75% of second harvest of alphonso mangoes hit by heatwave
Strap: Around three-fourth of the fruit’s production in the longer second phase of the harvest might have been lost due to the heatwave, farmers in Devgad and Ratnagiri districts said, as flowers wilted and unripe mangoes fell to the groundMumbai An unseasonal heatwave between February 25 and March 6 in the Konkan has impacted the famed Alphonso orchards in Devgad and Ratnagiri districts of Maharashtra, and farmers fear a loss of as much a three-fourths of the crop in its second ripening between mid-April till end of May
Strap: Around three-fourth of the fruit’s production in the longer second phase of the harvest might have been lost due to the heatwave, farmers in Devgad and Ratnagiri districts said, as flowers wilted and unripe mangoes fell to the ground
Mumbai An unseasonal heatwave between February 25 and March 6 in the Konkan has impacted the famed Alphonso orchards in Devgad and Ratnagiri districts of Maharashtra, and farmers fear a loss of as much a three-fourths of the crop in its second ripening between mid-April till end of May.
Around 75% of the fruit’s production in the longer second phase of the harvest might have been lost due to the heatwave, they said, as flowers wilted and unripe mangoes fell to the ground.
This is a complete reversal from the first ripening phase in which around 30% of the annual harvest hits the market around February. Favourable weather conditions in the winter ensured that Alphonso supply into the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee market in Vashi increased threefold compared to March last year, with the fruit from Devgad, Ratnagiri and other districts in the Konkan belt flooding the market, said Sanjay Pansare, director of the fruit market.
“This reduced the price of the commodity in the first phase, but now we fear that the availability of this mango in the market will be less after mid-April as the second phase of Alphonso’s production will be less,” Pansare said. “Also, due to inflation, the sale of mangoes is not very high this year, so farmers and sellers are afraid of losses.”
Farmers are already grappling with lower returns. “I sold a total of 50 boxes of 5.5 dozen mangos in each box at Rs. 2,200 per box last week, out of which I will get ₹2,000 per box, which I will receive in June sometime,” said Rajesh Raut, a small mango farmer from Devgad.
“We start sending the mangoes from trees that bloom in November to the market in February. After that, the mango trees that bloomed in January and February begin to bear mangoes by the end of February or the first week of March,” Raut added. “Small mangoes fell, and we suffered huge losses,” said Vidyadhar Pusalkar, a mango farmer from Malgund in Ratnagiri district.
Farmers typically expect at good harvest if the temperature remains within 35 degrees Celsius, but Konkan experienced 37 to 39 degrees from February 25 to March 6, which damaged the mangoes.
“Every year, I harvest 500 dozen mangoes per day. But this year, it has reduced to 200 dozen per,” Pusalkar said. “Also, since no more fruit can be seen on the tree, in the second phase, Alphonso can produce only 50 to 70 dozen.”
Taking Pusalkar’s point forward, Vidyadhar Joshi, a farmer from Devgad, said the climate crisis is posing a big challenge to mango farmers. “Mango production has been reduced since Cyclone Phayan hit the Konkan in 2009,” Joshi said. “Along with this, diseases like spongy tissue, fruit bee, and many more on mangoes are causing us heavy losses.”
The Maharashtra State Mango Growers Association has requested the state government for financial assistance to mango farmers as production has suffered.
“This year, due to sunstroke, there was a huge loss of mangoes, and there was heavy rain in the first and second weeks of March. Due to the rains on March 16 and 17 in Raigad district, there has been a huge outbreak of fungal diseases on mangoes,” said Chandrakant Mokal, the association’s president. “Due to this, the government should provide financial support to mango farmers this year.”
Government officials, however, said it was too early to say that production has declined. “March is the first season of mangoes. This season has yielded good fruits, and it will not be right to talk about the next season now,” an official of the Department of Co-operation, Marketing and Textiles said on condition of anonymity.