Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday wrote a letter to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, requesting an assistance of ₹281 crore for procuring mangoes of the Totapuri variety under the Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS).

Mr. Naidu said the market price of Totapuri mangoes plummeted due to disruption in pulp exports caused by the geopolitical situation in West Asia. Further, Mr. Naidu said the farmers’ woes were compounded by rising cost of investments.

Andhra Pradesh was the leader in mango production in the country with a total cultivation area of nearly 3.99 lakh hectares and a yield of 52.65 lakh tonnes, he mentioned, and said the Totapuri variety was grown in approximately 91,011 hectares, particularly in Chittoor, Tirupati, Annamayya and Kadapa districts.

Under these circumstances, the State government took the initiative to implement a market intervention scheme for procurement of 7.03 lakh tonnes of Totapuri mangoes. As part of this, it was decided to provide an additional ₹4 per kg to the farmers. Central assistance under the PDPS would help the State in coming to rescue of the mango farmers, Mr. Naidu added.