Bitter season for mango growers

The mango growers echoed that truckers are not willing to take inter-state transportation.
Bitter season for mango growers

CHENNAI: S Anbalagan is spending sleepless nights. Thanks to the lockdown, he’s been unable to transport or sell his mangoes. Anbalagan is just one of the thousands of mango growers in the State, who are staring at huge losses this year. The lack of adequate transport facilities to reach the market and storage facilities has just added to the burden of the mango farmers, who were already in bad state due to poor yield this year.

“The government has announced relaxation for transportation of farm produce, but the ground reality is that we are not getting any trucks to transport our mangoes to other states. I have to repay a debt of `3 lakh and earnings from my Alphonso mango produce was my only hope. But now it seems like I will have to sell it in the local market at much cheaper price,” lamented Anbalagan, a mango farmer in Vellore.

PB Murali, joint secretary of Tamil Nadu Mango Growers Federation, said this year there has been just about 30% of the yield as compared to last year. Despite lower yields, the farmers had some hope of making profits as TN’s Alphonso, Banganapalli, Totapuri and Imam Pasand varieties of mangoes are very popular in the Northern states. But the pandemic and lockdown has shattered all hopes of the farmers.“People from cities like Chandigarh and Pune are offering me advance money to buy my mangoes. But I am unable to accept their orders as I don’t know how to transport the consignment,” said Murali.  

The mango growers echoed that truckers are not willing to take inter-state transportation.“We are just praying for resumption of normal inter-state transportation services at the earliest as it is difficult to store mangoes for long as it is highly perishable,” said R Prabhuram, a mango grower in Tirupathur and a senior office bearer of the Federation.

Locusts  reach TN?
Krishnagri:  Panic prevailed in Neralipalli village in Vepanhalli panchayat after thousands of locusts swarmed banana trees and crown flower on Friday. A team of officials from agriculture department are monitoring the situation. Panchayat president Veena said that the locusts engulfed the whole village.

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