Mango farmers may take a blow as only 10-20% yield is estimated this season

Mango farmers may take a blow as only 10-20% yield is estimated this season

Mango farmers in Telangana were hopeful of earning good profits when their orchards were lush with flowers in January this year. However, as the harvest season draws close, they are estimating a meagre 10-20% mango yield.

Jagtial, Mahabubnagar and Nagarkurnool districts in the State are prominent for mango orchards. Farmers from the district corroborated low yield estimates and said they would not make money from the orchards this year.  They said Himayat and Benishan varieties bore most of the damage.

Besides the farmers, wholesale traders and others involved in the export chain too said the mango production in the State will be bleak this year. However, Horticulture department officials estimated, preliminarily, the yield would be around 50-70% — a count arrived at based on inputs from farmers and observations. They said a better estimate could be arrived in a few weeks, when farmers harvest the fruits. 

While supply is estimated to be low, farmers got lower prices than last year, which defeats the economic reasoning ‘Less supply, high demand and higher prices’.  

“We got around ₹80-100 per kg of Benishan variety at the beginning of the previous mango season, which gradually decreased over weeks. But we were paid only ₹50 per kg of the variety this season’s beginning. We don’t know why the price is low when supply too is low. We hope to get better prices as days pass by” said Mitpally Prathap Reddy who has 19 acres in Korutla, Jagtial.

In the retail markets, near the Gaddianaram Fruit Market, a kilo of Benishan was sold at ₹100 - Rs 150 per kg this week.