The Hindu Business Line : Facility for ripening banana to come up in Kurnool

As part of efforts to adding value to horticulture produce, the Horticulture Department in the State has encouraged a group of farmers to set up a mutually aided society to establish a banana-ripening chamber in the district.

The Rs 16-lakh facility, which will come up in four months, will also be useful for farmers growing mangoes and sweet oranges, according to Mr A. Murali Mohan Reddy, Assistant Director (Horticulture).

"Usually farmers use smoke after the harvest. This will lead to loss of quality and reduced shelf life," he said.

A group of farmers from the area were taken on a visit to Surat to give them a feel of a similar facility there.

Supplementing the chamber, a pack house too would be set up to take care of cleaning and grading activity.

Banana is grown in 4,765 hectares in the district, while mango groves covered an extent of 10,275 hectares and sweet oranges 2,000 hectares. With regard to tomatoes, the officials had been advising the farmers to diversify to other crops such as soya, maize and groundnut. Speaking on the disadvantages of this crop here, he said 90 per cent of the normal 22,000 hectares was rainfed.

"But the problem with the local variety (which they use most) is that seed percentage is more and pulp percentage is less. Also, water content is more. All these attributes indicate that it is not suitable for processing," he said.

More Stories on : Horticulture/Fruits & Vegetables | Andhra Pradesh

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