The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was adjourned twice on Thursday on the issue of providing more compensation to mango farmers in the Konkan region. This crop season there has been a substantial decline in mango yield.

Mangoes from Konkan account for about 40 per cent of the national market. The export market is dominated the Alphonso variety from Konkan. Demand for it is high in the Gulf, the US and Japan.

Raising the issue in the Assembly, Mr Uday Samant, Nationalist Congress Party, said that factors such as changing climate, low temperatures in winter and unseasonal rains in early April brought down yield by 75 per cent. The trees are also getting destroyed by Thrips insects, he said.

He said the farmers should be given a compensation of Rs 1 lakh a hectare. The current agriculture insurance policy should also be updated, so that farmers who lose their crop due to low temperatures could be compensated.

The Horticulture Minister, Dr Vijaykumar Gavit, said that the quantum of compensation would be decided in the Cabinet meeting on Friday. Mango orchards are being surveyed so that the State Government could get an accurate picture. For the next season changes would be made in the insurance policy, so that crops lost due to low temperature can be covered.

Members of the opposition insisted that the minister should announce the compensation amount but Dr Gavit said that the decision would be taken at the Cabinet meeting, leading to the adjournments.

>rahulw@thehindu.co.in

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