Slump in base price of mango, cashew orchards

Visakhapatnam: Cyclones in

Srikakulam

and

Vizianagaram

and the drought-like situation in Visakhapatnam has seen a drastic decline in the base bidding price for

mango

and

cashew

orchards.

According to the farmers, the crop bidders are not willing to pay even 70% of the previous year’s bidding price due to damage the orchards have suffered. These farmers are being paid a one-time compensation of Rs 1,500 per tree (Mango and cashew), whereas the actual damage is about eight times.

Magireddy Chinna Rao, a farmer from Uratla village near Narsipatnam said, “Last season the crop was so scarce that most of the traders refused to step into the orchards. Over the last three years, the minimum

base price

for my 10-acre mango and cashew orchard has been Rs 1.5 lakh. However, now, the traders are not willing to give more than Rs 1 lakh.

Sources in the horticulture department said that more than 40,000 hectares of mango and cashew orchards have been damaged this year. They added that the base price for farmers will not go up for another two seasons to come, looking at the damage suffered.