Abstract:
During the late 18th century mangoes were introduced to Venezuela, all of them of the polyembryonic types.
In 1951, six mango cultivars were introduced from Florida; later, others came from Trinidad and the Antilles, Central America, Brazil and Florida.
In the last years mango has become a very important part of the Venezuelan horticulture; plantings totalled 9.298 ha, and produced 147.247 t valued at US $9.2 million, during 1995. Mangoes are grown all around the country as door and back yard trees, but commercial mango growing has been centered around three main areas with rainfall varying between 500 mm to 1.400 mm, annually.
New developments are mostly done under irrigation.
Although the polyembryonic fibrous cultivars play an important role in the market sales, the planting of the Florida cultivars increased sharply during the past few years.
The cultivars Haden, Tommy Atkins, Kent and Springfels are the most important, and account for 95% of the external markets.
The are no important limiting factors in mango production in Venezuela.
Growers are extremely confident of the future to make new grow plantings of attractive, medium size, healthy mangoes, mostly for exportation.
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