Centre sets up panel to study problems of Andhra’s Totapuri mango farmers

Published 3 July 2026 · local

The Agriculture Ministry has decided to constitute a high-level expert committee on Friday (July 3, 2026) under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to

The Agriculture Ministry has decided to constitute a high-level expert committee on Friday (July 3, 2026) under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to examine the challenges being faced by Totapuri mango growers in Andhra Pradesh. The panel will recommend appropriate measures for the long-term development of the sector. The Ministry said in a release that Union Minister for Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan had recently visited Andhra Pradesh, during which he interacted with Totapuri mango growers. “During these interactions, farmers informed the Minister that prices of the Totapuri mango variety, which is cultivated extensively for the processing industry, have declined significantly in recent months.

They highlighted that the sustained fall in prices has adversely affected their incomes and created considerable financial stress among mango-producing farmers in the State,” the government said. Chouhan asked the ICAR to constitute an expert committee comprising scientists and representatives of institutions concerned to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the Totapuri mango sector. “The committee has been entrusted with examining the entire value chain from cultivation and processing to marketing, domestic trade and exports and recommending suitable interventions to improve farmers’ returns and strengthen the sector on a sustainable basis,” the release added.

Field visits ICAR’s Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow’s Director T. Damodaran will chair the panel. The committee will undertake field visits to major Totapuri mango-growing regions of Andhra Pradesh within the next 10 days. “During the visit, the committee will interact with farmers, representatives of the processing industry, exporters, officials of the State Horticulture department, Farmer Producer Organisations and other stakeholders associated with the sector to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the prevailing situation,” the release said. The committee will also examine the current status of Totapuri mango cultivation, production costs, farmers’ incomes, processing capacity and utilisation, demand-supply dynamics, and the factors responsible for the recent decline in prices in domestic as well as export markets.

Chouhan said safeguarding the income and livelihoods of Totapuri mango growers was a priority for the government.