Dhenkanal: The lone Mango Hub in Dhenkanal district that stopped functioning after a few years of its commissioning in 2014 will be revived soon, official sources said.
Mango farmers in the district would no more have to resort to distress sale of their produce like the last several years.
The popular varieties of mango like Dasheri and Amrapali will again find their ways to national and international markets after the hub revives, the sources asserted.
They also said Dhenkanal administration has recently initiated the process in this regard.
Climatic condition and soil type in the district are quite conducive for cultivation of Dasheri and Amrapali mangoes which have been proved over years.
Even as huge quantities of the tropical fruit are produced here, these have good demands in Delhi, Kolkata, Jharkhand and Bangladesh markets.
When contacted, Collector Saroj Kumar Sethi said, “Dhenkanal district administration is expediting the commissioning of the Mango Hub.”
It is pertinent to mention here that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the hub June 27, 2013 at Gobindpur near NH-55 under Sadar block in the district.
It was then built in public private partnership (PPP) mode at a cost of Rs 11 crore.
The multi-purpose and season-based marketing facility was promoted by state Horticulture and Agriculture departments with a joint investment of Rs 10 crore.
For lack of management, the Mango Hub was closed.
However, subsequently in 2020, Agriculture department had proposed to hand over it to the regulated market committee in Dhenkanal, but the hub’s fate was again pushed into uncertainties due to Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.
As per state Horticulture department, the district produced 43,200 metric tonne mango in 2019 and 15,240 metric tonne in 2020.
PNN