Price crash and fungal infection force Kolar farmers to dump quintals of mangoes on highway
Kolar, Jun 27: Mango growers of the district have dumped many quintals of mangoes following the Anthracnose fungal infection and crash in mango prices, a farmer leader said.
"Mango growers are in distress in the district due to terrible losses. With no aid coming from the government, farmers have dumped loads of mangoes by the roadside in some parts of Srinivasapura in the district," Kolar District Mango Growers and Marketing Association president Neelaturu Chinnappa Reddy told P T I.
According to him, it was a triple whammy for the mango growers this year.
There was unexpected rain and hailstorm in the district causing severe damage to the crops.
Further, there was Anthracnose fungal attack on the mangoes and third was the crash in mango prices, Reddy said.
"This year farmers took only 30 per cent of the crop, of which half of the crops were destroyed due to fungal attack. Further the crash in mango prices caused immense loss to the growers," the farmer lamented.
He complained that the government focused entirely on COVID and its relief work but did not look at the mango growers who suffered severe losses.
Karnataka State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation Limited chairman K V Nagaraju said most of the crop destroyed this time is Totapuri variety though other crops suffered minimum losses.
"I visited the spot with the state Horticulture Minister R Shankar. Only Totapuri variety of mango got fungal infections. There was very less damage to Benisha (Banaganapalli), Neelam and Mallika mangoes," Nagaraju told P T I.
He also said that he has written to the government to give a compensation of Rs 50,000 per hectare to the Totapuri growers of Kolar who incurred losses.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
