The Hindu : Karnataka News : Mango fairs to be held in several places

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Sunday, Jun 19, 2011
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Mango fairs to be held in several places

Staff Correspondent

‘Aim is to allow growers to get a remunerative price'

Government is aware that mango prices have come down considerably: Minister
More horticultural clinics to be set up in
the State

DAVANGERE: The State Government will soon organise mango fairs in all major mango-growing areas, including Bangalore and Kolar, to provide a platform for growers to sell the produce at remunerative prices.

S.A. Ravindranath, Minister for Horticulture, told presspersons here on Saturday that the Government was aware that mango prices had come down considerably in the recent past. People were reluctant to consume mangoes following reports that chemicals were being used to ripen the fruit. Although this is an offence, the chemicals being used to ripen mangoes were not dangerous to human health, he claimed and denied reports that even Horticultural Producers' Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society Ltd. (HOPCOMS) was using chemicals to ripen mangoes. The Government was planning to set up a few more horticultural clinics across the State to provide farmers with information about various crops. Already 36 such clinics had been set up on the lines of Raitha Samparka Kendras. Soil testing would also be done at these horticultural clinics, he said.

This fiscal, the Government had allocated Rs.792 crore for the Horticulture Department, which included funds from the Union Government. This grant would be utilised to make the State a prominent horticultural centre in the country, he said.

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