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Mango bears brunt of extreme weather


A mango orchard passed on through two generations to its inheritor Mohd. Salim Mirza of Malihabad, Uttar Pradesh, brought unexpected losses last year when a blistering early summer cut yields by half, its owner said. This year, Mirza’s 12-acre grove was pummelled by untimely rain and golf-ball sized hail in March and April, affecting fruit-setting.

Mango yields had to bear huge loss due to extreme weather last year (PTI)

Horticulturists in India, the world’s largest producer of the fruit, and Uttar Pradesh, the top grower among states, are increasingly battling the impacts of extreme weather, which scientists have linked to the climate crisis.

Millions of Indians eagerly await the season of mangoes, May to July. There are 1400 varieties to relish. Despite unhelpful weather, the country’s mango output was steady at 21 million tonnes in 2022-23, according to official data, because of better yields in some states not affected by the hottest March on record, such as West Bengal, the data show.

Unlike other fruits, mango trees take years to mature. Mirza’s fruits last year began dropping early, baked by the intense heat, which made it conducive for swarms of pests, such as thrips, to feast on his farm. The pest attack was so intense that applying more pesticides was not feasible.

This spring, a wet spell and hail drove away bees, essential for pollination, Mirza said, showing his farm of 300 trees, via a video call. “My losses last year were about 4 lakh,”, he said, adding he won’t be able to recoup the shortfall in returns due to a smaller crop this year.

“The impacts of early heatwave and unseasonal rain are variegated and visible in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and down south too,” said RV Prasad, a horticulture scientist who consults for The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), a wing of the commerce ministry.

In northern India, mango trees flower mostly between February and March, a period when heat waves are becoming common. The frequency and duration of heat waves in the country rose by around 2.5 days in the last 30 years due to global warming, a paper by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed last month.

The patterns of extreme weather over the last few years show they have impacted mango cultivation across the country. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are the top eight mango producing states.

Uttar Pradesh is known for its prized chausa, dashehari and langra varieties. According to Insram Ali of the All India Mango Growers’ Association, both untimely rain and heat have been the main reason for poor flowering in 2022 and this year. Output in the state fell by 1.4 million tonnes in 2022, he says.

Increasing heatwaves are being “most certainly” driven by global warming-induced changes in weather patterns, said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

In neighbouring Bihar, another grower, fickle weather has impacted incomes. “After last year’s heat wave destroyed 60% of the crop, many horticulturists have auctioned their orchards to contract farmers to hedge risks,” said Bhagalpur’s Ashok Chaudhary of the Bihar Aam Utpadak Sangh (Bihar Mango Growers’ Association).

The state is known for varieties such as maldah, jardalu, gulab khaas and aamrapali etc. and output fell the lowest in 50 years in 2022, he said.

In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, swings in weather now account for early flowering in 20% of the orchards, affecting yields, said Raj Sekhar Subba Rao, a plant physiologist with the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University.

“Mango is well adapted to tropical climate. However, it cannot stand frosty weather. Very high temperature, especially when flowering is young, low or high humidity and high winds, all of this will affect yields,” Rao said.

Oversupply of poorly formed fruits in western Uttar Pradesh is being sold at a discount to pulp makers, Mirza said, adding the impact of weather will be most felt in exports, which are lucrative.

Mango exports, which have increased 16% in the past five years, primarily take place in three forms –fresh mango, pulp and packaged slice– but fresh fruits are most sought after, according to Prasad.

Nine varieties which were exported to the Middle-East for the first time since 2021 included geographically identified Khirsapati (Malda, West Bengal), Lakkhanbhog (Malda, West Bengal), Fazli (Malda, West Bengal), Dusshheri (Malihabad, Uttar Pradesh), Amrapali and Chausa (Malda, West Bengal) and Langda (Nadiya, West Bengal).

India secured the approval of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for export of mangoes last year after several rounds of discussions. Exports were curbed by the US in 2020 due to suspension of phytosanitary inspections after the pandemic.

Scientists are waking up to the adverse changes. In a paper tilled “Climate Change Induced Abnormal Flowering Pattern in Mango” published by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, scientists said in Andhra Pradesh, during the 2016 season, the flowering phenomena in mango was observed to be “very different from normal flowering pattern, particularly in Rayalaseema districts” due to “climate factors”. Growers such as Mirza say they haven’t been advised on how to fend off these challenges yet.




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