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Konkan farmers use direct sale to ensure mango supply is sweet during lockdown
Farmers are getting a good response from Pune, Mumbai, Nashik and other parts of the state.
Maharashtra’s mango crop is not going to waste. Despite lockdown restrictions across the state, farmers from the Konkan area, the heartland of mango cultivation, are now selling directly to consumers to ensure consumers do not miss out on the summer fruit.
“Farming of mangoes is our traditional business and there was a system in place to send mangoes to various parts of the country. This year, due to lockdown, transport of mangoes is difficult. So we decided to take to social media and appeal to residential housing societies to order in bulk. Accordingly, mangoes will be sent directly to that particular society from us, and this model is working well now,” said Vilas Gaikwad, a farmer from Ratnagiri district.
“We are getting a good response from Pune, Mumbai, Nashik and other parts of the state. It also becomes easy for us to do business during this crisis situation,” Gaikwad adds.
Another mango farmer from Devgadh in Konkan, Mangesh Parchure, said, “As we are under lockdown for more than two months now, sending mangoes to our regular traders in Pune and Mumbai is not possible. At most places, the local Agricultural produce market committees (APMC) are closed. We approached our friends and relatives in these cities and started sending mangoes on individual orders to their homes in housing societies. The orders increased and now we are sending two trucks of mangoes every week to Pune and Mumbai.”
Citizens from the city have also appreciated this method of selling mangoes directly to customers.
Namrata Kashid, a resident of Sahakarnagar in Pune said, “There are 48 flats in our society and almost everyone wanted to buy mangoes. We contacted one of the mango farmers from Ratnagiri and gave a bulk order. Within a week he sent the mangoes directly to the society gate and gave a good rate to us.”
