Keonjhar: Scarce availability of country bred mangoes in local forests due to a combination of climatic change and the coronavirus outbreak in the district have impacted earnings of Keonjhar tribals, a source said.
The tribal inhabitants in Keonjhar district eke out their living by selling minor forest products. Country bred mangoes contribute to a large extent in strengthening their fiscal standing during the summers.
Due to the lockdown restrictions here, the farmers are neither able to go to the forests for collecting the mangoes, nor sell them in the local markets.
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“Mangoes usually perish soon, as there are no cold storage facilities in the district. We come from remote areas by public transport but do not get a fair price. At times, we have to walk long distances with the mango crates on our head”, some local tribals said.
Highlighting their plight, the locals added, “In the absence of processing industries we often throw away the collected mangoes when we fail to sell them at local markets. The state government as well as district administration should come forward and provide ample support”.
The tribal farmers are forced to distress sale the mangoes for Rs 5 to Rs 10 per kg whereas local traders earn handsomely by selling the same at Rs 20 to Rs 30. This happens due to the absence of a proper mechanism regulating the sale of country bred mangoes from the tribal farmers of Keonjhar district, a source said.
“Even if most of the hybrid mangoes available in markets these days taste sweeter, country breed mangoes are better for health”, an Ayurveda expert of Belaposi area Harekrushna Mahanta said.
Speaking on the benefits of country breed mangoes, a local environmentalist Ramesh Chandra Mishra said, “The trees are found in large numbers here, which enrich environment and purify air in a natural way along with providing shade to local commuters”.
On being contacted, executive officer of Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) Sapan Goswami said, “Forest produced mangoes are not generally purchased at government level. We are trying to find a way out in the larger interest of tribals”.
Goswami added that ORMAS has been continuously imparting training to several self-help groups in the district on processing of mangoes.
PNN