This summer, failed Alphonso is the fruit of Konkan’s labour
For the people of Konkan, the mango is not just a delectable table fruit. For them, it has also been an agent of change, transforming the economy from an exporter of blue-collar labour to Mumbai and nearby areas to a go-to place for economic migrants from other states and Nepal. The Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts are said to have 12,000 to 14,000 workers and watchmen from Nepal in this labour-intensive sector.
For decades, Konkan was known as a "money-order economy", with the men working blue-collar jobs in Mumbai and around it and sending money back home for sustenance. Things began to change since the 1990s, thanks to the cultivation of the Alphonso mango, which found a market in India and abroad for their taste.
This, combined with the growth of fisheries, tourism and cashew cultivation, has changed the social economy of the region. But as mango growers and the wider economy of the region face a major calamity caused by climate change, vagaries of the weather and years or perhaps decades of faulty agricultural practices, farmers are in crisis. Here are some of the faces:
Story of crop loss: Thakur's 550 mango trees yield an average of 3,000 to 4,000 boxes of mangoes, but he says this time he would be lucky to harvest even 200 boxes. Thakur complains that the natural mango cycle has been disrupted. While temperatures between 14 degrees Celsius and 18 degrees Celsius are conducive for flowering and 18 degrees Celsius to 20 degrees Celsius for the fruits to set, the mercury rose to 29 degrees Celsius, leading to the flowers withering away. The fall in minimum temperatures ensured that pollinators remained inactive, affecting fruiting.
Story of crop loss: Lad has around 400 mango plants but will harvest just 150 boxes of mangoes, down from the 1,000 last year. He noted that the first flush of the crop had failed. This had come as a double whammy for farmers as these mangoes, which hit the market in February-March commanded a premium price. The first two flushes of flowering have gone poorly for Lad.
Story of crop loss: Gogate is involved in mango cultivation, processing and also transport of the fruit. The failure of the Alphonso crop has disrupted the entire economic chain, he complains. "We process mango products, but where do we source raw material from?" he asks. While he picks up mango consignments from farmers for transport to markets, Gogate informs that margins are shrinking due to lower cargo loads, overheads like fuel and pinching manpower costs.
The current bottlenecks in availability of commercial LPG have affected processors like Gogate. "We have shifted the manufacture of some products from gas to boilers, but there are some products like 'Hapus mava' for which only gas is suitable. Plus, smaller set-ups cannot install the expensive boilers," he says.
Story of crop loss: Dhuri owns around 700 mango trees, which normally yield around 700 to 800 boxes of five dozen mangoes each. But this time, he expects to harvest just 100 to 150 boxes. Dhuri, who dispatches Alphonso mangoes for sale to the Vashi APMC (Agriculture Produce Market Committee) near Mumbai and private markets, complains that dealers there have used the pretext of exports being affected by the West Asia war to depress prices for farmers.
Story of crop loss: Kulkarni, who quit his job to return to his family's farms located around 7 km from the pilgrimage centre of Ganpatipule, calls himself a farmer by choice. But now, he feels, farmers will have to look at supplementary sources of income considering the fickle and unpredictable nature of the venture. For instance, Kulkarni is diversifying into construction.
The downturn of the Alphonso mango has hit Kulkarni hard. While he expected a yield of around 1,500 to 1,750 boxes of Alphonsos, he will be lucky to harvest even 700 to 800. Kulkarni blames this on the attacks by primates on orchards and the impact of polluting projects in the Konkan, such as a thermal power plant near his village. He suggests that the government should instead promote food processing units in the region.
Story of crop loss: "This is a bad season," says Kane, a mango grower and processor, adding that he expected the yield to be down to just 15-20 per cent. Kane, a fourth-generation mango farmer, sells the Alphonso as a table fruit in Pune, and also uses it for canning. He says that while he packed around 100 to 125 boxes, each containing between five to eight dozens, daily in the past, it is now down to 25-35 boxes.
"The financials have collapsed," admits Kane, adding that he has cut down staff to 45 from the previous 60, with plans to trim the numbers further. Kane, who cans around 200,000 cans of mango pulp, says the rates of mangoes meant for the purpose were also expected to rise due to the shortage of the fruit.
Story of crop loss: The son of former BJP MLA Appa Gogate has around 600 mango trees. He will be able to get just 100 to 150 boxes as against the 2,000 boxes he could sell last year. Gogate stresses that the solution to the woes of mango growers and the future of the Alphonso mango hinged on research. He laments that agriculture varsities and research stations did not extend the necessary guidance to farmers. Chemicals and fertilisers meant for other crops were often sold to mango growers.
Story of crop loss: A horticulturist by training, Walke has 125 mango trees of her own and cultivates the rest on contract with land owners. She supplies mangoes to online platforms. While last year, she could sell around 200 mangoes daily to her clients, this year, she has barely touched a maximum of 30 dozen. Komal says she is purchasing mangoes from other farmers so that she is not dropped by the platforms she sells to.
"The first flowering was so intense that we felt it would be a bumper crop and we would tire of harvesting mangoes," adds Komal, but intense cold, dew and lack of humidity affected her crop. Although she was able to save some of her first fruiting, the second flowering failed.
Her father Rajeev says they undertook around 10 or 12 rounds of spraying and then called it a day after realizing that it was a futile exercise. "This is the first season where we have no yield. Otherwise, a fluctuation in the yield is par for the course," he adds.
Komal has another worry — she has started a pesticide business, where around 60 per cent sales are on credit, with farmers clearing their dues between March and June after harvesting their yields. The failure of the Alphonso crop has led to fears whether retailers like Komal will have to face defaults from them.
Story of crop loss: Joshi is known as a progressive farmer, with his orchards yielding an average of 10 tonnes per hectare as against 1.96 tonnes for the Konkan and 2.6 tonnes for Ratnagiri district.
Joshi says that, however, he may be able to harvest just 10 to 12 tonnes this year, as against the annual yield of 70 to 75 tonnes. Sitting outside his house with crates full of the jumbo-sized fruit in the courtyard, Joshi blames the vagaries of the weather and rapid climatic changes for the situation. Of the 10 workers on his farms, Joshi has retained just six. He has been in the business for 50 years, and while he has seen bad seasons, the losses this year are unprecedented.
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