KRISHNAGIRI: The 30th edition of the annual mango exhibition which started in Krishnagiri on Friday after a delay of several months received a lukewarm response from farmers and the public. The 28-day all-India event was delayed due to the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct for Lok Sabha elections and difficulties in identifying a venue.
A majority of the 80 stalls have not been taken up and only three mango varieties — Neelam, Senthura and Bangalora — are on display. Most of the stalls are filled with vegetables and fruits like, tomato, cucumber, broccoli, cabbage, green chilli, dragon fruit, etc, making visitors wonder if they are in a Uzhavar sandhai.
The Joint Director of Horticulture M Indra told TNIE that because of the off-season, only less varieties of mangoes were on display.
KM Soundararajan, president of mango farmers federation, said, “The exhibition will be held between May and July, but this time it began last week. Usually over 40 varieties of mangoes will be displayed in the exhibition, but this time very few varieties are displayed because this is the off season. Last year, over 80% of yield was affected due to climatic condition. Mango is cultivated in Krishnagiri district in over 32, 000 hectares which is the highest in Tamil Nadu.”
He added that the district administration had earlier sent a report to the state government about the less yield but the resultant action was yet to be known.
Previously, the exhibition was held in the Government Boys Higher Secondary School (GBHSS) play ground, but this year, it has been shifted to to Government Arts College for Men at Kaatinayanapalli, four km away from the school.
District collector KM Sarayu has directed transport department to arrange bus facilities to the venue from Krishnagiri town.