There are many who look forward to the scorching months just to take a bite of the quintessential summer fruit, Mango. But cyclone Tauktae apart from threatening widespread destruction may also hit the mango yield, its quantity as well as quality.
The harvesting season of mangoes in the state has just begun. But the low pressure area created by cyclone Tauktae and its likely landfall in Saurashtra that can cause heavy winds and rainfall has the mango growers of the region worried.

Farmers in south Gujarat are yet to pluck 75% of mango crop and they are already worried about the changing climate. Farmers say that if it just rains, there will not be much harm, but if it rains heavily with strong winds, there will be huge damage to the crop.

Agricultural scientists have already forewarned the farmers. “We have issued advisory to the farmers to pluck as many mangoes as they can and sell them. If the cyclone results in strong winds then both the ripe as well as unripe mangoes will get hit,” said Dr C K Timbadiya, senior scientist and head of Krushi Vigyan Kendra of Navsari Agricultural University.

“The major harvest begins after Akshaya Tritiya which was celebrated on Friday. But since the markets were also closed because of Eid and the weekend, farmers were going to start plucking over the weekend and next week,” said Vinod Desai, a farmer in Valsad who owns 5,000 mango trees.

After Akshaya Tritiya, retail markets are flooded with mangoes which bring down the prices of fruit. However, farmers are worried that if the crop is damaged, they will not get a good price and the mango lovers will end up paying more.

“Nobody prefers to buy mangoes that fall of the tree due to strong winds because they get damaged. So, we will not get good price. Also, since there will not be enough stock in the retail market, the vendors will increase the prices for end customer,” said Suresh Patel, a farmer from Navsari.

Currently, Alphonso is sold in the price range of Rs 1,400 to Rs 1,800 per 20 kg, Kesar for Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,600 while Rajapuri for Rs 900 per 20 kg in the retail market of Surat. Usually, as the supply increases after May 20 the prices drop by Rs 200-Rs 300 per 20 kg depending on the quality of the fruit.

The situation is no different in Saurashtra which is popular for its Kesar variety mangoes. There too farmers have not been able to harvest the crop due to changes in the weather over the last 20 days. Farmers already fear 40% loss in production due to unseasonal rain.

The cloudy atmosphere and rains have caused damage to the crop, and it also didn’t allow fruits to mature. D K Varu head of department of fruit science in Junagadh Agriculture University (JAU) said that climate plays an important role in ripening of mangoes. “An ideal climate would a temperature of around 40 degrees Celsius with little or no humidity. But in last two weeks the humidity level remained high so the mangos did not ripen and farmers could not pluck them,” Varu said.

According to farmers 70 to 80% crop is yet to be harvested and if the cyclone hits the state, it will cause huge damage.
The Kesar variety of mango is cultivated in 25,000 hectares of Gir Somnath, Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts and the average annual crop production is around 2.50 lakh tons.

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