Mango growers blame extreme weather for poor season this year

Panaji: Mango growers in Goa have been grappling with a 50-70% fall in crop due to extreme weather conditions. They say they have not only lost out on profits but have not even been able to recover their expenditure over mango cultivation this season.
The crop yield was impacted due to low pre-monsoon rainfall, late flowering and pest attacks, among other factors.
“During the time of pollination, the weather was too hot. This affected flowering. The overall production at my farm alone was 75% less than usual and we hardly sold any mangoes as a result,” said farmer Nestor Rangel.
In addition, attacks by fruit flies threaten to ruin the harvested crop, owing to which Rangel is putting the King of Fruits through a laborious process to ensure they are not infected with larvae or maggots.
To kill the fruit flies that inject their eggs into the mangoes, he soaks the fruits in 50C of water for 30-45 minutes, following which they are soaked in organic, castor-based fungicide for 15 minutes to prevent fungal diseases. They are then thoroughly dried.
Another mango farmer, Avinash Talkar, said that in the past, despite weather phenomena and pandemic-related limitations affecting productivity at his farm, he was able to harvest at least 10,000 mangoes. This year, however, he reaped just 4,500 mangoes.
“We had a delayed fruiting season and an even delayed harvest season due to the weather conditions. Compared to previous years, the yield has come down by over 50%, resulting in very low profits,” he said.
Derick Afonso has seen a mere 20% yield at his farm after a majority of his crops did not flower.
“The production is so low that I am not even able to recover the cost of expenditure on the crop, let alone pay the labour force for their efforts,” he said.
The King of Fruits made its entry into Goan markets by February-March this year, albeit not in abundance. This resulted in a huge price hike, with the Mancurad variant going for as much as Rs 6,000 per dozen.
As the month of May progressed, other varieties such as Mangilar, Alphonso and Gotam entered the bazaars. Come June, mango varieties from other states have started to trickle into the retail market.