Mango mela sees record sales of 500T

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: At the recently-concluded three-week Mango Mela in the Lalbagh Botanical Garden here, farmers sold around 500 tonnes of mangoes. Over 100 farmers from across Karnataka participated in the mela, setting up over 50 stalls.

According to the Karnataka State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation Limited, the response this year surpassed that of last year.

“Sale during the Mango Mela depends on the number of weekends we get in Lalbagh. This time, 13 to 14 varieties of mangoes were sold, and the farmers were very happy,” said C G Nagaraju, managing director of the KSMDMCL.

This year’s mela featured Kari Ishad, a variety with a Geographical Indication (GI) tag. Farmers who brought Kari Ishad were pleased with the response.

Previously, there was not much demand for this variety, but interest has increased, including in Bengaluru. The farmers replenished their stocks three times during the mela, Nagaraju added.

Additionally, the Mango Board revamped its online sales platform ‘Karsiri’ to encourage customers to buy high-quality mangoes directly from farmers via India Post.

Currently, 27 farmers are selling 13 varieties of mangoes, including Kari Ishad, on the platform.

“We sold 4,514 boxes (13.5 tonnes) of mangoes on the portal and received 60 to 70 orders for Kari Ishad. Besides our platform, farmers across Karnataka have launched 14 similar portals to sell mangoes directly to customers via India Post,” Nagaraju informed the media.