Anantapur: Bananas, Pomegranates, Custard Apples, Grapes, Guava, Figs, Mangoes, Musk Melon, Water Melon, Papaya, Sweet Limes and Lose Jackets are few fruits grown in the state. The gross turnover of over Rs 6200 crore is reported through fruits export, official records said. Floriculture was also widely spread in southern parts due to cool climate conditions. “We’ve more than 400 acres of floriculture mostly chrysanthemum which has a huge demand in Bangalore,” Hindupur horticulture official Mr Sudarshan said.
Most of the fruits are exported to Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Benguluru, New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and to countries abroad like USA, Middle East and USA due to their quality.
I&PR minister Kalva Srinivasulu hoped that the ground water level would be constant with the available sources from Krishna and Tungabhadra in major parts of district even in coming years.
In the view of poor marketing and less availability of inputs, the state government had recently introduced a system of farmer-producer companies in Anantapur district. The Mission for integrated development of horticulture was launched last year. The concept was to form horticulture farmers into groups to provide them with the necessary financial aid through Nabard and have direct trading for horticulture produces via tie-ups with National and International companies.
The government was providing capital to the farmers towards procurement of vehicles, inputs and machinery at village or mandal level.
The successful concept in farmers’ company Mulakanur in Karimnagar district in Telangana which had big turnover stands as a model for farmers of other states. The system of farmer groups in a limited company would bring about unity among the farmers to solve their problems including marketing.
The horticulture department had recently taken Hindupur farmers to visit Mulakanur in Karimnagar and betel nut farmers from Amarapuram to Sirci in Karnataka on a study tour.
The government plans to adopt the advanced Isreali technology along with improved marketing facilities at global level for the produces from this district. Further, the district administration plans to sign MoUs with companies from Israel to get technical assistance because of their successive rigorous research in developing different varieties of hybrid seeds with salient features like immunity even during rain deficit conditions.
