District Collector Sumit Kumar on Monday said that the State government has taken all possible steps to ensure minimum support price for Totapuri mango farmers and would also purchase the last kilo of yield from the farmers. Till date, 2,22,718 tonnes of mango from 38,706 farmers has been purchased.
Listing out the measures taken by the government, the Collector said that mango is being cultivated in 3.98 lakh hectares in the State with an approximate yield of 49.85 lakh metric tonnes. In Chittoor, 76,700 farmers are cultivating mango in 80,000 hectares of which Totapuri is the major variety. The district has 44 mango pulp units and 78 mandis with a capacity to process 3.50 lakh tonnes.
He said that the government had convened four review meetings at the district and State level to discuss how to dispose of the pulp stocks of last year and minimum support price to farmers. A State-level committee was also constituted to hold discussions with major companies to sell the pulp stocks.
On June 5, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation and announced ₹4 as the State government share and fixed the minimum support price at ₹12 per kilo of which ₹8 would be paid by the processing units. Similarly, the government had also sent proposals to the Centre for release of ₹130 crore under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS), the Collector added.
Mr. Kumar said Totapuri mango purchase had started on June 9 and the processing units have purchased 1,65,480 metric tonnes while another 57,237 MTs have been purchased at ramps, mandis and markets outside the State.
He said in-charges were appointed at all the processing units to monitor the purchase of mango and special officers were also posted at the units to oversee the availability of ripening chambers and also the waiting time of tractors and trucks laden with mangoes at the units.
