Vijayawada: 5 kg mangoes at 250, five varieties of fruit at 100

Vijayawada: The district administration has come forward to help the mango farmers who are in distress as they are not in a position to sell the produce in the open market due to the lockdown.

Henceforth, the connoisseurs of the king of fruit could order the necessary number of baskets of mangoes directly calling 7995086891 and get them delivered at their doorsteps. However, they take orders for at least 50 baskets.

It is widely known that mango is cultivated in thousands of acres in the mandals of Vissannapet, A Konduru, Chatrayi, Bapulapadu in the Nuzvid region. It has been estimated that the mango yield is 1.84 lakh metric tonnes from 23,000 hectares in the district. Generally, mango is transported from the private markets here to Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and other cities. Chinna Rasalu mango variety is the most sought-after from Nuzvid region.

Covid-19 played a spoilsport this year and the lovers of mango from all over country are disappointed as they could not get these varieties this year. The sale of mango has considerably come down due to the Coronavirus effect.

The Horticulture Department launched a programme to supply the mangoes in the district in special packages of five kg.

The mangoes are getting readied for sale by keeping them in ripening chambers with the help of ethylene gas.

The self-help groups under MEPMA and DRDA would bring the baskets of fruits of five varieties—Banganapalli mango, guava, banana, Papaya and Lemon—for Rs 100. People could also place order for five kg mangoes—Banganapalli, Chinna Rasalu and Pedda Rasalu—for Rs 250.

District Collector A Md Imtiaz, Joint Collector K Madhavilatha, Nuzvid MLA Meka Venkata Pratap Appa Rao inaugurated the sale of mangoes at the collector's camp office here on Monday.

The Collector appealed to people to place orders in large to help the farmers who are in distress. He said that the municipal officials were given instructions to make these baskets available in Ryot Bazaars also.

MLA Pratap Appa Rao said that there is terrific demand for Nuzvid Chinna Rasalu in the metropolitan cities of Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad. The initiative taken by the district administration would surely help the farmers to overcome the problem this year.

Nuzvid Horticulture department Assistant Director Ch Srinivas, MEPMA project director Dr N Suryaprakasa Rao and others were present.