A high-level expert panel set up to study Totapuri mango growers’ problems has suggested rejuvenation of old mango orchards and replacement of old varieties with improved ones.

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday on challenges faced by Totapuri mango growers in Andhra Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, said a high-level expert committee, comprising of senior-level scientists from ICAR, Dr YSR Horticulture University and officials of State Horticulture Department, Andhra Pradesh, was constituted to examine the challenges faced by Totapuri mango growers in Andhra Pradesh. The committee undertook an intensive field visit to major Totapuri producing districts of Andhra Pradesh.

He said a comprehensive assessment of entire Totapuri mango value chain was conducted to have long-term solutions for price stabilisation. The major recommendations of the committee included the rejuvenation and top-working of old and senile mango orchards, and replacement of old varieties with new and improved varieties.

It also suggested blending of 20 per cent pulp in juice, nectar etc., to enhance pulp usage, and zonal procurement and storage infrastructure for prolonged processing duration.

The price of Totapuri mangoes for processing declined to ₹4-6 per kg this year against ₹18-20 per kg in previous years. To mitigate the distress, the Government had approved financial assistance of ₹1,747 per quintal under the market intervention scheme (via price deficiency payment system) for Totapuri growers.

On the challenges faced by Alphonso mango exporters, Jitin Prasada, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that the Maharashtra government has reported damage to the Alphonso mango crop in the Konkan region, particularly Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, due to unseasonal heatwaves and erratic climatic conditions, impacting mango production and availability of quality produce for exports.

He said exporters have reported disruptions in terms of increased freight rates, imposition of war-risk surcharges, container shortages, delays in shipment schedules, and congestion at ports due to the geopolitical situation in West Asia.

To support the exporters, the Government has implemented RELIEF (Resilience and Logistics Intervention for Export Facilitation) under the Export Promotion Mission, through the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India and includes support for insured exporters, facilitation of insurance cover for upcoming shipments, and reimbursement assistance for eligible MSME exporters facing extraordinary freight and insurance surcharge burdens on shipments to the affected West Asia region, he said.

To a question on ‘White Revolution 2.0’, Amit Shah, Union Minister for Cooperation, said his ministry has launched cooperative-led ‘White Revolution 2.0’ to increase the milk procurement of dairy cooperatives by 50 per cent from 660 lakh kg per day in 2023-24 to 1007 lakh kg per day by 2028-29 while promoting sustainable and circularity practices and also providing market access to dairy farmers in uncovered areas and increasing the share of dairy cooperatives in organised sector.

On the outcome of the ‘White Revolution 2.0’, he said 24,097 new multi-purpose dairy cooperative societies have been registered in a span of two years – 2024-25 and 2025-26 -- and 31,394 existing dairy cooperative societies have been strengthened providing market access to smallholder dairy farmers while ensuring fair and remunerative prices and expanding the network of primary dairy cooperatives and strengthening of the entire milk value chain, including milk procurement, testing, chilling, logistics and processing infrastructure.

The milk procurement by cooperatives have increased from 660 lakh kg per day in 2023-24 to 697 lakh kg per day in 2025-26. He said milk production in India has increased to 247.9 million tonnes in 2024-25 compared to 239.3 million tonnes in 2023-24. Two multi-state cooperative societies have been set up for promoting sustainability and circularity in dairy sector.

To a separate question on whether the Government has any proposal to introduce a minimum support price (MSP) for milk, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, said milk prices are determined by cooperatives and private dairies based on market conditions, and there is no proposal to fix MSP for milk.

In a written reply to a query on expansion of e-NAM (National Agriculture Market), Ramnath Thakur, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, said the Government is implementing e-NAM, a pan-India electronic trading platform, to facilitate transparent and competitive online trading of agricultural commodities.

Stating that integration of mandis on e-NAM is done on the basis of proposals received from States/Union Territories (Uts), he said 134 mandis of five States/UTs have been integrated with the e-NAM platform from January to June 2026.

As on June 30, as many as 1656 mandis from 23 States and 4 UTs have been integrated with e-NAM, he said.

Published on July 21, 2026