Chittoor district Collector Sagili Shan Mohan on June 30 (Friday) announced that the farmers would get the Minimum Support Price of ₹12 per kg for Thothapuri mangoes from July 1.
Addressing the media here, the Collector said that the move would benefit the farmers who are supplying their produce to pulp industries. “Even as a decent MSP was announced in the last few weeks, it could not come into effect as the pulp units procured mangoes from the neighbouring States at cheaper prices,” he said.
Mr. Shan Mohan said that the harvesting of mangoes had been completed in the neighbouring States, while the season in Chittoor district reached its peak. “We have fixed the MSP at ₹12 per kg after a meeting with the pulp industries. Strict action will be taken against those offering prices lesser than the MSP to the mango farmers. The price is excluding the transport charges,” he said.
On May 10, the Collector announced the MSP of ₹19 per kg and it was revised to ₹15.50 per kg in the June first week. The effective MSP will be ₹12 per kg from July 1.
During the last three months, various forums of mango farmers had locked horns with the pulp units, demanding an MSP of ₹25 per kg.
Mango is cultivated in more than 2 lakh hectares in the undivided Chittoor district, projecting about 5 lakh tonnes of Thothapuri mangoes meant for pulp industries.
The mango farmers complain that they got only ₹10 per kg or even below, when the Collector announced an MSP of ₹19 per kg and ₹15.50 per kg on two occasions since May 10. The latest announcement with even lesser MSP came as a dampener to the farmers.
