King of fruits arrives but you will pay a princely price

Dharwad: Customer is the king and kings do not bargain, reads a slogan on the walls of makeshift shops which sell the ‘King of Fruits’ in Dharwad. Yes, the customer is really not in a position to bargain while buying Alphonso (Aaapus) variety of mango in the district thanks to dip in yield this season.
Dharwad is known for tasty Alphonso but the weather has played spoilsport resulting in low yield.
The mango is grown in 25,000 hectares in the district. Pairi, Dasheri and Totapuri varieties are also cultivated here. Mango groves are concentrated in Jogyellapur, Kelgeri, Tegur, Amblikopp, Halligeri, Mansur, Mandihal, Devagiri, Navalur, Itagatti, Yerikopp, Kalkeri, Kyarkopp and other regions.
However there has been a deficit in supply to the extent of 35 to 40 per cent. This has resulted in the price of mango shooting up. A box containing two dozen good quality Alphonso is priced from Rs 1,000 to 1,500 at retail shops.
Dharwad is known for exporting the ‘aapus’ to western countries and even Australia. But this time the exporters are finding it extremely difficult to meet the demand.
“Till last year, nearly 20,000 boxes of mango, each weighing 10 kg, arrived in March. However, this March, less than a quarter of the quantity - 3,000 boxes – have reached the market,” said fruit vendor Javali.
The situation is not likely to ease and it is expected that even by the middle of the season the wholesale price of six dozen mangoes, that was anywhere between Rs 1,000 to 2,500 last year, will be around Rs 4,000.
‘Kalmi’ variety of mangoes are being sold at Rs 300-Rs 400 per dozen. Siddappa, a mango grower said flowering took place in November but they withered.
“Those who were supplying an average of 160 quintals of mango are able to supply only 20 quintals this year. The farmers are forced to spend heavily on pesticides and are now worried over recovering the cost,” he said.
Mangoes grown in the region find a market not only in Karnataka, but also in Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh. However due to fall in production, the price has shot up in turn reducing the demand.
Retail vendors who reach the market early in the morning to sell their stock before the fruit shops open are finding it difficult to make even a minimum profit due to reduced demand.
Mango market remains
on paper
To give a fillip to mango cultivation and to help growers get scientific price to their produce, the Karnataka State Mango Development Board in association with the horticulture department and the district administration had embarked upon a plan of setting up a mango market in the district with hi-tech facilities including cold storage and a natural ripening unit. This project had evoked good response from the Board and the district administration too. A sum of Rs 3 three crore was released for construction of market in 2015.
Accordingly, the horticulture department identified 10 acres of land for construction of the mango market at Itagatti adjacent to the bypass on the outskirts of Dharwad. Unfortunately, lack of enthusiasm and negligence by elected representatives resulted in this project remaining on paper.
Mango growers say the market needs to be set up to protect them from the menace of middlemen and from outsiders.