazan.
There are more than 2,700 mango farms in the Qunfudhah governorate, and the annual yield exceeds 40,000 tons. The crop season begins in May and lasts for three months.
Saeed bin Jarallah, director general of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture’s Makkah branch, told arabnews.com: “Our branch is working to spread quality and economically feasible crops among farmers, by reinforcing its efforts to support agricultural festivals in the region for produce such as mango, rose and honey. The ministry is working to support the cultivation of mango and tropical fruits by providing technical support to farmers in the region. It is working to bring tropical fruits specialists from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and many universities which will contribute greatly to the development of mango production and cultivation.”