‘Banaganapalle’ gets GI Tag; Andhra Pradesh owns the fruit

In future, any person planning to cultivate this variety of the fruit outside the specified geographical location cannot do so without the consent of horticulture development agency of Andhra Pradesh government, which has obtained the GI propriety for the fruit. On perusal of an affidavit filed by the Andhra Pradesh horticulture commissioner in 2011, Registrar of Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai, OP Gupta, on Wednesday issued the GI certificate for ‘Banaganapalle’ in respect of mango (horticulture goods) falling under Class-31 of Geographical Indication of Goods (registration and protection) Act 1999. 

The horticulture commissioner had submitted in his affidavit that Banaganapalle mango, one of the finest dessert mangoes in the country, has derived a unique characteristic owing to the agro-climatic and geographical conditions it has been cultivated in for over a century. Known also by the names Beneshan, Benishan, Chappatai, Safeda, Banginapalli, the horticulture development agency has informed, that this variety of mango fetches Rs 1,461 crore per annum, including Rs 20.68 crore from export of 5,500 tonnes to US, UK and West Asia. As much as its taste, the fruit’s historicity in terms of the name has also been equally exquisite.

‘Banaganapalle’ was the capital of the princely state of Banaganapalle from 1790 to 1948. Owing to its geographical proximity to seat of rule by the erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad, and due to royal patronage, several orchards were developed, which, over the years, had earned the reputation for the bountiful crop. Administration of Banaganapalle town was taken over by the British governor of Madras Presidency twice, first from 1832 to 1848 and later for a few months in 1905, for financial mismanagement, before the ruler, Nawab of Shia sect, acceded it to independent India and it incorporated into Kurnool in 1948.