KRISHNAGIRI: Many farmers in Krishnagiri district are dumping harvested mangoes on roadsides as they don’t get what they call the right price. Some farmers have felled the mango trees and sold them as firewood as they have faced losses for the past few years due to extreme heat, strong winds, drought, water shortage, insect attacks and rising prices of pesticides.A tripartite meeting of mango farmers, pulp factory owners and govt officials was held on May 19 under the chairmanship of Krishnagiri district collector S Dinesh Kumar to take steps to ensure that mangoes got a fair price. Farmers said they should get Rs 20 per kilo. They insisted that an incentive of Rs 5 per kilo should be provided to the farmers in the district as it happens in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The collector emphasised that factories should purchase mangoes at Rs 15 per kilo. But factory owners said it was not possible to purchase mangoes at the price demanded by the farmers due to the West Asia conflict and increase in shipping charges, electricity charges and wages. The meeting ended without reaching any decision.Mango pulp factories would start production in the first week of June. J Vinoth from Bargur, a farmer, said traders purchased mango varieties like Bangalora and Senthoora from farmers at Rs 6 per kg. “But they sell them at 60 per kg in the market. They purchase varieties like Malkova from farmers at Rs 70 and sell at Rs180 per kg,” he said. Farmers urged the state govt to open mango procurement centres to help them overcome the crisis.
