India’s top mango markets in Delhi, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad will not get Kerala mangoes at the beginning of this season. Muthalamada, the State’s mango city synonymous for Kerala mangoes across the country, has suffered the biggest crop loss in recent memory apparently because of climate change. The distraught farmers of Muthalamada expect hardly 10 to 15% yield this season.
Kerala mangoes used to be the first to hit the country’s big markets by January mid with high popularity and price. But the farmers of Muthalamada are at their wits’ end as mango orchards spread across 5,000 hectors from Chemmanampathy to Elavanchery in the foothills of the Western Ghats in Kerala’s Palakkad district are largely fruitless now.
Although the orchards had flowered in October-November, the untimely rains in early December destroyed the flowers. After that massive flower drop, the mango orchards witnessed a simultaneous vegetative and reproductive growth, bringing flowers to only some trees. And the farmers are not sure if the flowers will blossom through the summer to give a solacing yield.
