LUCKNOW: Famous for their taste, size and variety, mangoes from the Lucknow belt are likely to be fewer this year, believe growers who wait for the season offering varieties galore, Dussehri, Langda, Safeda, Chausa and Ramkela, among others, to earn enough for the year ahead.
Though at the time of setting this year, even those trees that hadn’t flowered in the last 2–4 years had bumper flowering, making orchardists hopeful. They got busy preparing for a better crop.
However, strong winds in April and the first week of May dashed their hopes. About 50 per cent of the flowers were damaged. Now, with unseasonal rains every now and then, pests on the trees are giving the growers sleepless nights.
“This season was looking very promising with good flowering on the trees. Strong winds damaged the flowers and it hampered the setting of the fruit. The mango yield will be less this year,” says Jugal Kishore Tiwari, who owns a mango orchard in Malihabad, about 30 kilometres from Lucknow headquarters.
In fact, experts believe that weather adversities, resulting in fewer female flowers than male ones, followed by an attack of the mango hopper pest, may dent the crop considerably.
Temperature fluctuations have also led to fungus and thrips attacking the crop. With the current situation in sight, the growers expect only 50 per cent of the crop to reach markets this year.
Moreover, concerned about the damage to the crop by pests, scores of growers have covered the fruit on the trees with bags to protect it against the cutter worm, which cuts and drops the mango.
“Not only does it save the fruit from the cutter worm but also makes the colour of the fruit better,” says Mohammad Haleem, who also owns an orchard.
“Last month, the wind blew continuously from the west for a week, followed by unseasonal rains damaging the crop,” says Sachin, another grower on the outskirts of Lucknow.
Sachin adds that the crop protected under the bag will be harvested in the first week of June. “If mangoes that ripen in the open sell for Rs 30 per kg, the ones in bags sell for Rs 60 to 70. Only the bagging is expensive. One bag costs about 2 rupees and then there is also the cost of applying it,” he maintains.
Not just Malihabad, mango growers of Kakori and Mall areas are facing the same issue. They too were hopeful of a promising season after the flowering, but storms and rain disappointed them.
However, there are still more mangoes on the trees than last time in the Kakori belt. Orchard owners from these areas have been selling their crops in Lucknow’s market besides the export consignments.
Moreover, many sell off the entire crop to companies for export.
The crop will start hitting the markets after 20 May. According to mango grower Suraj Prasad Yadav, currently raw mangoes are up for sale at a rate of Rs 20 per kg.
“Traders believe that if the yield remains low, prices will go up. Mangoes could be expensive this year. For example, last year farmers initially got Rs 40 per kg for Dussehri in the market. After two weeks, rates dropped to 20 rupees or less. This year, due to to lower yield , wholesale market rates could be higher than the previous year.”