How do I grade and sort fruit to get a premium price from traders?

I added a simple wooden size grader and now sort mango into three grades; the top grade alone fetches a clearly better rate than my old mixed lot. The damaged and undersize fruit I sell separately for pulp instead of dragging the whole lot down. Even hand sorting pays.

Once I started sorting my mangoes into two grades and packing them separately, the big clean fruit sold for a much higher rate. Buyers stopped lumping everything at the lowest price.

Picking at the right maturity and packing in ventilated crates instead of stuffed sacks cut my bruising and rejection a lot. Buyers trust a uniform clean box and come back. Gentle handling from picking to packing is half the battle.

Joining our FPO's grading and pack house helped me more than sorting alone. They grade many growers' fruit together and sell the top grade to a distant buyer at a clearly higher rate than our local trader paid. If a pack house is near you, ask whether they take small growers' produce.

One honest caution: grading takes extra labour and time, so for a small lot value that against the price gain. For my mango it clearly paid because the top grade fetched a much better rate, but for a tiny quantity of low value fruit the sorting effort barely covered itself. Grade where the price gap between grades is real.

Selling the lower grade smartly matters as much as the top grade. My blemished and undersize fruit I send for pulp or to a juice unit instead of dumping it into the main lot, so it earns something and does not drag down my premium box. Find a separate outlet for the seconds.