Mango farmers in the surrounding areas of Rangareddy and Chevella are staring at a massive 30% loss in crop due to Tuesday night’s thunderstorm that destroyed mangoes ready for plucking in hundreds of acres. Shamshabad, Shadnagar and other surrounding regions of the city were the worst affected while the crop was not affected in Bibinagar, Vikarabad, Medak and surrounding areas.
“Hundreds of small farmers are affected. While those who have leased out their farms to harvesters will not be affected, others who wanted to harvest on their own will be hit hard. In the next few days there will be a drop in the prices of mangoes and after that there will be surge due to decline in supply,” said Imtiaz, a mango farmer and exporter from the city.
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A preliminary report pegged the damage in 938 acres with 237 farmers affected due to the loss of standing crop in Rangareddy district. “The final report will come after a joint inspection by Revenue and Horticulture Departments,” said Babu Rao, Deputy Director of Horticulture Department of Rangareddy district.
According to a Telangana Horticulture Department official, the loss has to be more than 33% for the government to consider emergency measures of helping out the farmers.
“A mango farmer who was expecting a harvest of eight tonnes per acre will now get only six tonnes. Which is a huge loss considering that it is a seasonal crop. Even the mangoes which have not fallen will be affected,” said Rafique of AR4 Mangoes.
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The export market is not going to be hurt with this crop loss, said exporters. “I was planning to send a fresh lot of mangoes for home delivery to the US after this harvest. But now I have to take another lot for the US market,” said Rafique.
“We cannot put an exact estimate of the loss in terms of money but this year there has been a very good crop and farmers were expecting good returns. This storm will hit some farmers while others may benefit due to higher prices,” said Mr. Imtiaz.