Start of the mango season in Senegal
It's that time again: peak season in Senegal in the fields and in the packing depot. The ripe mangos are being harvested continuously and prepared for transportation to Duisburg.
Almost as if the fruit wants to defy the global corona crisis, they are hanging in great numbers this year on the ever-green trees of the small orchards. This promises a long and abundant harvest period through until the end of the season in August. The first Senegalese mangos have been shipped, have arrived with us in Duisburg and are ready for order.
Effects of the corona crisis
Our employee David Buitenhuis was in Senegal last year and supervised the loading of the mangos on site. This year he is in contact with Amacodou Diouf, managing director at Buur Sine, by telephone and messenger.
"In Senegal, the current regulations are that a maximum of 30 persons can be in an enclosed space at the same time," says Diouf. "For this reason, we have reorganised the work in the packing depot into 8-hour shifts. This way, we can comply with the corona safety concept." He also continues to provide his workers with overalls and, of course, face masks.
The farmers and employees of the Buur Sine cooperative have no state safety net like the farmers in Germany. For the local people, their income from the fruit is more important than ever. The staff there pack the fruit with great diligence and have managed to ensure that the container is on its way to Europe.
The deliciously ripe BioTropic mango
The smallhold farmers in Senegal cultivate only the Kent variety of mango for overseas trade. The medium-sized, oval fruit are not fibrous and are wonderfully aromatic. "Compared to other countries of origin, Senegalese mangos also have a relatively short transportation distance from the tree to Duisburg. This means that they can keep their intensive flavour really well," explains David.
In Duisburg, our BioTropic main site, the mangos' ripening process is finished off to perfection so that the flavour and sugar content develop optimally. Our mango sorting machine undertakes the further quality measures. There, every individual fruit is checked and sorted according to size and ripeness. The result is the perfect, deliciously ripe BioTropic mango.
Depending on the season, the countries of origin for the BioTropic organic mangos are Burkina Faso, Ecuador, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Peru and, currently, Senegal. The next season starts in Spain. Thanks to the variety of producing countries and the different harvesting dates, mangos are available all year round at BioTropic.
Text: Visnja Malesic
Images: BioTropic GmbH
Last updated: June 2020