Maharashtra to Open Citrus Estate & Orange Processing Center in the State

Soon, Maharashtra state would take pride in talking about its orange processing center and a citrus estate, if the Maharashtra government successfully implements its plans for the same. The processing center is proposed for Varud-Morshi in Amravati district and the citrus estate is proposed for Paithan in Aurangabad district. The purpose for both is to increase productivity of citrus fruits in the state.  

The plans were announced by the state’s Finance Minister Ajit Pawar in his March 8 budget speech.  

Why is orange processing center a promising initiative? 

Maharashtra produces Mandarin variety of oranges, particularly in Nagpur and Amravati districts of the Vidarbha region. Mandarin orange has a distinct outer skin, which is easy to peel. This makes it an ideal table fruit. Mandarin orange tree flowers two times a year, once in October-November and second time in February-March.  

The Director of MahaOrange, Jawanjal, stated that it is important the state government implemented both the projects (for the processing center and citrus estate) properly. MahaOrange is a marketing initiative taken by the state government for oranges.  

Plan for opening an orange processing center has come at the right time because oranges of high quality are easily sold as table fruits, but the rest of the oranges (which are of a little low quality) are sold at a very less price, just Rs. 10/kg. As a result, farmers fail to recover their production costs.  

A local processing center would help these oranges find a valued place because the fruit and orange peels, etc. would then be used in processing and producing value-added products.  

According to the National Horticulture Board, Maharashtra cultivated Mandarin oranges in around 4.80 lakh hectare area and had a production of 63.68 lakh tonnes in 2019-20.