Srikakulam: Mango farmers denied fair price this 2020

Srikakulam: Mango growers are suffering loss with middlemen denying fair price for the produce. Unseasonal rains at flowering stage and later the lockdown has wreaked havoc on mango crop.

With the transport coming to a halt, the farmers could not send the produce to other States and export to other countries.

Mango crop is cultivated in an extent of 11,378

hectares in Srikakulam district. Mango yield is pegged in Srikakulam district at 1.47 lakh metric tonnes. Every year 40 per cent produce is being exported to Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore, Canada, Germany, England, Hang Kong, Malaysia and other countries. The rest is for local consumption.

Unseasonal rains damaged the mango crop this year. The yield this had fallen. The farmers cold not get fair price because the export of the produce came to a halt because of lockdown. The traders did not pay remunerative price to farmers on the pretext that they could not export the produce because of lockdown. According to farmers, traders had paid Rs 1,200 per hundred mangoes and the they in turn sold the fruits in open market at between Rs 3,000 for the 100 mangoes. "I was unable to secure remunerative price this year," said K Satyannarayana, a farmer from Regidi mandal.

"This year I paid Rs 100 for per kg mangoes in the open market which is highest when compared with previous years," a consumer, T Anuradha, of Srikakulam city explained.