VIJAYAWADA: Waiting for buyers near orchards has become a routine affair for mango farmers from Nuzvid and its surrounding villages lately. Low yield and the 21-day lockdown in effect have made many deeply worry about what the future has in store for them. In Krishna district, the king of fruits is cultivated on 54,085 hectares and, this season, the Horticulture Department is expecting a yield of 4,32,680 metric tonnes from villages in Mylavaram, Reddygudem, Agiripalli, Nuzvid, Musunuru, Vissannapeta, Chatarai, Gampalagudem, A Konduru and Tiruvuru mandals.
In these difficult times, as the state battles coronavirus, most buyers keep away from the mango orchards in Suvaranarekha, Cheruku Rasalu, Kothapalli Kobbari and Panduri Mamidi. Those who do come to buy mangoes offer meagre prices for the produce citing low quality of the fruit, making it tough for the farmers to make a living. With little options before them, a section of farmers from Vadlamanu recently sold their produce--Pedda Rasalu and Chinna Rasalu varieties--for as low as `12-`15 per kg, as against `250-`500 per kg in previous years.
Reddy Swami cultivated five varieties in his 20-acre land in Vadalamanu. He said mango growers were the worst-hit as the novel coronavirus began spreading in the country just before the commencement of the mango season. “Poor yield had given us enough reasons to worry. The pandemic will drown us in debt. Neither are buyers willing to buy from us, nor can we send the produce to other states as the transport sector has come to a complete halt due to the lockdown. In such times, our only hope is the government and it should provide necessary assistance to us without any further delay,” Swami rued.
“After Ugadi, supply of mangoes to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and New Delhi begins from Nunna, one of the largest mango markets in Asia. However, this won’t be the case this time due to the impending situation,” said TRK Murthy, a buyer and owner of a company at Malavalli.
“If the situation continues for a few more weeks, the mango growers will be the worst-affected.”
Speaking to TNIE, Assistant Director (Horticulture) Ch Srinivasulu said around 60 per cent of the fruit produced in the district is sent to Maharashtra every year.
“As the number of coronavirus patients is high in the state, buyers from Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra are not willing to purchase the fruit citing lack of transportation. As such, the department has decided to grant permission to ply to the vehicles carrying the fruit,” he noted, and added the government has directed the police personnel not to stop these vehicles at check posts. On whether the department was taking any step to provide remunerative prices for the fruit during the crisis, he said around 39 lakh covers were distributed to the farmers to ensure quality harvest. ‘’The full-fledged mango season will begin after April 10 and we hope that there is some improvement in the situation by then,” Srinivasulu added.