Maharashtra State Agri-produce Marketing Board (MSAMB) has promoted MahaOrange - an apex body of the state's orange growers' co-operative societies to boost production, processing, marketing and exports of oranges.State minister for agricultural produce marketing Harsh Vardhan Patil said MahaOrange will lead and co-ordinate efforts to promote and market oranges on the lines of MahaGrape, MahaMango and MahaBanana.Patil was talking to the media after inaugurating the state-level orange festival today where over 40 societies of growers from Vidarbha have set up stalls to display and sell oranges. Patil said such efforts will henceforth be initiated by MahaOrange with assistance from the state and MSAMB. He said efforts to create post-harvest and processing facilities for oranges are also on, and the first post- harvet handling project is being set up at Karanja-Ghatge in Wardha district. "The facility, coming up with an investment of Rs 5 crore, will engage in gradation, packaging and vaccination of oranges, which will help growers get higher prices in the market," Patil added.Maharashtra is the country's largest producer and exporter of oranges. The area under orange cultivation in the state is about 1.21 lakh hectre and total production exceeds seven lakh tonne annually through two seasons - Ambia and Mruga.Shrikrishna Thakare, president of the newly formed MahaOrange, said the organisation will take steps to organise local societies and re-activate the dormant ones to make them aware of various schemes. "A lot of stress will also be laid on training orange farmers to help them improve quality and reduce handling losses," he added.
