Mango yield bears brunt of blistering early summer

NEW DELHI: 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.

Horticulturists in India, the world’s largest producer of the fruit, and UP, 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. 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 to feast on his farm. 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 UP, 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