In mango capital, helpless farmers are industry's capital

It has been years since land was identified for a pulping industry in Srinivaspur - the state’s mango town in Kolar district. The town, bordering Andhra Pradesh and around 90 km from Bengaluru, produces the largest quantity of mangoes in south India.

An official in Horticulture department in Srinivaspur said many requests to set up a pulping industry have been in vain. Officials said that when S M Krishna was chief minister, 50 acres of gomala land was identified in Somayajalapalli in Srinivasapur taluk, for setting up the state’s first pulping industry. But till date, things have not moved further.

“Farmers and local residents are exploited by pulping industries and dealers from other states. The dealers come here, buy mangoes in large quantities from the yards or directly from the farmers and sell them at a higher price to the pulping industries. Karnataka has no pulping industry of its own,” the official said.

Kamalakshi Rajanna, chairperson of the Karnataka State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation Limited, said it was for the government to decide on setting up a pulping industry in Srinivaspur.

Karnataka generates 11-12 lakh tonnes of mangoes, of which one lakh tonnes is from Kolar district alone.

Of the 22,000 tonnes of Totapuri mangoes produced, 14,000 tonnes is from Srinivasapur only. Around 48,000 hectares of land in Kolar is under mango cultivation, of which 22,000 hectares is in Srinivasapur. In Chikkaballapur, 15,000 hectares is under mango cultivation. Since Totapuri is an annual crop, unlike other varieties, more farmers grow Totapuri.

There are three mango marketing yards in Srinivasapur - one private, one belonging to the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee and the other belonging to the mango growers’ association. At any given time, 100-200 trucks and tractors can be seen ferrying tonnes of mangoes from there to Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra and local markets, especially Bengaluru.

“My 20 hectares of land has already been booked by a dealer for two years, who has tied up with a pulping industry. I have been growing Totapuri, Mallika, Badami, Banganapalli and Neelam varieties. It was only later did I learn that the rate at which we sold was less than the market rate. But I am not the only one. This is the case with most farmers here, as government shows no interest in helping us,” said Basavanna, a farmer.

Over 4,000 farmers are registered with Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, of which 2,000 are from Srinivasapur and other parts of Kolar. But there are over 2,000 more who are not aware of the registration and crop safety aspects.

To increase crop production, export more mangoes and sell more in local markets, next season, the Horticulture department has decided to undertake a rigorous awareness drive October onwards, when sowing starts.

S V Hittalamani, former additional director of the department, said 80% of the Totapuri is processed for juice, tetra packs, frozen fruit and squash. Only 20% is consumed raw. Most of the time, Totapuri is blended with superior quality mango (for the fragrance). This works out cheap, as pulp recovery is maximum from Totapuri.