The Alphonso mango season has started in Maharashtra but this year due to Covid-19 pandemic, the mango farmers and resellers from five coastal districts have opted for a new strategy to sell their produce.
Rather than selling in large Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) markets such as Mumbai or Pune, they are directly selling to the buyers within the State or in other states such Gujarat and Delhi. Maharashtra removed sale of vegetables and fruits from APMC purview during the previous regime.
Amar Desai, CEO of Desai Products, said that this year mango farmers and resellers learning from last year’s shock induced by Covid-induced lockdown have chosen to directly market and sell the fruits to other clients. Almost 40 per cent of the Alphonso mango farmers have chosen to sell their fruits through this non-APMC route.
Desai Products is a large fruit processing company based out of Pawas in the coastal Ratnagiri district.
The GI-tagged Alphonso mango variety is primarily cultivated over 1.5 lakh hectares in the five coastal districts of Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri. The mangoes, which have a unique taste and aroma, are sold by the dozens in boxes. Depending on the quality and size, each box can hold 4-9 dozen mangoes.
Last year, as prices for best mangoes had dropped to ₹3,000-3,500 per box, which has about 4-5 dozen mangoes Only a very few select varieties fetched ₹4,000. Today, wholesale market rates, depending on quality, are at ₹1,500 (9 dozen) to ₹4,500 (5 dozen).
Former member of Maharashtra Horticulture Board and mango cultivator and expert, Vivek Bhide, said the direct sale volume is much higher and is happening through multiple routes including large housing societies.
Sanjay Panasare, fruit trader and Director of Navi Mumbai APMC board, said the mango farmers keep on assessing the situation in the APMC markets through regular calls to the fruit traders and depending on the rates take a call whether to supply to APMC markets or to large private traders in places such as Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot or Pune.
In Navi Mumbai APMC, which serves the Mumbai metropolitan region, the arrivals have not been in huge volumes but still the supply is at a steady pace. By end of March, almost 4 lakh boxes are expected to reach the Navi Mumbai APMC.