Organic mangoes in demand as Covid surges

Hyderabad: Organic mangoes are grown naturally without the use of the synthetic fertilisers. They are tastier than the other mangoes available in the market. This category of the fruit everyone cherishes to taste as the sweetness of this class of fruit is not foundin the fruit grown using the regular chemicals and synthetic fertilisers.

Despite the ban by the government on ripening the fruit using chemicals, most of the mangoes available in the market are ripened using variety of chemicals. But those who are health conscious seem to be interested in naturally grown and naturally ripened fruits, such as organic mangoes. So, the demand for organic mangoes is increasing every year. This time, the demand for these fruits is much higher as people turned health conscious in the wake of raging Covid-19 pandemic.

As a result, there is a surge in the sales of the organic mangoes in the market in Hyderabad and other locations. "Earlier, our sales in Hyderabad accounted for around 40 per cent. This year, we are expecting the city's share in our sales to increase to 70 per cent as there is an increase in demand for organic mangoes," Rafi, founder, AR4agroInternational, told Bizz Buzz. The company used to export to the US, Singapore, Japan, etc., but Covid had halted the exports. But increase in demand from different areas of Hyderabad and other cities helped it generate good sales.

"We used to have above Rs 1 crore turnover during the fruit season, but due to Covid, we are expecting a turnover of around Rs 50 to 60 lakhnow", he explained.

The company started plantation in 2008 by using natural manure and from 2012the production started. But with no platform available to sell its exclusiveproduct, it turned to selling through online channels.The offline stores are also getting huge demand from the customers. Farmers say growing organic mangoes is a difficult process. But persistence pays dividends, they say. As a consequence, availability of organic mangoes has increased in the market.

However, organic mango farmers and traders are finding it difficult to sell their produce through physical outlets due to Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, they are selling through online channels such as websites and apps besides direct delivery to the customers. The sellers put a minimum weight limit for ordering online.

"The footfall at our storesis around 50 in a day and through online orders we sell more than 300kgsin a day. Overall, we sell around 30 to 40 tonnes of organic mango in a season", Guru, Manager, Daman Organic Living said.

Nagendra, founder, OnlineOrganicStore.com, is expecting very good sales this year.

"We started selling through both offline and online channels, but for online orders we set a limit of 5kg. We expect around 400 tonnes of production from 92 acresfarm in this season. We have forgone one year's crop for shiftingfrom chemical basted farming to organic method. Last year onwards we have started selling. There is a good response from the customers this year," he said.

Customers are also scouting for tasty organic mangoes. "Though organic mangoes are a bit expensive, we are opting for them as they are good for our health. More so this year due to Covid problem," a customer said. A few startups are stepping into the organic mango business.They want to build the ecosystem with both online and offline sales. Most of these startups are founded by small group of farmers.