Baripada: Mayurbhanj district administration has initiated steps to encourage the mango growers of the district and protect their business.

District collector Vineet Bharadwaj recently visited various major mango orchards and lauded the farmers' endeavour in growing mangoes. He assured them of all sorts of help, mainly against price exploitation or distress sale. He also promised them to provide more cold storages and rest sheds.

"The mangoes produced in the soil of Mayurbhanj are of different taste. They have a huge demand outside the state. The mango varieties are being exported mainly to Delhi and Jamshedpur," said Bharadwaj. "Some existing cold storages will be expanded while rest sheds for packaging and grading of mangoes will also be provided to the farmers. Those sheds will be built out of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) funds."

A small initiative of district administration undertaken five years ago to protect the interest of small and marginal mango producers of Mayurbhanj has been yielding fruit.

With the initiative of the then collector Rajesh Pravakar Patil, various co-operative societies were formed to protect the farmers against exploitation by middlemen. A company was also formed in November last year for marketing of their produces.

"The farmers get Rs 58 per kg for the graded mangoes which are being exported outside. Mainly the dasheri, langra and amrapali species are being exported. In the current season, 20 metric tonnes of mangoes have already been exported. The non-graded mangoes are being sold at prices between Rs 25 and Rs 30 a kg," said district supply and marketing society chief executive Kesab Jha.