Summary:
Farmers may also not be able to pluck the remaining fruits as their farms got inundated from rainwater.
However, on Tuesday many made a beeline outside the market yard in Valsad to sell mangoes that fell off during the cyclonic storm.
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Blame Tauktae if your craving for mangoes this season remains unfulfilled.
The cyclone ravaged thousands of hectares of mango orchards in Saurashtra and south Gujarat, the hub of state’s mango production.
Mango farmers from Gir-Somnath, Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar, home to mouth-watering Kesar mangoes, are staring at humongous losses after the devastating wind accompanied by heavy rains tore through the mango-laden trees.
“The cyclone struck at the ripe harvesting time.
Had it been 10 to 20 days later, farmers would have sold their crops and earned money.
Much of the damage is witnessed in the old and bigger trees owing to their height,” said DK Varu, head of the Department of Fruit Science at Junagadh Agriculture University.
In south Gujarat too, a loss of 50% of fruits is estimated in the bigger trees.
“Farmers are going to face a severe economic burden as this was the season of making money,” said Bharat Desai, a farmer from Killa-Pardi in Valsad district.