Andhra Pradesh has restricted the entry of Totapuri mangoes from Karnataka, indicating a need to protect farmers’ interest. Government sources said that the move aims to prevent losses to Andhra mango farmers as there is no price-fixing on Karnataka mangoes, allowing them to be sold at lower prices.
Totapuri mangoes are cultivated in large quantities in Chittoor district, and are predominantly procured by pulp units. The mango prices have been dropping over the past couple of years. Last year, the district administration had set a price of Rs 30,000 per ton. This year, the price has been fixed at Rs 12,000 per tonne or Rs 12 per kg.
According to Andhra Pradesh government sources, prices have dropped exponentially this year, with the market rates hovering around Rs 5 to 6 per kg. The state has fixed a price of Rs 8 per kg for procurement by pulp units, while offering an additional support price of Rs 4 per kg from the government, so farmers are able to earn Rs 12 per kg.
In the absence of any price fixing by the Karnataka government, mangoes coming in from Karnataka are being sold at around Rs 5 to Rs 6 per kg, the sources said.
The Andhra Pradesh government reportedly has plans to procure 5.5 lakh tonnes of Totapuri mangoes this year, which would mean spending Rs 220 crore on paying the supplementing price of Rs 4 per kg to farmers.
“If the Andhra Pradesh government allows Karnataka mangoes to come in, processors would prefer to buy from Karnataka, and AP farmers would suffer. This would become a major crisis for mango farmers. It could also become a major law and order issue with Andhra farmers coming out onto the streets in protest,” the government source added.
The Karnataka government should also fix a minimum price to ensure minimum viability for their farmers, they said.
The administration of Chittoor has been holding discussions with farmers and pulp and processing units over the past couple of weeks.
Chittoor district Collector Sumit Kumar on June 11, Wednesday, instructed food processing units to ensure that the minimum support price (MSP) is paid to farmers. He also urged them to only procure locally grown mangoes.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote to his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu, asking him to withdraw the ban on entry of Totapuri mangoes from his state into Andhra’s Chittoor district.
In a letter dated June 11, Siddaramaiah said that the “abrupt and unilateral move” has caused considerable hardship to Totapuri mango farmers in Karnataka. “These farmers have long relied on the robust linkages with Chittoor-based processing and pulp extraction units for marketing their produce,” Siddaramaiah said, adding that the restrictions by the Andhra Pradesh government could cause “significant post-harvest losses, directly impacting the livelihoods of thousands of farmers.”
He even said that taking such actions without prior coordination between state governments “run contrary to the spirit of cooperative federalism.”
Siddaramaiah also noted that enforcement teams comprising officials from the Revenue, Police, Forest, and Marketing Departments have been deployed at the inter-state checkposts adjoining Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to restrict mangoes from entering AP.
He said that mango farmers in Karnataka, particularly those in the border regions who cultivate Totapuri mangoes in substantial quantities, “Have long relied on the robust linkages with Chittoor-based processing and pulp extraction units for marketing their produce. The current
restriction has disrupted this well-established supply chain and threatens significant post-harvest losses, directly impacting the livelihoods of thousands of farmers.”
Siddaramaiah also warned of other consequences due to farmers’ actions. “I am also concerned that this may lead to avoidable tension and retaliatory measures, with stakeholders already expressing discontent that could potentially disrupt the inter-state movement of vegetables and other agricultural commodities,” he said.
He urged Naidu to revoke the ban “in the interest of farmer welfare.”