An Economic Appraisal of Mango Processing Plants of Chittoor District in Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

Mango (mangifera indica L.) occupies a prominent place amongst the fruits grown in India because of its great utility, and is acknowledged as the king of fruits. Various types of products/processed food are prepared from mango like pickles, chutneys, amchoor, squash, nectar, jam, cereal flakes, custard powder, baby foods, mango leather and toffee. It is an outstanding source of Vitamin-A and Vitamin-C besides it has many minerals and other Vitamins. India with a production of 125.4 lakh tonnes of mango accounts for 40 per cent of total world production (312.5 lakh tonnes). About 2 million hectares of land in India is under this crop accounting for 46.2 per cent of world area (4.37 million hectares) under mango. Among the various states of India, Andhra Pradesh ranks first both in area and production and is followed by Uttar Pradesh. Mango is one of the important fruit crop of Andhra Pradesh cultivated in an area of 3.99 lakh hectares and producing 3.19 million tonnes (Government of India, 2005). The productivity of mango in Andhra Pradesh is 8.1 tonnes per hectare and is higher than the country’s average productivity of 6.1 tonnes per hectare.