Support price for mango crop demanded

Chittoor: Protesting against the indiscriminate attitude of the state government towards the plight of the mango farmers in the district, the YSRCP cadre staged a protest at the Collectorate here on Thursday, demanding that the state government should announce Minimum Support Price (MSP) for mango crop. 

Addressing the farmers and party workers, YSRCP district convenor J Srinivasulu expressed anguish over mango farmers suffering losses for the last few years due to natural calamities. Farmers raised mango orchids in 77,000 acres out of 99,630 this year in the district, he said, adding the production of mangoes has come down drastically as farmers were facing losses.    

YSRCP district president and GD Nellore MLA Narayanaswamy has blamed that certain private pulp industries in the district were importing the mangoes from other states by neglecting the farmers of Chittoor district. 

He alleged that several pulp making units in the district have formed a syndicate and purchasing the mangoes for lesser price from the farmers. The MLA slammed the state government for failing to protect the interests of the mango farmers.

Being a native of Chittoor district, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has failed to safeguard the interests of the farmers. He exuded confidence of YSRCP coming to power in the statein 2019.

Puthalapattu MLA Dr Sunil has enlisted the failures of TDP government during the last four years. He exuded confidence that YS Jaganmohan Reddy would become the Chief Minister after the next elections. YSRCP district farmers’ wing president T Adikesavulu Reddy demanded that the government should set up the mango board to facilitate support price for the mangoes. 

He said that the farmers are demanding the support price of Rs 25,000 per tonne of Totapuri variety, Rs 45,000 for Benishan, Rs 35,000 for Kalepadu and Rs 30,000 for Rumania variety. Later, they submitted a memorandum to District Collector and urged him to set up cold storage units in the district. YSRCP leaders Padmanabha Setty, Chiranjeevi Reddy, Krishna Reddy and others were present.