Odisha's women farmers export mangoes to Italy, reaping global rewards
Jyotirmayee Pradhan, a woman farmer from Odisha's Dhenkanal district, has scarcely travelled beyond her home State, let alone boarded a flight to Italy. Yet, this summer, her mangoes have journeyed farther than she ever has.
Demand for the fruit has been so consistent that new orders arrive even before the previous consignments are unpacked. Together with a cohort of women farmers, Ms. Pradhan has mastered the practice of harvesting mangoes without a blemish, sorting them by size, and packaging them to meet the standards of international markets.
From the orchards of central Odisha to cities across Europe, the mango export initiative led by women farmers has emerged as a story of quiet resilience and enterprise.
Ms. Pradhan is a board member of the Baladevju Women Farmers Producer Company Limited, a women-led Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) with over 1,000 shareholders. The FPO has achieved a turnover of ₹1 crore by exporting mangoes to Dubai.
Promoted by consulting firm Grant Thornton Bharat and supported by HDFC Bank's Parivartan under the STREE (Social and Transformative Rural Economic Empowerment) programme, the FPO has begun exporting Amrapali mangoes to European countries.
As of Wednesday, the FPO has shipped five consignments amounting to 10 tonnes of mangoes to Italy. By the end of the mango season in June, it plans to export over 50 tonnes. The initiative is benefiting more than 100 women mango orchard owners.
Grant Thornton Bharat, in association with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), has engaged with over 33 FPOs across eight districts in Odisha. These collaborations have focused on addressing challenges in post-harvest management through capacity-building exercises.
A turning point for the initiative was a training session on post-harvest handling of fruits, specifically tailored for women farmers. Support from government agencies followed, including assistance for constructing cold storage facilities, procurement of plastic crates, transportation from field to aggregation points, and storage rent subsidies. Aid was also extended towards value addition and processing.
'The collaboration has helped us set free from the compulsion of leasing out our orchards to local dealers, which had been limiting our income. By adopting proper methods of mango plucking and packaging in line with international and European standards, we have connected with global buyers and secured higher returns for our local produce,' Padmini Sahoo, another member of the Baladevju Women Farmers Producer Company Limited, said.
Dhenkanal district, with 9.34 hectares under mango cultivation, primarily of varieties such as Amrapali, Lengada, and Keshari, holds significant export potential.
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