As the harvest season for mango has started, farmers have made an urgent plea to the State Government to intervene and rescue those growing mango from a deepening financial crisis.

’Kilimooku’ mango, a staple variety, is preferred by growers across the State for its high yield and demand in the pulp industry. However, the farmers claimed that market prices had plummeted to very low levels for the second consecutive year, leaving them unable to cover even basic maintenance costs.

According to Jeeva, a farmer and a representative of Thamizhar Makkal Iyakkam, the spending for the maintenance of a mango orchard, including irrigation, fertilizers, and labour, would touch approximately ₹1 lakh per year.

Last year, procurement price hit a rock-bottom of ₹4 per kilogram, leading to widespread losses for the farmers and localised protests in the State.

This year, despite hopes of a recovery, traders were only offering between ₹5 and ₹8 per kg. “At these rates, we are not just losing profit, but are losing our homes,” he said, adding: “We need a minimum price of ₹20 per kg just to sustain our livelihood,” he said.

The ‘kilimooku’ variety was the lifeblood of fruit pulp factories. Since these mangoes were processed in bulk, the farmers were often at the mercy of large-scale industrial buyers and middlemen, he said.

Highlighting the farmers’ dependence on factories, Mr. Jeeva urged the Tamil Nadu Government to regulate the procurement process within these factories.

Listing out some of their key demands, which included immediate implementation of a minimum support price (MSP) of ₹20 per kg, direct government oversight to ensure that pulp factories adhered to fair procurement rates and comprehensive relief package to offset the losses incurred during the 2025 season, he noted that at least this year their plea should reach the ears of the government.

However, despite repeated petitions and demonstrations, the farmers felt their plight had largely been ignored. Mr. Jeeva warned that if the State did not step in to stabilise the market, the very “livelihood of Tamil Nadu’s mango farmers will remain under a permanent question mark”.