Mango farmers count losses as winds ruin crop

Ongole: Cyclone Fani has wreaked havoc for mango farmers in Prakasam district even before it devastated the Odisha coast. The massive gales that swept the district late on Thursday night uprooted mango trees across hundreds of acres in Kandukur, Ulavapadu and Gudlur mandals. The winds that blew for nearly two hours have shattered the prospects of mango farmers on recovering the input costs as the fruit was completely damaged.
Mango farmers were already anxious about low yield and poor quality of fruit during the current season. The absence of rains in the last six months had resulted in low fruit quality and poor yield. The unexpected winds and gales under the influence of Cyclone Fani have increased the troubles of mango farmers.
According to initial estimates, the mango fruit was damaged on about 5,000-8,000 acres in Kandukur mandal. Officials in the horticulture department observed that the crop loss on each acre would amount to a monetary loss of Rs 50,000 for farmers. Mango nurseries are spread over nearly 23,000 acres in Kandukur, Tangutur, Ulavapadu, Gudlur, Singarayakonda and Kondepi mandals. The Ulavapadu variety of Banginapalle mango is very famous, both nationally and internationally. Traders from across the country purchase the stocks from the cultivators and usually pay the advance in February and March.
However, the traders are believed to have delayed picking up the stocks from mango farmers in the district on seeing the slight decrease in fruit quality in the early stages. Many mango exporters left the nurseries after their initial visits, with a promise to make another round of inspection of the fruit in April or May.
After realising that exporters were not keen on picking up the stock, the farmers started moving their stock to the local markets in the past 10 days.
Cyclone Fani, however, laid bare their hopes when strong winds uprooted the trees and damaged the fruits. “Lack of a spell of rain in the last six months had already resulted in a 30 per cent fall in the yield and another 30 per cent of the stock was damaged due to Thursday’s gales. It is very difficult to recover the costs,” rued a mango farmer, Syed Usman from Ulavapadu mandal. District collector Vinay Chand directed the horticulture department to enumerate the losses in order to extend support to the farmers.