40-50 pc Mango crop damaged in Maharashtra

Pune, Apr 22: Around 40-50 per cent mango crop has been damaged due to the rains, storms and disease, State Minister for Agriculture Marketing Board Harshavardhan Patil has informed.

Talking to reporters after inaugurating the ''Mango Festival'' in the premises of the Agricultural Marketing Board Office here, the minister said yesterday the state government, through the agriculture and revenue department, would survey and recommend assistence for the mango growers on the lines of sugarcane and grains to the state cabinet soon.

The Minister informed that this year the first export of alphonso to the US and Japan will begin at a small scale of 100 metric tonnes and the state agricultural marketing board will be the nodal agency through which the transactions will be processed. The market will be developed and infrastructure prepared for a regular supply.

A total of 26 exporters have applied and their samples sent to Japan. The same has been approved. The mango will cost Rs 900-1400 per dozen in Japan while in the US it will be priced between Rs 1400-1600 per dozen. Last year, Kesar mango was also exported and appreciated for its flavour overseas, he said.

For the Japaneses market,''vapour heat treatment'' will be used to destroy any disease in the fruit. The plant had been set up in Navi Mumbai in 1999 at a cost of Rs four crore rupees and efforts are on to have similar plants with centre's assistence and APEDA in Konkan area, he said adding that this year a total of 15,000 metric tonnes is expected to be produced against last year's 30,000 metric tonnes.

UNI