BHUBANESWAR: Mango stalls set up Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) have become a big attraction among the people because they get the fruit directly from the farm at these outlets.
There has been a bumper mango harvest in the state this year.
The stalls have been selling popular mango varieties like Mallika, Dassehri, Amrapalli, Lengda, Sundari, Bombay Green, Totapali and Baiganpalei.
“Even though mango production was good this year, farmers could not sell the fruit in the market due to the lockdown and time restriction imposed on opening of shops.
To facilitate marketing of mangoes, ORMAS set up the stalls in Bhubaneswar as well as in the districts,” said Soumya Ranjan Biswal of ORMAS.
Odisha produces around 18 to 20 lakh MT of mangoes of over 200 varieties every year.
The major mango-growing districts are Dhenkanal, Angul, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Sonepur and Deogarh.
Besides, districts like Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Koraput and Rayagada harvested some late varieties.
Due to lack of marketing most farmers opt for distress sale of their crops.
“During lockdown, transportation has also been affected for the last two years,” said Ram Sarika, a mango farmer from Rayagada.
“The speciality of the mangoes at the ORMAS stalls is that the fruits are directly brought from the farm to customers and no chemical is used to ripen the mangoes unlike those available in the market,” said Subhdra, a farmer from Angul district.
The mango stalls in the city received a good response as in the last three days more than 1.5 tonnes of mangoes were sold, official sources said.
The stall will remain open till June 17.
Besides, customers can order online through Swiggy, Veggiekart and Big Fresh.