Mango farmers in Mancherial stare at crisis caused by cloudy weather, unseasonal rains

The distressed farmers are reportedly using inorganic pesticides to protect the mango orchards.

Mancherial: Mango farmers in the district are staring at a crisis due to a possible in dip in yield due to unfavorable climatic conditions.

Mango orchards are being raised in over 18,000 acres in Mancherial district, one of the leading producers of Mangoes in Telangana. While 9,870 acres in Bellampalli cluster accounted for mango farming, the fruit crop is being cultivated in 7,160 acres in Chennur cluster and in 1,120 acres of Mancherial cluster.

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K Raja Goud, a farmer from Avadam village in Nennal mandal said that the growers were expecting huge profits after seeing trees with good flowers. However, they are likely to witness losses in this year as the flowering was affected due to different diseases caused by cloudy weather and unseasonal rains.

The distressed farmers are reportedly using inorganic pesticides to protect the mango orchards. They fear they would register a decline in the yield by at least 20 percent, when compared to that of 2019. They said that inclement weather continues to spell doom for the orchards especially when the trees reach flowering stage has happened in the past.

Meanwhile, tenant mango farmers who take orchards on lease at the flowering stage are in a pitiable condition. They protect mango flowers through different methods like watering the trees and spraying some pesticides and camp in the farms for over six months. They, however, are set to see losses. The district has 7,556 tenant farmers, as per data provided by officials.

Mancherial district is known for producing over 60 varieties of mango including Banginapalli, Kala Mamidi, Dasheri, Thotapari, Goa, Panchadara, Cherukurasam, Malgoba, Jishan, Mallika, Sundari, Himayat, Neelam etc., Nennal, Jaipur, Bheemaram, Bellampalli, Thandur, Mandamarri mandals stand in top position. The growers export the fruit to markets in Nagpur, Nanded, Mumbai, Delhi, Nizamabad and Hyderabad cities.

District horticulture officer V Uday Kumar said that mango crop was susceptible to natural calamities such as untimely rains, gales and hailstorm. Compensation is extended only when the crop is damaged by gales and hailstorm.