Oranges are sour

An epitaph for the mandarin orange is being penned in the hills of West Bengal. The fruit was once a rich cash crop in the region. Today, it is close to extinction, thanks to a combination of factors such as a rampant crop virus and administrative apathy.

Hundreds of farmers spread across the orange growing districts of Kalimpong and Darjeeling have either stopped cultivating oranges, or have switched to other crops to keep their kitchen fires burning.

“The trees in my orchard used to be thick with oranges. The buyers used to book them at least four months in advance anticipating a good crop,” says Arjun Rai, 43. The farmer from Sangsay Busti village in Kalimpong recollects that there was a time when he earned ₹1 lakh for his oranges during the harvesting season from December to February.

Besides its world famous brew, Darjeeling was known for its mandarin orange, which was its cash crop till a few years ago with major production areas in Mirik, Sitong, Mangpoo and Labda in Darjeeling and Munsong, Sangsay belt, Bidhyang and Dalapchand in Kalimpong. The Darjeeling oranges are known for their sweetness and thin rind.

But a virus has been attacking the fruit trees. While the virus has been around for three decades or so, farmers claim that thousands of trees have been affected in the last three years. According to some estimates, over 300 farmers have lost around 40,000 orange trees to the virus in Bimbong village of Kalimpong in recent years.

Over 300 farmers have lost around 40,000 orange trees to a virus in Bimbong village

Rai looks at his orchard and points to the diseased trees. “The virus attack has devoured my business and almost all of my trees have been infested with it. It is really difficult to even earn one-fourth of the amount that I made a few years ago,” he adds.

No one is quite certain how the virus spread in the region. Dr Samuel Rai, director, directorate of cinchona and other medicinal plants, blames the influx of people for its spread. “The movement of the people has increased tremendously in the past several years due to better communication. It seems that the virus came from outside through some fruit. The maggots somehow managed to escape and spread from one tree to another,” he says.

He believes the virus first started attacking the plants 30 years ago. “But now it is virtually unstoppable,” the director says.

The government had set up the Citrus Dieback Research Station (now called Research & Development Centre for Horticulture) in 1983-84 to assess the dieback — when a plant begins to die from the tips of the leaves — and determine the causes of the disease as well as train the growers on ways to save their crops.

“It was found that several diseases contributed to the decline of the citrus including foot rot caused by a soil-borne fungus, phytophthora and a virus called ‘tristeza’ which also led to its decline,” Samuel Rai adds.

The farmers, however, are convinced that the administration is to be blamed for their plight. “The hills have lost at least 60 per cent of their orange production in the past few years. The virus has been one of the reasons for the decline but the apathy of the administration cannot be ignored as no study has been undertaken in the past 17 years on the condition of the growers,” says Bishnu Chettri, secretary, Krishak Kalyan Sangathan (Farmers Welfare Association), Kalimpong.

He points out that there is no minimum support price for oranges and that leads to middle-men exploiting the farmers. “The revival of orange trees will be extremely difficult if serious efforts are not made,” he says.

The farmers rue that their earnings from oranges have been dwindling over the yeas. Norgen Lepcha, an orange farmer in Darjeeling district’s Mangpoo area, says he used to earn ₹70,000-80,000 from the sale of oranges till three years ago. He earned around ₹12,000 in 2017, the 32-year-old Lepcha adds.

Mahadev Chhetri, senior scientific officer at Research & Development Centre for Horticulture in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, says that planting of fresh seedlings is the only way out to save the oranges of Darjeeling. “We need at least 4-5 lakh fresh seedlings annually to replace the old ones. Community based approach is required as entire orchards in the hills infested with the virus have to be cleared because the virus easily transmits from one tree to another,” he warns.

The scientific officer, however, does not believe the blame lies entirely with the deadly virus. “Orange trees have a maximum life span of 30-35 years but most of them have lived past their age. Farmers have not replaced them so it has also led to their natural degradation,” he says.

Some farmers say they are willing to plant new saplings, if the government provides them with disease-free plants. But the government should also give them an alternative source of income meanwhile, they stress.

“The administration should also create awareness among the farmers to help us deal with the onslaught of the disease,” Rai says.

Gurvinder Singh is a freelance journalist based in Kolkata

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