Mangoes are selling cheaper than potatoes in several parts of the country thanks to bumper crop this year.
The mouth-watering Malda is being sold at Rs 20-25 a kilogram. Uttar Pradesh’s “langra” and “Dussehri” are also available in retail market at Rs 20-30 a kilogram. In Delhi too, which depends on neighbouring States supply, mango is being sold between Rs 20 and Rs 50 a kilogram depending on its quality. Commoners are relishing mangoes this season as the price has come down.
The mango price at Sri Rampur in Maharashtra is Rs 27 a kilogram. In Sangrur mandi in Punjab, it is being sold between Rs 20 and 25 per kilogram. In Gola Gorakhnath Mandi in Gorakhpur, price of mango is Rs 9-10 a kilogram. In Pune fruit mandi, mango (Hapus) is priced at Rs 10 a kilogram. In Nagpur mandi, it is being sold at Rs 15 a kilogram while in Una (Himachal Pradesh) mango is being sold at Rs 20 a kilogram. In Kolkata too the price is same.
But the price of Alphonse mango is high. Four dozen Alphonse is costing Rs 5,800.
In the beginning of the mango season, farmers were elated with the mango rate touching Rs 25-30 per kilogram i.e. Rs 25,000-30,000 per tonne in wholesale market, but their hopes slowly evaporated with the rate sliding rapidly reaching just Rs 5-10 per kilogram.
“Because of the high produce, mango growers are left with little option but go for distress sale of their yield. lack of marketing and cold store facilities have added to the plight of mango farmers.
“Mango growers are forced to sell the King of fruits at low price of Rs 7 to Rs 8 a kilogram to traders,” said S Inshram Ali, president, Mango Growers’ Association of India.
According to traders, abundant mango is available in the retail market due to decline in export this year. “Though some mango growing areas in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, and Maharashtra have faced adverse climatic condition like untimely rain and heavy winds hitting the quality crop but it remained unaffected in most areas where the production was much more than expected. Untimely thunderstorm and rain hit production which resulted in decline in export this year,” said a senior official of Ministry of Commerce on the condition of anonymity.
Ali said mango business is down this year due to poor quality. As per report, there is decline of 11 per cent in 2017-18 as compared to previous year. As per data a total 49,180 metric tonne (mt) of mangoes were exported. According to the Agriculture Ministry’s forecast India’s mango output is to rise by 5 per cent to 20.7 million tonne (mt) this season compared to 19.5 mt last year.
Farmer leader Binod Pandey told The Pioneer that due to price crash of mango crop, 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 in southern States and Maharashtra region.
India is the largest producer of mango, thanks to its tropical climate and it accounts for 16 lakh hectare cultivation or roughly half of the total world’s total area under mango cultivation. Mexico, China, Philippines and African countries are other major producers of the fruit. There are 30 main varieties under cultivation in India, chiefly Dashehari, Alphonso, Kesar, Banganpalli and langda.
Meanwhile, data compiled by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) showed India’s total exports at 52,761 tonne (worth $ 66.94 million) for the financial year 2016-17 compared to 36,779 tonnes ($50.04 million) in the previous year 2015-16.