Rourkela: A mango revolution is taking shape silently in Sundargarh district with the fruitful signs becoming gradually visible now. The local markets are getting flooded with locally produced mangoes. The ‘baiganapalei’ mango, a favourite of every Odia household, is surprisingly going off the shelves and locally produced varieties like ‘amrapali’, ‘lengda’, ‘akhuras’, ‘dusheri’ and other indigenous varieties are becoming available in the market. Not all these mango varieties were available here earlier as they were being procured from outside. Shankar Chowdhury, a fruit seller near Bisra Chowk said, “Saab! Baiganapalei ko bhool jaiye (sir forget baiganapalei) enjoy all the local varieties. They are good and tasty.” Another one echoed the same sentiment as he explained, “We are getting the local varieties cheap whereas customers are not ready to pay for baiganapalei as the mango variety is costlier for them.”
Similarly, another seller said, “Customers who are not very conscious about a particular variety just ask for the tasty and cheaper variety of local mangoes. They don’t bother about any fancy variety, they just want mango.” The rate varies between Rs 40 to Rs 60. The local mangoes were earlier visible in the weekly haats, where the tribal producers would come and sell the indigenous fruits, which hardly have any name. But, this year, the emerging trend is that the local markets, particularly the organised fruit sellers, have preferred to sell the local mangoes. Basant Pradhan, a former agriculture and particularly horticulture officer said, “We urged them to plant trees on their lands and wait for a few years and they are reaping the benefits just after five to seven years.” “They will be benefitting for the rest of their lives. And I am sure that like vegetables, Sundargarh will become a hub of mango export.” Notably, Sundargarh’s capsicum, coloured cauliflowers, broccoli, and beans are finding their way to metro cities. And these are being produced by farmers with small land holdings with relatively fewer trees ranging from 50 to 200.
In the recent fruit festival ‘Aama gaon amba pasara’ orgnaised by the ORMAS, mangoes worth over Rs 77 lakh were sold. The unique programme saw farmers coming from various places in Odisha and the maximum participants were from Sundargarh. Budhan Ekka, one of the participants said, “This is a good opportunity for us to show that in Sundargarh we are producing quality mangoes” This revolution is taking place in remote areas like Nuagaon, Khuntgaon, Raibaga, Koira, and other places. “For some, elephants are a big problem.
In coastal Odisha, you have monkeys and here you have elephants,” said one fruit seller adding that the pachyderms get attracted to the smell of the mangoes, and then the farmers face problems. Some farmers have dug up trenches around their farms to stop the jumbo attacks, he said.
