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Mango supply can't meet demand |
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PUNE: The Hindu new year, Gudi Padwa, is just around the corner but the famed and much-loved alphonso mangoes are missing from the shelves.
Unseasonal rain has hit the agriculture output badly and mangoes are no exception. Traders say the shortage of alphonso mangoes has reached 60%, but the prices have almost doubled.
With exports to the European Union starting in April, the supply may dip by almost 70%, said a trader.
Ratnagiri-based grower Mandar Desai said that though mangoes are arriving, the fully riped ones, which can be used immediately for Gudi Padwa, are in short supply. "Unseasonal rain and high demand for festival are responsible for the crisis. Last Padwa, a dozen of ready-to-eat alphonsos cost anything between Rs 600 and Rs 900. This year, it is sold for Rs 1,000-Rs 1,800," said Desai.
The prices generally drop by April first week as fresh stocks arrive. But this year it may hover around Rs 600-Rs 900 per dozen. Last year, the cost was around Rs 400 to Rs 600. "Alphonso supply may be 30-35% less this year," added Desai.
Nishant Sawant, a grower from Konkan, said the supply could drop by half this year. "Not just the rain, but the re-flowering from December till January due to sudden weather changes has also affected the crop," he said.
Sawant said the sudden changes in weather and its consequent effect on mangoes are perhaps the first he has seen as a grower in the last 15 years. "Though such changes happen in a long cycle, the severity this time is extreme. So much so that my production has come down by 50% - from 3,000 parcels I supply each year to 1,500," said Sawant, pegging the current shortage of alphonso in the market at 60%. He said that instead of harvesting the crop daily (as he would every year), he now does it twice or thrice a week.
For growers from Konkan, the region known for alphonso mangoes, the production may come down by about 70%. "Only 20% to 30% produce is left across Konkan, especially in Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Raigad. The variation in temperature that started around December 20 not only caused double flowering but an increase in male flowers, which affects the output," said Vivek Bhide, a grower and exporter. The yield is so low that Bhide has decided not to export mangoes this year.
Nathsaheb Parashram Khaire, a fruit commission agent in Gultekdi, said the city is receiving close to 1,000 boxes (each box contains four to seven dozen mangoes) a day as against 2,000 boxes it used to get last year during this period. "The Kesar variety, which comes from Gujarat, may also be short by 30-40% this year due to unseasonal rain there," he said.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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