Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting to initiate appropriate steps to create sufficient market demand to protect the welfare of farmers, given that the mango yield has increased in the state this year.
In the letter, Stalin stated, "The Tamil Nadu government is working for the welfare of farmers, for which it is introducing and implementing various welfare schemes. In Tamil Nadu, mango is cultivated in about 1.46 lakh hectares and 9.49 lakh metric tons of mangoes are being produced. Tamil Nadu plays a major role in the production of mangoes in fruit cultivation."
"This year, due to increased mango yield and reduced purchases by mango pulp companies, the price of mangoes has dropped to less than Rs 5/kg. As a result, farmers are selling their produce at very low prices or leaving it to ripen on the tree," the CM said.
"Since mango pulp manufacturing companies are mostly run by private persons and mango pulp is available in large quantities in the southern states, farmers are not getting a fair price. Also, traders from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, who usually purchase mangoes from Tamil Nadu, have avoided purchasing mangoes," he cited.
"Despite the market fluctuations in mango prices, it is very important at this juncture to provide fair compensation to the mango farmers to alleviate their suffering. Therefore, the central Government should intervene and directly compensate the farmers by whatever the difference between the current mango selling price and the Market Intervention Price (MIP) is, under the government's Market Intervention Scheme," Stalin said.
He further urged, "Central procurement agencies should be instructed to start procurement at reasonable prices to ensure that mango farmers get at least the cost of cultivation."
Sharing his suggestions, Stalin mentioned, "Two important steps should be taken to remove the fear that exists between mango farmers and mango pulp companies in the mango trade and benefit both parties. Firstly, mango juice beverage companies are deciding on the minimum mango pulp content in mango juice, rather than following the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) norms. To control this, appropriate guidelines should be issued to ensure that mango juice beverage companies follow FSSAI standards in mixing fruit pulp in beverages."
"Secondly, the GST on mango pulp is at 12 percent, which is why companies are not interested in producing more mango pulp. Therefore, the GST on mango pulp should be reduced from 12 percent to 5 percent. This will not only be a significant step to overcome the current distress situation but also a permanent arrangement to support our farmers," he added.
"Considering welfare of farmers not only in Tamil Nadu but also in all mango-producing states, you (PM Modi) should intervene and issue appropriate instructions to resolve the above problems," Chief Minister Stalin said in the letter to Prime Minister Modi.
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