Climate change affecting market and production; price of mangoes skyrocketing

KUMILY: Another mango season has arrived with different flavours of sweetness hitting the palate. This year is a very low-yielding mango season due to which the price of mangoes is high in the market. Farmers say that the change in weather is the reason for the decline in production.

The lack of rainfall at the time of mango tree flowering also adversely affected the yield. Farmers group leaders say that this is the first time that there has been such a decrease in mango production in the last ten years. Various mango varieties reach our hands from Mango Plantations in Theni and Madurai districts of Tamil Nadu. In the market, there are about fifteen varieties of mangoes like Sindooram, Malgoa, Salem, Alphonsa, Mallika Mango, Kottukonam, Colombo, Himampasand, Neelam, Kesar... Of these, Alphonsa, known as the king of mangoes, is leading in production.

The production of Chakarakutti, the smallest variety of mangoes, was very low. Mango, a tropical fruit, has always been a favourite of Malayalees. Most of the mango varieties that were available during the mango season that started in April are now unavailable due to reduced production. Now only a few varieties like Malgoa, Neelam, and Himampasand are available in the market. Manga wholesalers say that the availability of this too will run low within two weeks. The popular variety Alphonsa is the best seller. The most expensive varieties Miyazaki and Noor Jahan did not reach the common market.

"Earlier, families coming from Kerala used to return with large quantities of mangoes, but this time the mango season was bad."

-Karl Marx,

mango wholesaler, Kambam