The Orange Festival in Manipur’s Tamenglong district has become an annual state event, which attracts a large number of people from all over the country and abroad for a gala get together. It is celebrated with the theme ‘Orange for Health’ and ‘Orange for Beauty and Prosperity’. Hundreds of varieties of quality oranges are exhibited by orange farmers in this extraordinary orange blossom festival in Manipur, which brings a great boost to the promotion of trade and tourism of this region.
All About the Juicy “Orange Festival” of Manipur
Beauty of Manipur
Tharon cave – Manipur (Photo: E-Pao)
The Tamenglong districtis one of the five hill districts of Manipur and is blessed with many picturesque locations. The orange festival in Manipur acts as the biggest event to highlight the beautiful tourist spots of this natural paradise such as the adventurous Tharon cave, the breathtaking Barak waterfalls, the magnificent Bunning meadows and the enchanting Zeilad lake, which hosts variety of migratory birds every year.
Orange Festival in Manipur
- Orange Festivatl – People enjoying on different stalls
The Orange festival in Manipur is organized by the Horticulture Development Society of Tamenglong and jointly sponsored and promoted by Tourism Department. It aims at promoting the cultivation of oranges in the region. The festival is mainly organized with the objective to facilitate the socio-economic upliftment of the people of the district, provide an excellent platform for orange farmers to display their produce before potential buyers and also to promote tourism in the region. One of the other important reasons for organizing the festival is the declining production of oranges due to the poor management of the orchards.
Oranges on Display
The Tamenglong district is least developed as compared to the other Districts of Manipur. It has humid-sub-tropical climate. The climate and the soil of Tamenglong district are highly suitable for all kinds of horticulture. It is located at an altitude of 1260 meters above sea level with rainfalls of up to 3135 mm and with temperatures of 30 c (Max) and 4 c (Min). The farmers bring in additional income from various horticulture products like papaya, pineapple, chillies but mainly oranges. Oranges are grown on a large scale in Tamenglong district and approximately 80% of the oranges produced in Manipur are from this district. But, due to poor infrastructure and development, lack of credit support and proper marketing strategies, the rich potentials of this sector has never been realized.
Oranges on Exhibition cum Sale
In order to popularize and increase the production of oranges, the Orange throwing festival is celebrated every year in the district during the month of December, when the beauty of the region is at its very best. The orange festivals organized in the past have created a lot of awareness and have witnessed enthusiastic participation of orange growers from the region as well as from other parts of the country. It also offers an excellent opportunity for both, the growers and fruit processing industries to clinch best deals with orange farmers. Tamenglong is full of resources but suffers mainly because of poor tapping of the district. To grab the best opportunities, there has to be a proper balance between effective channeling of the available technological skill, best quality fruit production, efficient pest management, post harvest modern technology, and last but not the least effective marketing to grab the best deals of the trade. Considering the favourable climatic conditions of the Tamenglong for orange cultivation, holding of such orange festivals will greatly help farmers increase their cultivation/production and reach out to a bigger market.
A Peep into the Festivities of the Orange Festival
The festival was first introduced in the district during 2002 by Manipur Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium under the kind aegis of Central SFAC and DRAD Tamenglong. The festivalwitnessed great popularity and started to be celebrated every year with the support of the Government Department as a state festival since 2005.
Open Stall at Orange Festival (Photo: Tamenglong District)
The Orange festival celebrations are always grand with lots of fun, entertainment and award competitions. It is celebrated with joy, splendor, enthusiasm and happiness. Theprogram begins with the felicitation ceremony of Horticulture and Tribal Development Minister followed by formal inauguration of the orange festival. Then, the exhibition stalls are opened in the presence of local MLAs. A large number of orange growers from different villages of Manipur take part in the orange growing competitions. The victorious orange farmers go home richer with whooping cash prizes. Personnel of 5th Manipur Rifles, 11 Assam Rifles, Tamenglong Bamboo and Cane Development Centre (TAMBAC), UBI and others also show interest in exhibiting their products during the festival.
Cultural Program at Orange Festival (Photo: Tamenglong District)
Many entertainment and cultural dance programs along with a seminar for orange growers and sport activities for the public are the other main attractions of this great event. Other games like Shot Put, Arm Wrestling, Mass jumping, Orange Eating competition, greased poll climbing, Loi zaimei (Tug of War) and shriek competition are also played as part of the inaugural function.
Orange Queen Contest (Photo: Tamenglong District)
The main highlight of the orange blossom festival is the ‘’Orange Queen’’ beauty pageant that adds that dash of colour and glitz to the event. It is highly instrumental in attracting a large number of audiences from different parts of the country. Many beautiful girls from different communities and from different parts of the state of Manipur vie for the “Orange Queen” title which carries a massive cash prize. The first and the second runner up title holders are also felicitated with a cash prize. All these cash prizes are sponsored by well wishers of the festival. It goes without saying that the fashion-cum beauty pageant has become an indispensable part of the orange festival of Manipur over the years. The two day event concludes with a happy note with fun and frolic all over and people projecting their cultural, social land religious aspirations in an outstanding way. People look forward to this magnificent celebration with lots of excitement and hope.
Every year the beautiful Tamenglong district of Manipur comes alive with the great Orange Fest celebrations exhibiting beautiful, juicy and fresh oranges everywhere. The event offers an excellent opportunity for both the producers and fruit processing industries to nurture better trade relations. The festival encourages villagers to grow more and more oranges, which results in improvement of orange cultivation and as a definite boost to Manipur’s economy.
The continuous trend of organizing this festival with full support of Government will surely prove to be an advantageous factor for the people of the region and will help in improvement of their socio-economic status and boosting the tourism sector.
Come, be a part of the all-juicy, orange throwing fest!!
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