[audioholic]

Originally Posted by speed_edge

Guys..

I request you all if anyone knows farms where I can drive to village any buy non-ripped mangoes directly from farmers. I heard there are lot of mango farms available on these villages around Hosur-Krishnagiri road. Appreciate if anyone can provide details on village where I can drive and directly buy them from farmers.

Regards
SE

If you are willing to drive all the way to kolar I can definitely let you lay hands on my Mango trees, 100% organic and picked only in the final stages of ripening. I am waiting to know how much the final yield will be this time, but we get around 2-3k fruits every year. Since we dont sell these mangoes, no chemical methods are used. We just bring the mangoes home and store them in a haysack and regularly remove the ripened ones and munch them

[speed_edge]

Originally Posted by audioholic

If you are willing to drive all the way to kolar I can definitely let you lay hands on my Mango trees, 100% organic and picked only in the final stages of ripening. I am waiting to know how much the final yield will be this time, but we get around 2-3k fruits every year. Since we dont sell these mangoes, no chemical methods are used. We just bring the mangoes home and store them in a haysack and regularly remove the ripened ones and munch them

Wow.. Thanks for the offer audioholic. Hope to drive down to Kolar someday in search of good mangoes. Seems like quality mangoes are as precious as gold and we have to rush to Kolar for both

Hoping to find some good option nearby to solve this problem. Will post here the details if find something.

Guys,

Any idea when is this Lalbaug mango festival coming up?

Regards
SE

[audioholic]

I think its started. In lalbag, dont buy the branded and boxed stuff. Buy Raspuri or Badami, and always go by smell and not colour. Well ripened mangoes get a very nice smell however it wont be that strong to attract you into a shop. Smell each one and pick them. These shopkeepers have the habit of mixing nice and sour fruits to fool customers. The nice ones give out a good smell, while the artificially ripened ones have a very flawless, bright colour.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by audioholic

If you are willing to drive all the way to kolar I can definitely let you lay hands on my Mango trees, 100% organic and picked only in the final stages of ripening.

This calls for a mini meet at your farm! We will buy some mangoes (of course leaving you many), photo shoot near your groove and have a great chat by farm side. And maybe cook some food ourselves if the facilities permit.

How is the idea? I am game anyday if such plan comes up!

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by abirnale

This calls for a mini meet at your farm! We will buy some mangoes (of course leaving you many), photo shoot near your groove and have a great chat by farm side. And maybe cook some food ourselves if the facilities permit.

How is the idea? I am game anyday if such plan comes up!

You guys are welcome for a meet but mangoes I m not sure if there's enough for everyone I will get to know the final numbers in a week or so. I can very well reserve a few kilos for you guys. People who are serious about this do leave a PM. I shall get in touch with you all and update you. But nothing sort of a sale.

Access to our lands are always open and you guys can hang out there. Facilities are limited and apart from basic needs theres nothing much there.

[Safety is Param]

May be for this thread. Please delete / shift if required. Thanks!

Hi All,

Any one recently been on the Bangalore - Kolar or the Krishnagiri - Salem stretch and noticed mango vendors on either sides of the highway?

Last year we had purchased mangoes from the Lalbaug Mango Mela, and I had no issues with the quality. But since the boxes were from Kolar area, I think buying directly from these vendors might turn out to be more economical, i.e. more than 30 kgs.

I remember seeing them on Krishnagiri-Salem highway last year, but don't remember the exact time of the year (May 2nd or 3rd week).

I am planning to drive to these places once I get a confirmation that the vendors have set up stalls.

Appreciate your inputs!

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Safety is Param

Any one recently been on the Bangalore - Kolar or the Krishnagiri - Salem stretch and noticed mango vendors on either sides of the highway?

You will find such sellers once you cross the Hoskote region or nearing Volvo, Tavarekere on the Bangalore-Kolar highway. You could drive along this stretch to find a good lot of fruits. Better option is APMC yard Kolar. You should go there early in the morning and I bet you will get a good deal.

If you can go farther, the best place for Alphonso and Raspuri will be a place called Srinivasapur, around 30km or so from Kolar. A sunday trip to Chintamani, surrounding places followed by mango shopping will be your best bet. Do this in the coming two weeks.

I think buying directly from these vendors might turn out to be more economical, i.e. more than 30 kgs.

How can you manage to maintain 30kgs of fruits? Buying 30 kilos of completely ripened mangoes will lead to trouble since they start rotting within a few days. Please dont buy fully ripened mangoes in such large quantities at a time. Even if you can stack the entire lot in the refrigerator, they will start developing wrinkles. A small hit to one fruit will cause it to rot once it is stored.

If you can get hold of semi ripe mangoes, that will be the best lot. Initially, these fruits have to be stored in a warm place, like under your bed or in a closed cupboard with hay or paper shredding. The mangoes start developing colour and smell. Once the mango is ripened, you can then store it in the refrigerator for long periods. These mangoes ripen at different times so you can accordingly consume them as they ripen That is better to manage compared to buying fully ripened mangoes.

[Safety is Param]

Thank you for all the valuable information!

I will surely visit Srinivasapur. The only thing I need to arrange now is a Kannada speaking colleague / friend / relative (yes!) since I believe that might be an asset while traveling to rural areas.

Also, if it helps, I am not so interested in bargaining provided I get a Quality Assurance in return. I am looking to buy only Hafus (Alphonso) and Kesar.

This year, since exports are banned, I am expecting good quality mangoes in the market with a reasonable price, something that doesn't happen every year.

Originally Posted by audioholic

How can you manage to maintain 30kgs of fruits? Buying 30 kilos of completely ripened mangoes will lead to trouble since they start rotting within a few days. Please dont buy fully ripened mangoes in such large quantities at a time.

Definitely not! I intend to buy 90% raw mangoes, and let them ripen gradually. This way I also get assured that the mangoes haven't been ripened using artificial means (read as: mangoes not ripened using Carboryl) plus as you mentioned, they don't start rotting.

Large quantity because - we deep freeze the pulp and eat it during festivals like Rakhi, Diwali, etc. when it's an off-season for mangoes.

Thanks again for your inputs!

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Safety is Param

Also, if it helps, I am not so interested in bargaining provided I get a Quality Assurance in return. I am looking to buy only Hafus (Alphonso) and Kesar.

This year, since exports are banned, I am expecting good quality mangoes in the market with a reasonable price, something that doesn't happen every year.
!

Not sure what variety kesar is since the names can be different. But one thing is it is a hit or miss with roadside sellers. Especially those who do regular business. In the highway passing through my native village, people sell mangoes. But they bank on the fact that people who travel on the highway ocassionally buy these mangoes and even if its not good, the chances of them returning is very very minute. They usually sell different batch of fruits to locals and a different one for the non regular buyers.

[audioholic]

Finally got the Mangoes picked. Yield this year was quite low, at around 1200 fruits. Two trees which would give a yield of around 900 fruits each didnt flower well this year. Hence expect a bumper yield next year While 750 odd are Raspuri(family favourite), the rest are high quality Alphonso. There was around 800 hybrid mangoes of random variety which we sold it for a paltry 2k since these are used mainly by juice shops and not so tasty for direct consumption. Brought a part of them home and arranged them under the bed. Now as they ripen, we move them out into a crate, and finally into the refrigerator.



When raw they are green with a slight pink patch. It has to be kept in a warm place and once they develop the yellow colour, it needs to be stored outside, after which it turns orange and get a few wrinkles. These are the most organic mangoes that anyone can get. Zero fertiliser, pesticide or ripening agents. Even the birds and monkeys get a fair share

[maddy42]

@audioholic Thats a fairly good set of mangoes. It looks really good and kudos to your effort to not artificially ripen the same.

Anyone bought mangoes in the Mysore to Coorg stretch of road? I was quoted about Rs 110 for a kilo. Is that too high(Raspuri variety)

Coming to my query: For all farmers or people into cultivation hows the scene with Labor in your location? How do you manage them, what are the facilities offered to them and is there acute shortage? How are the wages like in your area?

The reason am asking is coz we had a traditional set who lived on our farm and they were very good. The current set prefer going to the cities for work and its more happening for them. Wages are running in the 200-250 range depending if they live on the farm or they commute. If they commute an additional 1000-1500 is needed for the taxi hire. Add to it the work time has reduced from 9-5 to 9.30 to 3.30.

Also our area are getting alot of migrants from Assam. Anyone has any suggestions on what to do to ensure our safety and prevent any unwanted issues to crop up as they hardly have any paper work on them which could be a issue in the worse case.

Sorry for being very negative but the free rice and free tv mixer schemes have made running a farm very expensive.

Do let me know any suggestions both positive and negative.

Maddy

[condor]

@maddy, getting labour, the rates, the work hours etc - has choked farming today.

Regarding the Assamese - are you refering to Bangalore or Mumbai ?

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by maddy42

Coming to my query: For all farmers or people into cultivation hows the scene with Labor in your location? How do you manage them, what are the facilities offered to them and is there acute shortage? How are the wages like in your area?

Maddy

250 is for 'man' work which equates to 7/8 AM to 4 PM work; tea break from 10-10:30 AM, lunch break 1 hour; another tea break at 3 if work may extend to 5 or so.

For permanent resident, the salary comes to 5.5k per month. Other perks include a tvs super xl moped(+ maintenance, petrol he takes care), a mobile phone, tea/snacks(daily) and food(on days of back breaking work), grants on special days, loans for buying cattle(interest-free).

And with this, the current 'permanent resident' is not doing much of the farm maintenance himself, he has now become a contractor. "This work? 2 men, 3 days, shall i call the men?".

The current guy is a sort of 'jack of all' so finding a replacement will be tough.

The NREGA has spoilt the VFM aspect in the sense that laborers when bargaining salary, they say, "Government work we get 100-125 for doing nothing, how can we come to your farm and do work all the day for 200-250?"


In case of seasonal cropping, all farm related activity has to be planned according to the NREGA schedules in that area.

All this is in a village of rural Coimbatore, TN where labour scarcity is high owing to higher industrial presence.

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by condor

@maddy, getting labour, the rates, the work hours etc - has choked farming today.

Regarding the Assamese - are you refering to Bangalore or Mumbai ?

I am talking Coorg in karnataka. The VFM part aint there anymore. People in our area are leaving cultivating the rice fields all together. Shortage plus high cost of labor makes it not worth it.

Originally Posted by ramzsys

250 is for 'man' work which equates to 7/8 AM to 4 PM work; tea break from 10-10:30 AM, lunch break 1 hour; another tea break at 3 if work may extend to 5 or so.

For permanent resident, the salary comes to 5.5k per month. Other perks include a tvs super xl moped(+ maintenance, petrol he takes care), a mobile phone, tea/snacks(daily) and food(on days of back breaking work), grants on special days, loans for buying cattle(interest-free).



The NREGA has spoilt the VFM aspect in the sense that laborers when bargaining salary, they say, "Government work we get 100-125 for doing nothing, how can we come to your farm and do work all the day for 200-250?"


All this is in a village of rural Coimbatore, TN where labour scarcity is high owing to higher industrial presence.

Wow. Impressed by what you give and still you do face labor shortage?

In our area its the alcohol or brandy to be specific which has ruined it. Amounts of health issues plus short life span of a farm worker is ridiculous. The amount of fights which occur is crazy once drunk. The cops do visit atleast once a year!

With the schemes introduced the trouble is a person gets 30 kilos of rice and wheat, plus eggs. Kerosene is subsidized. Work for 100-150 days which makes decent money for doing nothing.

So working on a farm is a backup plan hence 2-3 days a week is good enough. If you scold someone once he wont show up for 10 days.

Maddy

[condor]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

250 is for 'man' work which equates to 7/8 AM to 4 PM work; tea break from 10-10:30 AM, lunch break 1 hour; another tea break at 3 if work may extend to 5 or so.

In theory, yes. But they rarely come that early. And are eager to leave early.

And with this, the current 'permanent resident' is not doing much of the farm maintenance himself, he has now become a contractor. "This work? 2 men, 3 days, shall i call the men?".

The NREGA has spoilt the VFM aspect in the sense that laborers when bargaining salary, ..

not just VFM .. this scheme has screwed up things. It has become difficult to find & keep permanent staff too. Though a permanent person would be helpful if you have sufficient size of land & sufficient work. The after effects of that scheme will be felt for decades to come. The people who implemented are laughing away, because it never affected them. And un-doing it - is it possible at all ?

All this is in a village of rural Coimbatore, TN where labour scarcity is high owing to higher industrial presence.

Pretty much the same scene even if not much industrial presence.