Heat wave sears Maharashtra’s sweet lime, orange farms

As the Sun beats down relentlessly, citrus fruits santra (orange) and mousambi (sweet lime) in the farms of Maharashtra’s Vidarbha and Marathwada regions are wilting.

The heat-wave has damaged the crops extensively, with premature fruit-drops increasing dramatically since the last week of March. Further, fruits on the trees have developed black spots.

Initial estimates are that over 70,000 hectares of citrus orchards in Marathwada and Vidarbha have been affected.

Amol Totey, Executive President of the Orange Growers Association of India (OGAI), a pan-India organisation set up by the National Horticulture Board, told BusinessLine that due to the sudden temperature rise after March 23, fruits such as oranges, which are in very early stages of formation, have started dropping.

In technical parlance, this is called psychological fruit-drop and about 30 per cent of the crop has been damaged in this manner. The sudden rise in temperature weakens the plant tissue, leading to the fruit drop.

The crop is likely to hit the market by September. However, farmers will have to spray certain hormones on the trees to prevent further damage. This will lead to a rise in the basic input cost of orange farming, said Totey.

He added that while the extent of damage to the citrus fruits is still being quantified, the Nagpur orange variety, which has a Geographical Indicator tag, has been the worst hit. This variety is only cultivated in Nagpur and Amravati districts in Maharashtra and Chhindwara and Betul districts in Madhya Pradesh.

Orange farmer Rishikesh Sontakke, from Anjangaon Surji village in Amravati, said that about 1,800 trees on his 20-acre orchard have been affected.

He alleged that the Maharashtra government is not serious about helping the farmers and that agricultural universities have not been offering any guidance.

The farmers take good care of the trees, but due to crop damage they will have to sell the fruits at very low rates, said Sontakke.

Mousambi farmers face the same problem in the Marathwada region. Farmer Krishna Shirsat, from Padali village in Aurangabad district, said that 35-45 per cent of the crop in the region has gone bad. In some areas, the damage is as high as 50 per cent. Burnt, patchy skin makes the sweet lime unattractive and unmarketable, he said.

Shirsat’s, three-acre orchard normally produces about 30 tonnes. But due to the damage, he does not expect production to rise beyond 10 tonnes.

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