Mango farmers a worried lot in Telangana

Generally, mangoes are cultivated in 31,000 acres in the district but this time flowering was poor in about 15,000 acres.

Hyderabad: Summer is here but farmers cultivating mangoes in many areas are not optimistic about the yield this year. Extensive pest attacks, unseasonal rains are among different reasons being cited by the farmers for the low production.

Farmers in many areas of erstwhile Mahabubnagar are worried about the black thrips attack, while those in Khammam say flowering was down by nearly 50 per cent this season.

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In Sangareddy, many farmers have already reported losses due to unseasonal rains. Mangoes are widely grown in Nagarkurnool, Kollapur, Achampet, Kalwakurthy, Wanaparthy and others areas in erstwhile Mahabubnagar district.

In Nagarkurnool district limits alone, mangoes are cultivated in about 34,000 acres, of which about 22,000 acres are above five years old orchards. However, flowering has been badly affected due to black thirps attack across many areas in the district.

B Chandrudu, a farmer in Kollapur says he had cultivated mangoes in four acres of his own lands. This apart, he had taken 40 acres on lease but this year it would be heavy loss due to the pest attack.

Save for about good yield in two acres in my own land, vast areas in the 40 acres, flowering has been affected badly, he says. Apart from low flowering, increased operational costs are likely to add to their losses. Due to extensive pest attack, multiple spraying had to be done and it resulted in additional expenditure of about Rs.20,000 per acre.

Add, fertilisers and labour cost and the operational costs shot up further, he explains. Same is the case in Wanaparthy and other neighbouring areas. If this was the situation in erstwhile Mahabubnagar district, in Khammam, the flowering is down by 50 percent.

Generally, mangoes are cultivated in 31,000 acres in the district but this time flowering was poor in about 15,000 acres.

In many areas, the mango fruitlets size ended up to the size of a lemon or sapota. Mostly Banganapalle varieties are raised in this region. Since this variety was an alternate bearer, last season the crop was encouraging but this year it is down, says an official from the horticulture department.

Horticulture department confident Every year, about 12 lakh metric tonnes of mangoes are produced in the State. This year, despite farmers expressing concerns due to poor flowering, horticulture department officials are confident that the yield would be on par with average production in the State.

Regarding the loss suffered by mango farmers in Sangareddy due to the rains on Saturday, officials said they were still awaiting reports from the field level.