21-06-2025
Mankani festival begins in Krishnagiri
The 31st All India Mankani festival was inaugurated at Kalaignar Thidal here on Saturday (June 21, 2025). The festival was being ushered in on the shadows of a grim season for mango growers grappling with fallen prices for the king of fruits this summer.
Inaugurating the festival, Minister for food and Civil Supplies R. Sakkarapani said the State government led by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was tuned into the needs of the farmers and the various schemes for farmers welfare was an outcome of informed deliberations.
The district has over 1.02 ha of horticultural crops. This includes 40.070 ha of vegetables, 33,550 ha of fruits and 11.363 ha of flowers. Of these, over 32,147 ha of the horticultural area is under mango cultivation in the district. This entails a production of 2.60 mt of mangoes, of which 1.20 lakh mt is given to pulp industry.
The Mankani festival will be a month-long affair with over a line-up of stalls by the Horticulture Department along with the various informative stalls on government schemes set up by the Department of Information and Publicity. An exclusive recreational arena has been set up for the public and children as part of the festival.
The week has seen political parties expressing solidarity with the mango growers, whilst demanding compensation for the poor prices. Mango farmers, faced with prices as low as ₹3.50 to ₹5 per kg are demanding the government to step in and urged pulp industry to procure mangoes at higher prices. While a section of the farmers also call for support price on the lines of Andhra Pradesh government, where a support price of ₹4 per kg was announced to be given along with ₹8 per kg procured by the pulp industry. In view of the ongoing festival, traffic diversions have been made.
