In a blow to the mango growers in the Chittoor district who have been relentlessly demanding a minimum support price (MSP) of ₹25 from the pulp industries, the district administration has set the MSP at ₹15.50 per kg effective from June 7 (Wednesday).
The revised MSP is much less than the ₹ 19 MSP that was announced by the District Collector on May 10.
Deploring the move made by the district administration weeks before the mango season ends, Kothur Babu, chairman of the Chittoor district Farmer-Producer Company Limited, said that it was unfortunate that the district administration had further reduced the price, grossly neglecting the interests of the mango farmers.
“Several farmers have switched to mango cultivation from sugarcane farming. Now, they are not even able to recover the investment and crop maintenance expenses,” he said.
Several farmers maintain that though the Collector had announced an MSP of ₹19 per kg on May 10, the pulp industries paid less than ₹14 per kg till recently. “The pulp industries have formed a syndicate to exploit the mango farmers, paying meagre prices,” said Mr. Babu.
The Chittoor district has a vast 1.5 lakh hectares of mango cultivation, with a projected production of over 5 lakh tonnes. About two dozen pulp factories in Chittoor and parts of Annamayya district procure the crop from the farmers here, and the procurement usually commences from the first week of June and will last till July last.
Meanwhile, in Annamayya district, the mango farmers on Wednesday complained to Collector P.S. Girisha that the pulp industries were paying ₹10 per kg. Responding to the crisis, the Collector ordered the pulp industries to pay ₹12 a kg.
