Rs 10.40 crore given as subsidy to mango growers

KRISHNAGIRI: The government has offered Rs 10.40 crore as subsidy through National Horticulture Mission (NHM) to the farmers in Krishnagiri district in the past four years seriously aiming to promote mango cultivation in 5,479 hectares, said Collector C N Maheswaran. Inaugurating 19 th All India Mango Exhibition in Krishnagiri on Wednesday, he said a subsidy of Rs 22,500 was given per acre of mango field under the NHM. He said the government has been offering Rs 15,000 as subsidy per hectare to replant age-old mango plantations to increase the yield. The farmers have taken up mango cultivation in 40,426 hectares in the district and were producing around 2.92 lakh tonnes of fruits every year. On an average, he said the yield ratio in the mangroves of Krishnagiri district stood at 7.2 tonnes per hectare. The farmers were fetching around Rs 17 crore through mango cultivation in the district per annum. The export varieties like Alphonso, Malgova, Imampasant and Banganapalli mangoes were being produced in the district.  Conveying that Israel has been adopting advanced technologies in the mango cultivation he suggested that the same could be followed in the district too for better yield. He said the mango expo, which started on June 22 would go on till July 17. Totally 50 stalls set up by various government departments and 90 by private entrepreneurs form part of the event. Later, the Collector disbursed welfare measures to the tune of Rs 1.52 crore to 238 beneficiaries. DRO C Prakasam welcomed the gathering while PA to Collector (Agriculture) N Nachiappan proposed vote of thanks. Bargur MLA K E Krishnamurthy, Uthangarai MLA N Manoranjitham Nagaraj, Thally MLA T Ramachandran among others spoke.