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R. Savitha

BESIDES MANGO

SET TO get a push from the Maharashtra Government.

Pune , May 8

Come summer and the Maharashtrians drool over the succulent mangoes that hit the market for at least a period of four months, beginning mid-March to end of June. Alongside there are other fruits available in the market, but they get sidelined due to the king of fruits.

The Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB) has now taken up the task of introducing the other varieties present in the State to the rest of the country.

5-day Festivals

For this, the MSAMB is planning to showcase fruit festival in the major cities like, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi. This fruit festival is expected to be kicked off by November. According to Mr Harshvardhan Patil, State Minister for Marketing and Employment Guarantee Scheme, the fruit festival would showcase grapes, oranges, banana, raisins, sweet lime, besides mangoes. It would be a five-day festival across the different locations, he said. Mr Patil also said three terminal markets would be set up in Mumbai, Nagpur and Nashik and noted that the project is in the initial stages and only the tendering has been done so far.

Land Allotment

He said the State Government would be allocating the land for the terminal markets. About Rs 100 crore would be required for the terminal market I in Mumbai to be set up, while it ranges between Rs 75 to Rs 100 crore for Nagpur and Rs 60-65 crore in Nasik for the terminal markets. He noted that these terminal markets are expected to be operational within a couple of years' time frame.

He also pointed out that the State Government was roping in the private players for the setting up of these markets and about ten private players had shown interest in these projects. He said the intention was to have eight terminal markets across the country.

MSAMB's initiative

Mr Patil said, to ensure that the farmers were kept up to date about the latest technology that was being utilised in other parts of the world, the MSAMB had taken up an initiative to send across farmers to different locations. The first such initiative would be to send across 50 farmers to Israel to participate in the two-day Agri-tech 2006 which would start on Tuesday.

The farmers would also be visiting other locations in Israel and noted that about 50 per cent of the expenses for these trips would be borne by the MSAMB.

He also said such study tours would be also conducted for locations in Europe and South-East-Asia. Fifty farmers would be sent to each of these locations with MSAMB bearing half the expense, he added.

More Stories on : Horticulture/Fruits & Vegetables | Events | Maharashtra

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