Coimbatore: Insects, climate change eat into mango cultivation

COIMBATORE: Erratic climatic conditions coupled with the intense heatwave and pest attacks will result in a severe decline in mango yield, stated a farmer. While Horticulture officials are setting up countermeasures, farmers claimed that it is too late for any measure as a large portion of the trees is already affected. They urged the State government to provide minimum compensation.

Speaking to TNIE, S Chinnasamy from Karimangalam who owns a mango orchard said, "Usually by this time we can see visible signs of fruits on trees, but this year we have not even seen the flowering begin. This is because of the heatwave that mango trees are unable to grow flowers. Usually, flowers will only bloom during dry and cool conditions. Because of the intense summer heat, the flowers have died out."

K Saravanan, from Manjavadi said, "In our area alone, nearly 100 acres of mango orchards have failed to produce flowers. One of the main reasons for this is insect infestation, these pests have eaten away most of the flowers and several branches have died because of it. As trees grow up to 10 -15 metres, we are unable to reach the areas and take any sort of countermeasure. We can only watch as these insects kill our trees."

R Venkatraman from Karimangalam said, "Usually flowering season is between November and December, but the NorthEast monsoon was still strong during this period. As flowers require dry and cool climatic conditions to properly nurture themselves, mango trees did not produce many flowers. Initially, we had thought, that may be the flowering will occur in January. But this did not occur, this is one of the worst seasons we have ever faced. We hope the government will consider our circumstances and provide some compensation."

When TNIE spoke to the Deputy Director of Horticulture, Malini said, "As far as climatic conditions are concerned there is nothing to be said or done. But as far as pest attacks are concerned, we have observed two types of infestation: one is the leafhopper and the other is the leaf webber. While hoppers feed on the leaf, the webbers inhibit the photosynthesis process. We have invited TNAU entomology researchers for intervention. We have already spread awareness on the precaution, they have provided some protection."