The erratic weather pattern of extended monsoon and winter season may result in a prolonged mango season this year, mainly in the Southern parts of the country, while it has hurt the crop prospects in the Western regions.

While the mango flowering has been staggered in the key producing regions of Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu due to an extended winter, in Western Maharashtra — which is better known for the Alphonso variety — the crop has been affected to a certain extent by the Cyclone Ockhi, which passed through the region late in November.

Ockhi effect on Alphonso

“The cyclone had induced fruit dropping in a number of orchards in the Konkan region that had the early varieties,” said Vivek Bhide, mango farmer and former member of the Mango and Cashew Board of Maharashtra government. But the bigger culprit has been fluctuations in day and night temperatures in January this year, which has also affected the flowering in the crop.

The India Meteorological Department has also sounded a warning of rains in Maharashtra in the next few days, therefore farmers are also worried about its impact, Bhide said.

Bhide pointed that usually by mid-February about 60,000-80,000 cases of mangoes reach from Konkan to Mumbai but this time only about 20,000 cases have been dispatched. “It is not a bumper season but a regular one. The arrival position would be clear in a few weeks when the deliveries pick up speed,” he said.

Vijay Dhoble, a mango trader from the Vashi Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), said that the season is yet to pick up pace. There have been reports of losses from Konkan, therefore, arrivals are very slow. Depending on the quality of mangoes, a case (60 pieces) fetches between ₹1,500 and ₹5,000 in the wholesale market.

Crop switch in AP

While mango crop was hit by fog across Telangana, diminishing interest in the crop and diseases resulted in reduction of area in areas in Andhra Pradesh.

“Prolonged fog had hit the crop at the flowering stage. Farmers will be lucky if 20 per cent of the flowered crop could survive,” a mango farmer said.

Prabhakar of Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham said good number of farmers in areas like Nuziveedu, Tiruvuru and Mylavaram are moving away from mango to other lucrative crops owing to diseases that are cutting into the productivity of the crop.

Prolonged season

As per the first advance estimates by the Agriculture Ministry, mango production for 2017-18 is seen higher at 20.71 million tonnes from 2016-17’s final estimates of 19.50 million tonnes. “Flowering has been delayed and begun now in many parts of the key growing regions of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and AP due to an extended winter. As a result, the mango season may get prolonged by a couple of months,” said MR Dinesh, Director of the ICAR - Indian Institute of Horticulture Research.

Fungal attacks

PR Suryanarayana of mango growers association in Sreenivaspura of Kolar district said the delayed flowering has triggered some concerns about powdery mildew, a fungal attack. As a result of which farmers are taking up sprays of fungicides, which increases their production costs.

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