Kadapa: Mango farmers heave a sigh of relief

Kadapa: The mango farmers of the district, who were worried about securing labour and transporting the produce due to ongoing lockdown, now feel relaxed a bit with both state and Central governments relaxing the norms for selling produce to any parts of the country.

According to the horticulture officials, the Central government on Saturday issued a GO permitting horticulture crops to be transported through goods trains. This will help the farmers to transport the produce at cheaper rates in comparison to lorries. Moreover, it permits labour to work on agricultural fields from 6 am to 1 pm and now, farmers can hire workers for harvesting. "I have cultivated Bangalore Mango (Antumamidi) in five acres by investing Rs 30,000 per acre. I was very much worried about selling the produce due to lockdown. But now I am happy with the relaxation of norms," said A Srinivasulu Reddy of Polepalli village in Chitvel mandal.

Another farmer Jandla Vijayakumar of Railway Kodur, who cultivated Rumandla variety in seven acres, said that he had rich yield this season. He said that crop harvesting will begin from first week of May. "Even if lockdown continues, farmers need not worry since agricultural labour will be available and also they can transport their produce to any destination by goods train," he said.

Wide variety of mangoes are grown in 34,000 hectares in Rajampet, Obulavari Palli, Chitvel, Penagaluru, Railway Kodur, Pullampet and 10-odd mandals in the district. Varieties like Bangalore Mango, Pulahara, Rumandla, Rasalu, are have big demand in other states.

Talking to The Hans India, Deputy Director of Horticulture D Madhusudhan Reddy said that mangoes will be transported to Madhya Pradesh, Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jaipur, and Nepal from Kadapa district.

He said that relaxation norms by Central government over transporting produce through goods trains will be more beneficial to farmers as they have to pay less in comparison to lorries. "There are no restrictions to transport the produce within the state. But farmers should have authorised letter from an MRO for transporting produce to other states. Labour will be allowed to attend the harvesting work but they have to strictly maintain social distance in the gardens," he added.