Visakhapatnam: Flavourless mangoes line up city markets
Lack of buyers of mangoes has become a cause for concern for vendors in market in Visakhapatnam.Photo: Vasu Potnuru
Visakhapatnam: For many, summer months are often associated with the sweet smell of delicious mangoes as they bring home bags of the yellow-skinned fruit to devour to their heart’s content. But, those who have bought mangoes once feel reluctant to buy again because the 'king of fruits' available in the market at the moment are neither sweet nor gives out aroma.
Apparently, lack of takers is affecting the business of the farmers, vendors and traders. Even as the price drops to Rs 60 per kilo from Rs 100 for the same quantity weeks before, not many are stopping by to pick up mangoes at the markets.
Surprisingly, heaps of Banganapalli, the most sought after variety of mangoes among people, also remain unsold with vendors.
This year, the crop saw a production of 1.38 lakh metric tonnes cultivated from 15,212 hectares of area in various mandals of the undivided Visakhapatnam district. “Compared to regular yields, mango production has been halved this year.
Unfavourable weather conditions, unseasonal rains and fluctuations in vegetative growth impacted the mango yield to a large extent,” shares K Sriram Murthy, horticulture officer from Visakhapatnam.
However, this year, the production has dipped to below 50 percent. While low production is one part of the challenge for the farmers, lack of taste is one of the prime reasons why not many prefer to buy mangoes.
Citing reasons for the tasteless mangoes available in the market, farmers say that unseasonal rains dampened the crop when it was in the ripening stage. “Fearing serious loss, mangoes even at an immature stage of development were induced to ripen.
Hence, the quality and flavour of mangoes took a hit,” reasons Somu Naidu, a mango farmer. Expressing concern over the drop in the mango sale, Chanti, a mango vendor in MVP Colony, says, “In the past 25 years, I have never experienced such a worst sale of mangoes. From Rs 30,000 a day, the sale has gone down to Rs 3,000 a day even if the price has been reduced.” Most mango vendors worry that the situation is unlikely to improve in the next few weeks.