The Hindu Business Line : Alphonso output down by 50%

Pune April 23 Unseasonal rains, storm and plant infection have brought down the production of Alphonso in Maharashtra. The production has declined by at least 50 per cent, said Mr Harshvardhan Patil, State Minister for Marketing and Employment Guarantee Scheme.

The production is expected to be the lowest in the past five years. Mr Patil added that about 18 stalls have been put up as part of the mango festival being held here. These mangoes come in from four districts, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad and Thane. Though the production has come down, about 8,000 boxes with almost four dozens of mangoes in each crate, are making their way into the festival on a daily basis.

Acreage, production

Current price at which it is being offered ranges between Rs 200 and Rs 300 per dozen. Though the festival has begun three weeks late, it is expected to go on for a month after which, Kesar, the other favourite would take over. The total acreage of Alphonso production in the State is about 1.4 lakh hectares and the expected production for the current year is about three lakh tonnes. Kesar has acreage of about 0.84 lakh hectares and production is expected to be about 1.5 lakh tonnes.

New export markets

Last year saw exports of about 70,000 tonnes of mangoes to areas such as Belgium, Bangladesh, Nepal, Qatar, the UAE, Canada, Iran, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands.

Of this, Maharashtra's contribution was about 24,000 tonnes, but this year exports would be between 15,000 and 18,000 tonnes from the State, Mr Patil said. Two new markets, the US and Japan have been added on to the export list, and noted that about 100 tonnes each would be sentd across to these destinations. Japan has already received about 10 tonnes of mangoes.

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