VIJAYAWADA: Though the king of fruits has made a quiet entry into the markets across the city, the wholesale mango market at Nunna, which is the one of the biggest mango markets in Asia, wore a deserted look on Thursday.
The mango trading for the season began at the market on April 1. There are about 80 wholesale shops in the market and majority of the shops wore a deserted look due to low crop yield.
At present, the market is getting a maximum of 80 tonnes of mangoes per day.
Since April, over 60 truckloads of mangoes, including popular varieties such as Banginapalli, Pedda Rasalu, Chinna Rasalu and Totapuri, have been exported from the market to Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and other states every day.
The price per tonne of the fruit ranges from `10,000 to `23,000 depending on its size, quality and variety.
Banginapalli variety is fetching a high price of `23,000 per tonne. With the poor yield, the prices of mangoes are expected to increase in the next few days when the demand for the fruit rises.
Sk Nisar Mohadi, a farmer from Pendyala village of Kanchikacherla mandal, said that the crop yield in Krishna district is very low when compared to other mango producing districts.
Mango growers of Krishna district are facing hardship due to unseasonal rainfall, causing damage to the fruit at its initial stage. “Each year, about 3.5 lakh tonnes of mangoes, mostly the Banginapalli, pulpy Totapuri and Cheruku Rasalu, are harvested from the farms spread over 70,000 hectares in Krishna district. Of late, the farming area has been decreased to 50,000 hectares according to market sources,” he said.
Sk Bade Hazrath, a fruit merchant from Rajasthan, who is readying his yard for import and export of mangoes, said that the quantum of business done so far is nothing when compared to last season’s turnover. “Even if the fruit is arriving at the market, the shape and quality is not good. The fruit did not grow big in size this season due to unusual rainfall during the harvesting season,” he said.
“The stock availability is very low this season. Around 80 tonnes of mangoes are arriving at Nunna Mango market everyday instead of the expected 300 tonnes. Most of the stocks are arriving from Reddigudem, Nuzvid, Adavinekkalam and Mylavaram villages, says K Nagabhushana Rao, a mango merchant in the city.
Delay in harvesting and poor yield are preventing the fruit merchants and farmers from occupying the shops in the market, he added.
“This season, the yield is poor in the Reddigudem, Nuzvid, Adavinekkalam and Mylavaram villages of Krishna district. Frequent changes in climatic conditions have adversely affected the output. Premature dropping ha been very high. There has been 30-40 per cent decrease in the yield among all varieties compared to the previous year,” says Nunna Mango Market Growers Association spokesman P Madhava Rao.