Mango farmers in Wanaparthy, Nagarkurnool plan crop shift

Worried over extensive pest attacks, increasing investments and low production, many farmers are cutting down decades-old mango trees.

Hyderabad: The lush green mango orchards that used to greet people in many villages of Wanaparthy and Nagarkurnool districts are slowly vanishing and making way to different crops. Worried over extensive pest attacks, increasing investments and low production, many farmers are cutting down decades-old mango trees. Many are now opting to cultivate different crops unable to bear losses in mango cultivation.

Thoom Eashwar Reddy, a farmer from Chinnambavi mandal owns eight acres of mango orchard. Of these, he has cut down trees in three acres and is planning to cultivate avocados in the next season.

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“Mango is king of fruits but I am turning poor. I cannot bear losses anymore,” says Eashwar Reddy, who has been cultivating mangoes for 25 years.

The prime factor is extensive pest attack, especially black thrips, since last three to four years in the region. This apart, unseasonal rains and increasing investments are being attributed as other reasons for losses by the farmers.

For six acres, it is costing about Rs.2.60 lakh for chemical spraying. In addition to this cost, we have to bear labour cost, fertilizers costs and other expenditure. Despite all these efforts, the pest attack was affecting production, explains Eashwar Reddy.

According to him, trees spread over 1,000 acres in Chinnambavi have already been cut. Another 10,000 to 15,000 trees would be cut in the days to come.

This scenario is not confined to one particular village. Farmers in Goverdhangiri, Chinnadagada, Velgonda and others in Chinnambavi mandal and Sampatraopalle, Weepangandla villages and a few others in Weepangandla mandal too are facing similar issues.

Many farmers are now considering ground nuts, maize, pulses like black gram and green gram cultivation. These crops can be cultivated in about three months and profits could range from Rs.60,000 to Rs.70,000 an acre, farmers say.

“I have 14 acres of Mango orchards. There has been extensive pest attack and recovering investment will be an achievement, leave aside profits,” says Thumbala Anjaneyulu, a farmer from Velgonda. He is in a dilemma whether to continue mango farming next year.

Many farmers in Ammaipalle have already cut several trees and our neighbour has cut 500 trees recently, he adds.

Echoing similar opinion, an official from the Horticulture department says a few farmers in Nagarkurnool district too were planning crop diversification. The yield, which used to be about four tonnes an acre, was gradually decreasing to two tonnes an acre in the last couple of years, the official says.

Despite adopting different practices, the black thrips attack was continuing in many areas in the district, he adds.

Horticulture department data presents a different picture

As many farmers were cutting down trees and opting for crop diversification, the horticulture department data presents a different picture over mango cultivation in both Wanaparthy and Nagarkurnool districts.

In Wanaparthy district, mangoes were cultivated in 11,075 acres and 50,945 metric tonnes production was recorded during 2018-19. The cultivation area increased to 15,438 acres and the production escalated to 46,130 metric tonnes in 2022-23.

Similarly, the mango acreage in Nagarkurnool district, increased from 18,681 acres in 2018-19 to 34,265 acres in 2022-23. Likewise, the production increased from 89,669 metric tonnes to 1.16 lakh metric tonnes during the same period.