Other States - Orissa   

`King of fruits' all set to disappoint this summer

Staff Reporter

Low supply going to hamper celebration of `Savitri Vrat' on May 16

— Photo: Lingaraj Panda

NOT ENOUGH! Mangoes from Andhra Pradesh being unloaded at Berhampur market on Monday.

BERHAMPUR: Low supply of mangoes from Andhra Pradesh that has increased its price is going to affect the mood of married women on Orissa during their celebration of `Savitri Vrat' on May 16.

Married women of Orissa fast and offer puja for the long life of their husbands on this day. Fruits are major offerings during this puja. And mangoes are the most important items. But this year mangoes are in short supply in Orissa due to bad mango crop in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

Price on the rise

At the Berhampur mango market, the largest mango wholesale market in the state, the inflow of mango trucks is less than previous year. The president of mango market sellers association, Bapu Raju says due to short supply of mangoes from Andhra, the price of mangoes has also gone up by 50 per cent in comparison to last year. Added to it the local mango produce has not started to reach this wholesale market from undivided Koraput district, as mango produce was not good this year in that area as well.

Only a few varieties of mangoes have reached the market this year. At the wholesale mango market only Suvarnarekha, Baiganpalai, Akhuras varieties are available. But customers like Sunananda Patro are not satisfied with the quality this year. She says this year mangoes are not as sweet as they have not ripened properly. A mango trader B. Panigrahi at this wholesale market said this year the flowers on the mango trees in Andhra were destroyed due to rains and fog. The fruits that are available now are from the next batch of flowers which have not ripened properly.

This market happens to be the transit point for mangoes produced in Andhra Pradesh for states like Orissa, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh.

Preferred centre

The mango farmers prefer Berhampur as their major trading centre for these states as this city in Orissa is close to Andhra border and it has sizeable population of Telugu speaking people.

Telugu happens to be an accepted language in this city, which makes the trading easier for the mango farmers from Andhra Pradesh.

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