Mangoes to turn sour for common man

Mango, the king of fruits may not be sweet for common man this season. There are clear indications of a considerable dip in the yield due to climatic variations.

Low yield per hectare and trees being infected by pests have added to the dip in production. Usually, by mid-February, the mango trees are supposed to be lush green with bunch of flowers all over. However, that is not the case this time. Most of the trees have darkish leaves. Experts attribute the situation to unsolicited rains in November-December and fog that proved damage to the trees.

The problem does not pertain to Karnataka alone. Neighbouring states will also face the crunch, the experts said.

Karnataka has 170,808 hectares of land under mango cultivation in total. Kolar tops the list with 46,772 hectares and Mysuru has the lowest with 3,858 hectares. Ramnagara has 22,357 hectares of mango groves. Chikkaballapura has 14,147 hectares and Dharwad has 10,000 hectares under mango cultivation.

Other districts growing mangoes are Bengaluru rural (7,040 hectares), Mandya (6,146 hectares), Belagavi (5,465 hectares), Haveri (4,521 hectares) and Chikkamagaluru (4,176 hectares)

In the past year, Karnataka had produced 1,656,6191 tonnes of mangoes.

Dharwad belt in the state is known for growing the best quality of mangoes, popularly called Alphonso or 'Aapus'. 'Aapus' breed is unique as it yields once in two years. The district also grows another 70 varieties of mangoes like Allumpur Beneshan, Baramasi, Neelgoa, Fazali, Bombay green, Purihaar, Mallika, Neelam and Totapuri among others.

The Malnad belt of Dharwad comprising Kalghatgi, Alnavar, Mugad, Nigadi, Mavinkopp, Murkatti and Salakinkopp in Dharwad taluk, Kundgol and parts of Hubballi taluk are known for high quality Aapus mangoes. Mango groves are also found along the Pune-Bengaluru national highway from Dharwad to Belgavi till Kittur.