The mangroves in the ‘Mango Barn of Karnataka’ are a feast to the eyes now with the trees flowering abundantly. As the fragrance spreads, it has also raised hopes of a good yield among the worried farmers, who had suffered huge losses the last two years.
This year too, the cultivators are an anxious lot with inclement weather delaying the flowering season. Normally, mango trees flower between December-end and the second week of January. But with the cold having receded now and the temperature picking up, the trees have begun flowering. This comes at a time when withered mango trees in thousands of acres have been felled due to lack of humidity.
Blessing in disguise
The unseasonal and incessant rain in November-December last year, due to the low-pressure area that developed over the Bay of Bengal, may have come as a blessing in disguise for mango farmers in the region as the increase in groundwater level and humidity in the surroundings appear to have helped the trees.
Kolar district’s contribution to the country’s mango production is huge, with mango being grown in more than 48,000 hectares here. Of this, Srinivasapur taluk alone accounts for 26,000 hectares. The district’s average annual mango production is around five lakh tonnes. Badami, Banisha, Neelam, Rasapuri, Mallika and Bengalur are the varieties cultivated in the district.
‘Good yield if no
rain for now’
“As of now, the flowering is very good and we can expect a good mango yield this season provided there are no showers in the next fortnight,” said P.R. Suryanarayana, a mango cultivator at Panasamakanahalli in Srinivasapur. However, rains in March would be ideal for a good yield, he added.
Mr. Suryanarayana remained wary of competition from other states and played down chances of huge profits for cultivators.
“One has to see how the yield is in other major mango growing states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
Source : The Hindu
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