Mango's Marketing Ordeal In India

ABID HUSSAIN, MS, HORTICULTURE, [email protected] MANGO’s MARKETING ORDEAL Mango, the king of fruits and a sure delicacy for many palates, is a native of India and SE Asian countries. Their presence in varied geographical locations has endowed this crop with thousands of varieties – diverse in shape, colour and taste, but only about 20 has been regarded as commercially relevant. Mango occupies roughly one million hectares which is 40 percent of the total area under fruit cultivation. India is the world’s largest producer of mangoes, accounting for more than half of the worldwide production. Marketing This seasonal fruit captures the markets, streets, roadsides and homes in India during the summer months of April-July. The fruit after harvest has to pass through several agencies before reaching the consumer. As producers do not generally undertake wholesale distribution, it is a common practice to lease out the orchards to pre-harvest contractorswho take care of watch and ward of the crop till maturity and then dispose the produce as it suits them. There is a wide disparity in the prices of standing crop from place to place and even from year to year in the same area and from one orchard to another. It is mainly due to the irregular bearing habit of mango trees. Income from mango orchards therefore is very uncertain. Usually contractors are financed by commission agents or wholesalers. Thus the contractor is obliged to sell the produce through the leading commission agents. Sometimes they dispose the produce directly to wholesalers or retailers. Commission agents, generally known as arhatiyas or dalals also include the forwarding agents who own the responsibility of proper packaging and transit. They are the most important link in the marketing of mango and about two thirds of the total market is controlled by these agents. hey are located in both the assembling (producing) and consumption centers. At some places, they not only sell fruits on commission basis but also transact wholesale business on their own account. In big cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Delhi, there are separate commission agents for imported fruits and for local produce. A study conducted at Azadpur Mandi of Delhi revealed that the growers hardly made any profit, especially when fixed costs were taken into account. Commission agents charged 8 percent on the transactions. The profit reaped by the wholesalers and retailers was

ABID HUSSAIN, MS, HORTICULTURE, [email protected] around 81 percent and 45 percent on their investment respectively, after taking into account the mango losses in transit, which during different periods ranged from 8 to 12.5 percent. The maximum losses were observed during the months of July and August when both the temperature and the humidity contributed to it. For the various processed products of the mango, the profit margins ranged from 23 percent to 137 percent. The study clearly brings out the exploitation of the mango market by various intermediaries at the cost of the growers. Hence, there is an immediate need for corrective measures like cooperative marketing and processing of mangoes. But a very few co-operative societies exist in mangoproducing areas. In Uttar Pradesh, the premier mango-producing state, there is no such society. There are a few societies in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, which purchase the farmers’ produce and transport it to distant markets to the commission agents. The marketing of mango in Bulsar district of Gujarat is mostly done by co-operative societies, of which all the growers and commission agents are members. These societies advance about 50% of the cost to the grower and the balance is cleared immediately after his produce is sold. The mango sale societies at Vengurla, Malva and Deogarh in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra are also functioning well. They collect the produce of their members and send it for sale to the commission agents at Mumbai. The Government of Uttar Pradesh has proposed to create Fruit Growers’ Associations in all the districts under their Horticultural Development Scheme. In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, there are 10 co-operative societies for marketing of mangoes, whereas Bihar hase only 2 fruit growers associations. Karnataka also is quite behind in numbers with only the Mysore Horticulture Society to help the marketing of fruits. The retail distribution is done by growers, contractors, commission agents and wholesalers, stallholders, shopkeepers and hawkers in varying degrees. A fairly large proportion of the profit is taken away by the intermediaries. To ensure better returns to the growers, and fruits at cheaper rates to the consumers, formation of fruit grower’s co-operative sale societies deserves encouragement. Main Distribution and Marketing Centres

ABID HUSSAIN, MS, HORTICULTURE, [email protected] Mangoes grown in different parts of the country are transported to the big cities for marketing. The fruits produced in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu find markets in Nagpur, Mumbai, Kolkata and vice versa. The important wholesale mango markets in India are Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Madras, Ahmedabad, Pune and Nagpur. Mangoes for these big markets are usually collected at the central places in all the mango-growing areas, e.g., in Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow and Varanasi; in Gujarat, Gandevi, Gadat and Amalsar talukas of Bulsar district; and in Maharashtra, Ratnagiri and Vengurla. Mango prices vary a great deal from year to year, depending upon each year’s total production and various other factors like prevailing prices, demand, transport and marketing facilities. Wholesale prices of mangoes also vary considerably, depending upon the supply and demand of particular varieties, periods of availability, weather conditions, transport facilities, variety, quality, etc. Daily arrivals have also a direct bearing on the prices. Thus, the fluctuations in prices are consistently irregular in pattern. Ordinarily, however, the prices are higher at the commencement of the season, declining gradually as the supplies increase. Later on, when the arrivals decrease, they tend to recover and reach a high level again before the close of the season. Exports There was a ban on exporting Indian mangoes to major importing countries of US and Japan due to pesticide residues and fruit fly presence and very recently been allowed to enter. Now that the ban has been lifted, there are approximately 20 types of “commercially viable” mango varieties that are exported from India to the US and demand for them is considerably high. India’s efforts of developing a market in the US after the lift of the ban the mangoes have taken a short-term hit due to the economic slowdown. The irradiation facility of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Lasalgaon is the only such facility for mango exports in the country. In 2008, nearly 350 tonnes of mangoes were exported to the US from this facility. Currently, non-resident Indians (NRIs) are the major consumers of Indian mangoes in the US. But efforts are on to cultivate a taste for the king of Indian fruits among local Americans. Most of the US demand is for the Alphonso mango. But this is a delicate fruit and has problems of spongy tissue. Maharashtra, a major exporting state of mango, noticed a yield loss to the tune of 35-40% this year, due to changes in climatic conditions since here was hardly any winter this year. Due to the high temperatures prevailing in the winter season, there was considerable flower and fruit drop. Alongside, the APEDA has issued fresh guidelines for mango exporters

ABID HUSSAIN, MS, HORTICULTURE, [email protected] in the current season to minimize the rejection of fruit consignment by the US on quality grounds by taking appropriate precautionary measures to ensure that mangoes sent for irradiation are free from any kind of contamination or injury. Irradiation has been made mandatory by the US last year to allow the Indian fruit, ensuring the quality of fruit with high standard and no complaints, rejections. What is most interesting about mangoes, however, is that there are hundreds more varieties of mangoes that no one will ever be able to taste, outside India. Most of these mangoes are too far from any shore of the subcontinent to be transported before they ripen and start to rot. In other words, these mangoes are landlocked. Yet they offer one of the most authentic food experiences you can have in the world. - Abid Hussain-