Chittoor mango farmers fret at 3-month delay in flowering

Delayed blamed on prolonged spell of northeast monsoon last year

Chittoor district, famous for its mouthwatering varieties of mangoes, is desperately waiting for full-fledged flowering to appear in the orchards with hardly four months left for the mango season to end.

According to the officials, the flowering has been inordinately delayed this year due to the prolonged spell of Northeast monsoon last year, even extending into the New Year.

Compared to the previous two years under COVID-19 shadow, this year has seen a considerable increase in the acreage and maintenance of mango orchards in 2.5 lakh acres in Chittoor district.

An unusual phenomenon of “delayed flowering” and “new flushes” is seen all over the gardens presently. The mango growers say that by this time, the orchards should have been showing tender fruit, a portion of which would be ready for sales during the Ugadi and Srirama Navami festivals.

“It is for the first time in two decades that we are seeing an excessive delay in the crop pattern,” said Dhananjayulu, a mango grower in Tavanampalle mandal.

The mango business has become a gamble in Chittoor in the last five years, marred by protests and demands of farmers to provide a remunerative price for their produce. Interestingly, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, during his marathon walkathon in the district before coming into power, had come out with a promise to constitute a Mango Board to address the grievances of the farmers and to ensure remunerative prices to their yields.

The mango growers maintain that they keep remembering the promise every year between January and July, but no concrete steps are to be seen in that direction. The reality is that the mango yields had hardly crossed 35% during the last decade, despite the awareness camps to whet the skills of the mango growers each year.