The mango season in the Telugu states is going to get sweeter as the increased yield may reduce the price of the fruit for end consumers. Unlike last season, farmers say that there were bountiful rains and suitable weather conditions for this one, which resulted in a greater yield of mangoes in the Telugu states.
“This year, we are going to have a better yield as the mango flowers have started blooming everywhere. One main reason is that we had sufficient rains. Unlike last season, we received plenty of rain and the weather condition was good. This will facilitate a better yield in the mango season. It may also result in a reduction of prices. However, we can’t determine that now itself,” says Somidi Srinivas, a farmer from Warangal who is also the President of the district Farmers’ Association.
In the monsoon, Telangana received excess rainfall and none of the districts experienced a deficit. While the normal rainfall for the state is 853.1 mm a year, the state received 1,259 mm last year, according to the Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSPDS).
Mangoes are one of the top eight surplus fruits that are produced in the state of Telangana. According to the state’s Horticulture Department, on average, the state has 2.89 lakh acres of land under mango cultivation and produces about 10.23 lakh metric tonnes of mangoes in the season. Apart from producing enough mangoes for local consumption, the state also exports mangoes to Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states in northern India.
“Though there are lakhs of acres under mango cultivation, usually in a season, only 60% of the mango orchards would be fruit bearing in any district since the rest of the orchards would be in the initial development stages. For the same reason, every year, each district will increase mango orchards by at least 100 to 200 acres,” says Dr Sunanda Reddy, an official from the Horticulture Department in Ranga Reddy.
Most of the mango yield comes from Nizamabad, Adilabad, Nalgonda, Mahboobnagar, Nagarkurnool, Warangal, Ranga Reddy, Sangareddy and other districts. Farmers expect that the mango season will kickstart either towards the end of March or in early April with the Banginapally variety.
When it comes to Andhra Pradesh, the fog is playing spoilsport in the northern districts of the state, causing a drop in the flowering. Experts say that the presence of more water bodies in the northern belt has led to an increase in the humidity which has, in turn, resulted in the fog.
Meanwhile, local farmers have pinned hopes on Rathasapthami [a Hindu festival day when the sun is worshipped; it marks the beginning of summer], expecting that rains on that day might reduce the fog. “The fog is disrupting the flowering of the mango buds. The mamidi pootha (mango flowers) are withering with the continuous fog in the early hours. And it’s been the same for the last 10 days. We hope that there will be rains on the day of Rathasapthami and the fog will lift after that, with the advent of the summer season,” says Balu Gadi, state Co-convenor of Rythu Swarajya Vedhika.
Andhra Pradesh has sizable mango production in Anantapur, Vijayawada, Kurnool, and East Godavari among other districts. Despite the fog, the state has witnessed good flowering and the farmers are anticipating a high yield. Andhra also received 25% excess rainfall last monsoon which proved beneficial for mango cultivation. #KhabarLive #hydnews