Now, Maharashtra and Karnataka lock horns over mangoes

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The king of mangoes – Alphonso – is at the centre of a battle involving Maharashtra and Karnataka. Following having grievances from mango growers in Maharashtra that Alphonso-like deliver from the bordering Point out are ingesting into their margins, Maharashtra’s Agriculture Minister Dada Bhuse has stepped into the fray.

He said stringent legal action would be taken versus all those concerned in marketing ‘fake’ Alphonsos in the market place.

The Minister has questioned Agriculture Produce Current market Committees (APMC) markets to continue to keep a watch on traders passing off other varieties of mangoes as Alphonso. Vaibhav Naik, MLA from the Konkan region recently approached the Agriculture Minister with a complaint that Maharashtra’s Alphonso growers ended up struggling significant losses mainly because of “fake” Alphonsos from the neighbouring Point out.

One of a kind GI tag

Alphonso mangoes from Konkan have a GI (geographical indications) tag for their one of a kind style, aroma and colour. Violation of GI of Items (Registration and Defense) Act, 1999, appeals to a jail expression of six months and ₹50,000 in penalty.

Even as some scientists consider that the Portuguese introduced Alphonso to Konkan, scientists and farmers in the region assert that it is a area products and the Portuguese took it to the planet market place.

The king of mangoes is one particular of the significant resources of income for the Konkan farmers. Devesh Deodhar, a trader, who acquired Alphonsos to promote in the Pune market place, said he experimented with to retail them for ₹1,200 (modest dimension) and ₹1,five hundred ( big dimension) for each dozen. “But some people said that they ended up having it at ₹500 for each dozen. Any grower of Alphonso are unable to afford to promote the fruit at this rate. Of course, there are other varieties of mangoes which are currently being sold as Alphonso,” he factors out.

Varieties developed

India is dwelling to about 1,000 varieties of mango. Nonetheless, only a number of varieties are commercially cultivated during India. Maharashtra farmers primarily develop Alphonso, Kesar and Pairi though Karnataka farmers develop Alphonso, Totapuri, Banganapalli, Pairi, Neelum and Mulgoa.

According to APEDA, the significant mango-expanding States are Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Uttar Pradesh ranks first in mango output with a share of 23.47 for each cent and the optimum efficiency.