HIGH HANGING SUMMER FRUIT
Mohammed Tariq Khan can scarcely believe his eyes. Owner of mango orchards in one of India’s great centres of the fruit—Malihabad tehsil of Lucknow district, where the luscious Dashehri mangoes originate—the 56-year-old daily checks on the progress of the fruit under his watch, but returns a dispirited man each evening. His harvest is wilting. Production of mangoes has plummeted in singular and spectacular fashion this year in Uttar Pradesh, by as much as a staggering 80-85 per cent. Tariq is one of those crippled by the losses: he has not even been able to pay salaries to labourers. Thousands of growers in UP’s mango belts are unable to cover their cost too—leave alone making a profit. The inevitable corollary for the consumer: prices are expected to soar this summer.
UP’s wide open Gangetic flatlands normally yield some 35-45 lakh metric tonnes of mangoes every year. This year, that figure has dropped sharply—to a mere 10-12 lakh metric tonnes. According to growers, this sorry state was mostly brought about by extreme and erratic weather conditions—especially the repeated heat waves. They also blame inferior quality pesticides. Other regions are suffering too, but nowhere is the crisis deeper than in Malihabad—the largest of UP’s 14 mango belts, which usually manages to delight countless palates with the Chausa, Safeda and Lucknowa varieties as well as the Dashehri. Mango orchards cover some 30,000 hectares in the tehsil, and it has some of the oldest mango trees. The groves here are owned by families who have been in the business for generations, sometimes for 100-200 years.
“It’s the lowest yield that I have ever seen in Malihabad and other mango belts of Uttar Pradesh,” says Insram Ali, president, All India
Mango Growers’ Association. “This is the first time in 20 years that March was hotter than May-June. That resulted in many (mango) flowers being damaged.” Meteorologists pegged this March as the hottest in the last 122 years, while April was the hottest in the last 50 years. The mango, crucially dependent on a predictable arc of temperature rise, was bound to suffer.
Ali says a maximum temperature of 30 to 35 degrees Celsius is required during the flowering season. “But this year, temperature soared to 40 degrees Celsius in March itself...that’s what damaged the mango flowers,” he adds. India exports mangoes to more than 40 countries worldwide, including widely in Europe and West Asia. Uttar Pradesh is the country’s largest mango producer, with around 24 per cent of the total share. Malihabad’s contribution is around 40 per cent of UP’s share—a significant amount, points out Ali. Barabanki, Saharanpur and Bulandshahr districts are UP’s other prominent mango growing areas.
Naseem Beg, another Malihabad mango grower, tells india today: “I have been in this profession for the last 34 years, I have not encountered such a bad scenario in Malihabad’s mango market. We have no money to pay labourers. Small mango growers have been forced to drive cabs or work as carpenters and house painters.” Over 20,000 families in Malihabad are associated with this business, says Beg. Across UP, over one lakh families depend on it in some way or the other.
Says Ram Prasad, a mango seller in Malihabad, “We are selling Dashehris at Rs 60-80 a kg here. When it goes to Lucknow or other towns, prices increase. In large districts, the fruit sells at Rs 100 a kg because of very high demand.” None of that mammoth mark-up filters back to the growers.
The crash in production has dealt a blow to the export market too. “Mango exporters who could not send the fruit to overseas markets in the last two years due to the Covid-19-related restrictions will suffer losses this year also. Exporters were hopeful that this time they will make good profits, but the crop failure has dented their hopes. The conditions of Barabanki and other mango belts are almost similar to Malihabad,” says Mohammad Faiz, a mango grower from Barabanki.
Growers have asked the state government to set up mango research institutes, where proper guidance will be given about all aspects, especially about dealing with pests. Growers are resorting to liberal spraying of pesticides, thus affecting the taste and smell of the fruit. There is widespread concern among growers over the everincreasing impact of pests on mangoes. The growers’ associations also demand that the government provide insurance cover of up to Rs 2 lakh a hectare for mango farmers affected by unseasonal rains or heat waves.
The state government, it seems, is mulling over the demands. Dinesh Pratap Singh, minister of horticulture and agricultural marketing in Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet, says, “The concerns of mango growers are genuine, and some of them have met us regarding this. We will try to find out solutions. I can’t promise something as of now, as nothing has been decided, but I will try to solve their issues.” ■
PRODUCTION OF MANGOES IN UP IS DOWN BY 80-85 PER CENT. MANY GROWERS ARE UNABLE TO MEET EXPENSES