Raw deal for farmers in TN's mango hub as companies cut pulp content in soft drinks

MADURAI: With the much-awaited mango season to kick off soon, the pulp manufacturers in Krishnagiri are in despair over a drastic dip in demand for pulp.

“Many popular pan India brands of soft drink firms have reduced pulp content in their drinks. From around 18 per cent until a few years ago, the concentration of pulp in soft drinks has been brought down to just around 7 per cent now. The natural pulp has been replaced with artificial flavours in the drinks. So the demand for pulp has gone down, leaving the pulp manufacturers in despair,” said D Mathiazhagan, president of Krishnagiri District Fruits and Vegetables Processing Association. He is also the DMK MLA from Bargur constituency in Krishnagiri.

The pulp manufacturers in the district have therefore decided to appeal to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) to insist soft drink firms maintain a reasonable mix of fruit pulp in their drinks to maintain quality.

From the total volume of 2.5 lakh tonnes of pulp produced last year, a dip in demand left over 80,000 tonnes of pulp getting stagnated in Krishnagiri.

“Last year, the demand for pulp fell drastically as the sale of soft drinks plummeted due to prolonged rains, especially in the north Indian states. The stocked pulp, which has a shelf life of over two years, needs to be first sold out, before resuming fresh production for this season. Due to a lean mango season last year, the fruits were priced high, thereby increasing the production cost of pulp. We may be at a loss now as a bountiful mango harvest may bring down the prices of stocked pulp this year,” said Mathiazhagan.

The pulp-making units too have declined drastically over the years due to poor demand. From around 35 units a few years ago, they have dwindled to 25 odd units; however, production volume increased over the years due to the automation of units.

“Pulp-making units which used to be operated on three shifts until a few years ago have become difficult to run even a single shift now due to severe losses. Also, the units which used to run for three months every year in May, June and July have shrunk their operation to just around 45 days, when mango season used to be in its peak and their prices remained stable. Other days, mango prices remain high and it may not be feasible to run the units by purchasing the fruit at a high cost,” said KM Rama Gonder, president of Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam. He had quit the pulp-making business due to several constraints.