Mango farmers have demanded remunerative price for the produce in the wake of the pulp industries lowering the procurement price for them citing the pandemic and the resultant slowdown in the market.
A diseased season, coupled with fall in the price of procurement by the pulp industries is pushing farmers into a loss, the Mango Farmers Federation has stated.
A fortnight ago, Collector V. Jayachandra Bhanu Reddy called for tripartite meeting with the mango farmers, pulp industry representatives and the Horticulture Department to sort out the concerns of the farmers.
K.M. Soundararajan, Mango Farmers’ Federation, Krishnagiri, in a statement, has said the tripartite meeting was convened with the objective of securing remunerative prices for the mango growers, who are currently battling diseased crop and also low procurement prices offered by the pulp industry here. However, a fortnight has passed, but no remunerative price has been announced, Mr. Soundararajan has stated.
Mango production, this year, was hit by disease due to frost causing large-scale losses to the mango growers, according to Mr. Soundararajan.
With the fall in production and the shortfall in supply, the mango growers ought to have found better prices for their produce.
According to the federation, the pulp industry had not negotiated remunerative price with the farmers. As of last week, the average price of procurement of mangoes by the pulp industry was ₹10 per kg.
Similarly, mango growers have also demanded relief as support to the farmers for the losses incurred during the season. Mango growers had incurred cultivation costs of ₹40,000 per acre for cropping this season. However, due to frost, the crop was hit by disease affecting the production.
