KORAPUT: The Koraput administration plans to set up chambers for mangoes to facilitate ripening of the fruit in a scientific way. At present, farmers use traditional methods like straw and leaves of some special trees to do so and it takes around five to six days.In the chambers, the mangoes will ripen in a scientific way without any harmful chemicals and the process will be faster, said Roshan Kartik , district project manager (DPM) of Odisha Livelihood Mission, Koraput.According to the officer, the ripening chambers will be set up at Borigumma, Laxmipur, Koraput and Kotpad blocks in collaboration with the horticulture department. Officials said the chamber will come up over an area of 2,000 sq ft and can accommodate four truckloads of mangoes.Farmers have welcomed the step. "Ripening chambers will save our time and money which we use in ripening mangoes in traditional ways. Also, it will be benefit buyers as they will get the fruit ripened through a safe process," said Jenamani Gadaba, a mango grower of Borigumma block.This year, over 700 farmers have harvested more than 300 metric tonne of mangoes from around 300 hectares of land in the districts Koraput, Laxmipur, Kotpad and Borigumma blocks. The mango varieties include langda, dashari, amrapali and malika. It has also been decided to promote mango cultivation on a massive scale in the district from the next season, said Kartik This year in coordination with the district administration farmers of Koraput have sold two metric tonne of raw mangoes to Mother Dairy, New Delhi, at Rs 46 a kg.

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