Karnataka Mango Farmers Get Price Support As Centre Approves Compensation Plan

The compensation will be provided for a quantity up to 2.5 lakh tonnes of mangoes, which is 25 per cent of the total production in Karnataka.

During the discussions, Karnataka's agriculture minister noted that while tomato prices were low at the time the proposal was submitted, prices have now stabilised, so no immediate action is needed for tomatoes.

Source : Freepik

The Central and Karnataka government have decided to jointly compensate mango farmers of the state, for a total quantity up to 2.5 lakh tonnes, in view of decline in prices of this fruit in the open market.

The compensation will be provided for a quantity up to 2.5 lakh tonnes of mangoes, which is 25 per cent of the total production in Karnataka.

According to an official statement on Saturday, the decision was taken during a video conference between Chouhan and Karnataka Agriculture Minister N Chaluvaraya Swamy.

Chouhan has provided significant relief to mango farmers in Karnataka who have been troubled by steadily falling prices, it added.

"To address the drop in mango prices, the central and state governments will jointly bear the cost of the price difference and pay that to the farmers," the Union agriculture ministry said.

Union Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi also participated in the virtual meeting.

During the discussions, both ministers agreed to compensate farmers for the price difference on 2.5 lakh tonnes of mangoes.

Previously, the Karnataka government had submitted a proposal to the Government of India, stating that prices for tomatoes and mangoes, particularly the Totapuri variety, had been falling steadily.

As part of the meeting held on Saturday, the discussions were held on providing compensation for up to 2.5 lakh metric tonnes out of Karnataka's estimated total mango production of 10 lakh metric tonnes.

Since farmers were receiving much lower-than-usual prices for Totapuri mangoes, it was decided in the virtual meeting that the difference in price from the usual market rate would be borne equally by the Centre and state governments under a central government scheme.

During the discussions, Karnataka's agriculture minister noted that while tomato prices were low at the time the proposal was submitted, prices have now stabilised, so no immediate action is needed for tomatoes.

Swamy thanked the Union minister for taking this decision to support and provide relief to mango-producing farmers in the state. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)