BENGALURU: Usually, hot and dry weather conditions are ideal for mangoes to grow, ripen and turn sweet. However, this year, the prolonged hot dry spell has had the opposite effect on the yield. This year, the yield is only 30 per cent of the usual.
Officials in the Karnataka State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation Limited (KSMDMCL) told TNIE that the area under mango cultivation in the state is 1.49lakh hectares and the expected yield was 12-15 lakh metric tonnes. However this year’s produce is only around five lakh metric tonnes in all varieties of crops.
Sources in the corporation said that the situation is similar across South India, including Maharashtra. Report from North India is awaited.
KSMDMCL Managing Director CG Nagaraju said, “This year the yield has been only 30 per cent of the usual yeild, in all varieties across the state. Earlier, we thought that this will be the on-year (year when crop yield is good). The flowering was good, but delayed. Later, physiological changes were noted due to the weather conditions, which impacted the fruiting drastically.”
Traders said that even though Alphanso, Sindura, Raspuri and Kesari have already hit the market, the number of buyers are less. In the fruit thread, nutrition supply has been affected due to hormonal changes, dip in ground water levels and moisture in the air. This has affected the quality and the shelf life of the fruits, impacting the sales. Farmers can still try to improve their crops by undertaking proper irrigation measures, said experts.
Fruits from Ramanagara and North Karnataka are being sold. Yield from Kolar will be available in another fortnight.