Mango sales reduced by 50 percent in Maharashtra due to timing restrictions
Jalgaon: This year is not turning out to be tasty for mango farmers. The state lockdown due to the second wave has adversely affected mango sales. Mango farmers are struggling to earn profits and find markets despite good harvest. Shashank Parab, a mango farmer from the Konkan region, said, “It is difficult to get the mangoes in the market due to lockdown. Therefore, I had to sell it in the local market. I have not even received any money for my investments. For a dozen jumbo-size mangoes, I suffer a loss of Rs. 200. Imagine the loss I have incurred for 2,000 dozen mangoes that are grown in the season.”
Exporter says their business has reduced by half due to lack of orders and containers. Dave Chhotan Rana Owner, of Ketan Exports, said, “There are customers, but there are no containers. In the Covid-19 pandemic, we had only 10 percent of business due to a shortage of containers and issues with airport cargo. We used to export around 2 tons of mangoes and pomegranates to Malaysia and Singapore from Bangalore, but now from the past one and half year there are no sales.”
Anmol Nanwani, a resident from Jalgaon, said that she does not want to step outside of the house just to buy mangoes. The timing restrictions for the essential services during the lockdown have impacted the mango sales. Fruit sellers in Jalgaon said the sales have reduced by 50 percent. Roshan Khan, a fruit seller said, “We go to the market at 7, and by 8 a.m we take the mangoes and set up shop by 9 a.m. With the timing restrictions, we do not see any good footfall of customers. The prices of mangoes have also dipped. Earlier the price of Kesar and Badam mangoes were Rs. 200 and Rs. 160 respectively. After the lockdown, the mangoes are sold at Rs.100 and Rs. 80 respectively.”
