As mango farms in the region have been showing a low yield owing to scanty rainfall for the last four years, and diseases have been affecting mango trees, farmers have started cutting down the trees to take up cultivation of other crops.
However, the Mango Growers Association in the district is doing all it can to ensure that the farmers stop cutting down the trees as it will take several years to grow them, only leaving them to deal with a bigger financial crisis.
Vishwanath Reddy, association president, visited mango farms in Chitradurga taluk here recently, to convince the farmers against chopping the trees. He also appealed to them to stop giving wholesale contracts of their mango farms at low rates for plucking and sale of the fruit. During the visit, many association members attempted to convince the farmers that the mango trees would offer a good yield once the district received ample rainfall and the spread of diseases were controlled. “If the farmers cut the trees or sell the mango farms, it will be very difficult for them develop or purchase such farm land in the future,” Mr. Reddy said.
The association is also planning to open a mango market at Chickjajur in Chitradurga to help mango growers from Chitradurga, Davangere, Shivamogga and surrounding districts to sell their mangoes at good prices from the first week of April this year. The association has already started creating awareness among owners of mango farms to make use of the market facility.
The market will be operational till the end of the mango season and will continue to be held every year, Mr. Reddy said.
The association has also planned to take experts in agriculture to the mango farms in the region to help farmers to receive proper guidance on tackling the diseases affecting the crop, he added.
