Crown under threat: How unseasonal rainfall is affecting India’s mangoes, the king of fruits

What is the significance of mangoes for India?

Mangoes are a crucial part of India’s agricultural economy, as the country is the largest producer of the fruit in the world. India accounts for more than 50% of the total mangoes produced worldwide — it produced 223.98 lakh metric tonnes (MT) in 2023-2024, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW) data.

While there are around 1,000 varieties of mango in India, about 30 are commercially cultivated in different states. Uttar Pradesh is the largest producer within the country, with a share of 26.74% in 2023-2024, the MoAFW data show. Other major mango-producing states include Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Telangana, and West Bengal.

Over the years, India has also emerged as a prominent exporter of mangoes. For instance, in 2023-2024, the country exported 32,104.09 MT worth $60 million of fresh mangoes, up from 22,963.78 MT worth $48.53 million in 2022-23. The United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, Kuwait, and Qatar were among the most notable importers.

However, the expanding global footprint of Indian mango shipments could face obstruction if the unseasonal rainfall continues to hamper the yield.

Late actor Dev Anand eating mangoes in 1966. (Photo: Express Archive)

How does erratic rainfall affect mango production?

In India, mango is grown both in tropical and sub-tropical regions from sea level to an altitude of 1,500 metres. The fruit requires good rainfall during its growing season (June to October) and dry weather from November onwards.

Although mango can tolerate a wide range of climate conditions, if the weather is rainy or cloudy during the flowering season (November to March), several issues can emerge. For instance, rainfall can disrupt pollinators’ activity, meaning pollinators like bees and butterflies are not able to properly pollinate plants, which leads to a dip in crop yields.

High humidity and wet conditions triggered by rainfall during the flowering season can also result in the spread of diseases such as anthracnose, a fungal infection which causes dark lesions and spots on flowers and leaves. It can ultimately lead to leaf and flower drops.

Late BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and M L Khurana in New Delhi. (Photo: Express Archive)

Another disease that can spread in wet conditions is powdery mildew, which can affect leaves, flowers, and fruits. It can cause shedding of leaves and does not allow the affected fruits to grow in size.

Note that rainfall has become increasingly erratic across the world, including in India, primarily due to global warming. Several studies have shown that higher temperatures have made rainfall patterns unpredictable. While some regions have seen more intense and frequent storms, others have witnessed a rise in drought events.

What has been the impact of erratic rainfall on mango yields in India?

In 2023, then Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar had told the Parliament in response to a query that thunderstorms, unseasonal rains and early monsoon cause between 10% and 25% of losses in mango production annually in India.

Choudhary, in his response, listed the impact of unseasonal rainfall on the yield of mangoes at the All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) centres in 10 different states. AICRP centres are research units across India, where studies about crop improvement, building climate-resilient crops, among others, take place.

For instance, at the AICRP centre in Tripura’s Lembucherra, pre-monsoon showers, storms, and

Hail caused 10% to 20% loss annually between 2021 and 2025. At the AICRP centre in Tamil Nadu’s Periyakulam, unusual rainfall led to severe flower drop and spread of infections between 2023 and 2025. This resulted in a yield loss of 46% to 55% in 2025, 75% to 80% in 2024, and 32% to 35% in 2023.

Prolonged rainfall and waterlogging have caused between 40% and 50% of yield loss in the past five years at the AICRP centre in Tengana’s Sangareddy.

Erratic rainfall triggered diseases such as anthracnose at Lucknow’s centre between 2023 and 2025, which caused a dip in mango production by 3% to 5%. In Jharkhand, unseasonal rain brought fruit flies, a type of pest that lay eggs under the skin of mangoes, leading to rotting, earlier this year.

The change in rainfall patterns could be one of the reasons why India’s mango productivity has remained stagnant between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024. The productivity, which stood at 9.3 metric tonnes per hectare (MT/Ha) in 2018-2019, fell in 2019-2020 (8.9 MT/Ha), 2020-2021 (8.8 MT/Ha), and 2021-2022 (8.8 MT/Ha). It rose to 8.9 MT/Ha in 2022-2023 and 9.3 MT/Ha in 2023-2024.

This is contrary to how productivity rose between 2012-2013 and 2017-2018, except for just one year, 2015-2016. The productivity increased from 7.2 MT/Ha in 2012-2013 to 9.2 MT/Ha in 2017-2018.