BENGALURU: For the first time, two mango and jackfruit melas will be held in Bengaluru – at Cubbon Park and Lal Bagh – this year. Karnataka State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation Managing Director TR Vedamurthy said the mela at Cubbon park will be held from May 8 to 18 to cater to farmers from Dharwad, Mandya, Mysuru, south Bengaluru and south Karnataka.
Another mango and jackfruit mela will be held at the same venue again in May, where over 100 stalls will be put up. The dates are yet to be finalised, he added. “We recently held a meeting with the farmers, and they expressed their concern of early cropping and not getting good deals. So a mela is being held for these farmers at Cubbon Park,” he said on Tuesday.
Around 70 stalls will be put up, where organic and carbide-free fruits will be sold directly by farmers. Vedamurthy said the reason for the sour taste, poor quality and high price of the fruit in the market was because it was coming from other states so far.
“The yield in Karnataka has been late. The crop from Kolar and Ramanagara will reach the market by May 8 and 27, respectively, he said. “This time, because of intense heat and low moisture in the atmosphere, there were multiple fruit droppings.
This has impacted the quantity and quality of fruits. This year, we are expecting around 10 lakh tonnes of yield, while last year it was 15 lakh tonnes. Last year, around 1,000 tonnes of the fruit was exported, but this year, so far only 50–100 tonnes could be exported,” he said.