The Elusive Mango

Alphonsos will not be seen in the market after mid-May. Their produce has anyway been very low and prices steep

Alphonso mango lovers are missing the king of fruits on their dining platter,thanks to a dismal crop that has led to a steep hike in prices. Worse,mango-growers and distributors say the trademark Ratnagiri alphonso mango will disappear from the market after mid-May.

The crop yield in the mango belt of Maharashtras coastal region of Konkan is down to a measly 20 per cent of the annual produce,largely due to weather fluctuations and attacks by pests.

Instead of the daily arrival of about 1.25 lakh crates pack of 48 each this year,there has barely been 80,000 crates per day. The current area under mango cultivation in Ratnagiri district is nearly 65,000 hectares and in Sindhudurg,30,000 hectares.

Along with Devgad and parts of Vengurla in Sindhudurg district,Ratnagiri remains the largest supplier of mangoes with a bulk of despatches going to Mumbai followed by Pune and Kolhapur.

In March,instead of the usual availability of close to 30,000 mango crates in the wholesale market at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee,APMC,Vashi,only 5,000 crates were received. At that time,the price per crate was Rs 1,000-Rs 5,000.

Till May 4,there has been an estimated 15 lakh crates of mangoes received at the APMC market. Currently,wholesale market rates for alphonso mangoes are Rs 100 to Rs 400 per dozen which are being sold in retail at Rs 400 to Rs 800 per dozen.

The produce has been very low this year and prices of mangoes will remain high. Moreover,this year,Ratnagiri alphonso mangoes will not be seen in the market after mid-May, said Sanjay Pansare,director,APMC Vashi and a trader of mangoes.

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According to mango growers,this has been one of the shortest mango seasons in over a decade. The last time mango prices had hit the roof was in 1998 when the produce was affected and the season lasted hardly a month.

Balasaheb Bende,of Fruit Merchants Association,said: After many years,there is such a severe shortage of mangoes in the market. There will be produce till mid-May,after that we do not expect alphonsos. The produce after that will come from Gujarat and other parts of the state.

Growers said a prolonged winter which lasted until February was conducive for insect growth. In the first three months of this year,there were back-to-back attacks of pests such as mango hoppers and thrips. The temperature dipped to as low as 12 degrees C in February which harmed flowering and resulted in fungal growth.

Till January 20,we were happy with the flowering and confident of a good crop. Low temperatures resulted in a cumulative attack of hoppers and thrips from which the crop did not recover. The overall produce was reduced to 20 per cent, said Dr Vivek Bhide,who owns mango orchards in Ratnagiri.

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Another mango orchard owner from Ratnagiri said middle men have benefited as the end user has been forced to buy the fruit at steep prices. Moreover,mangoes from other parts of the country are also being sold as alphonsos.

Usually 40 per cent of the total produce is exported. But Dr Bhide said he had not been able to export mangoes this year,adding that the produce was not enough to cater to the needs of the export market.