In view of a bumper harvest of mango, the Koraput district administration has taken a slew of measures to provide market linkage to mango growers of the district, to avoid distress sale.
Administrative officials said this year there has been a bumper harvest in Koraput, laxmipur, Kotpad and Borigumma blocks of the district. More than 700 farmers have produced more than 300 metric tonne (MT) of mangoes on 300 hectares of land. The yielded mango varieties include linguda, Dasari, Amrapali and Malika.
"Despite the bumper mango production, the farmers in rural areas fail to get a good price for their produce. In the absence of an organised market, they sell the mangoes for anything between Rs 10 and Rs 15 per kg in the villages,” said Odisha livelihood Mission District Project Manager Roshan Karthik.
Hence, it was unanimously decided to provide market linkage to the farmers so that they could sell the mangoes for a good price that’s the reason in the first phase we have sent two tonnes of quality mangoes like Dasari, lengada and Mallika to New Delhi where it is being marketed through Mothers Dairy at Rs 48 per kg," added Karthik.
He added that the administration has also opened mango sale counters at HAl and Nalco townships in Sunabeda and Damojodi respectively and at several points along NH-26 between Koraput and Sunabeda.
"Once the farmers reach Koraput with mangoes, the fruits are transported to the markets of Sunabeda and Damanjodi free of cost in our own vehicles," said DRDA project director Maheshwar Nayak.