Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the mango mela inaugurated at Lalbagh by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Kamalakshi regretted that the state does not have packing house facilities to store mangoes longer.
Mangoes are currently grown in Kolar, Dharwad and Ramanagaram districts are sent to Mumbai and Hyderabad where they are processed for export. In the processing facilities there, mangoes are treated to last longer.
“We have plans to start packing house facilities at Kolar, Mysuru and Dharwad this year,” she added.
Kamalakshi said the central government’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority processes mangoes using packing house facilities, and around 2,400 tonnes of mangoes grown in Kolar and Ramanagaram are processed and exported.
“If we have our own facilities in Karnataka, we can export at least 5,000 tonnes,” she added
