Mango Board to raise awareness on safe ripening
BENGALURU: THE Karnataka State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation Ltd is in the midst of two-month-long awareness programmes on good agricultural practices. Word is being spread about fruit ripening chambers, packing houses, water tankers and globally-accepted Good Agricultural Practices quality certification.
In Karnataka, roughly two lakh hectares are under mango cultivation. The annual production is 14-15 lakh tonnes of which 10,000 tonnes are exported. The agency is setting up 100 fruit ripening chambers in Agricultural Produce Market Committees. “There are 175 APMCs across the state. In these chambers, mangoes can be ripened using ethylene instead of calcium carbide which is like consuming slow poison,” said L Gopalakrishna, chairman, KSMDMCL.
“Farms that are at least five acres can have packing houses. None of these farmers have their residences nearby which makes it difficult to store the produce. It will cost `4 lakh. Sixty per cent subsidy will be given for general category and 90 per cent for SC and ST farmers,” he said. There is also a plan to provide subsidy to farmers who want to purchase water tankers. “These are 4,000 litres tankers and each costs `1.35 lakh,” he added.
Out of one lakh mango farmers, 227 have got GAP certification which ensures food safety of their crop and international buyers that will encourage them to directly trade with growers. Karnataka is the third in the country in terms of mango production after Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The target is to increase the per hectare yield from 9.72 tonnes to more than 11 tonnes. Last year, the production was less owing to less rainfall.