PANAJI
A subdued and late winter has left Goa’s mango and cashew orchards, and farm owners, worried about their prospects this season as unusual climatic conditions, with temperatures frequently fluctuating every other day, persist.
Several mango and cashew orchard owners The Goan spoke to said the cashew flowering is good, but climatic conditions over the next few weeks, when fruiting takes place, will be crucial.
Mango plantations, on the other hand, are yet to show the same promise as cashew, with flowering being sporadic.
An official of the Agriculture Department, meanwhile, said the quality and quantity of the crop in February, March, and April will largely depend on how long the winter conditions continue.
“Now it has started becoming cold again, but we are hoping that these winter conditions continue until mid-February and beyond,” the official said.
Goa’s mango and cashew farmers had a poor season last year due to multiple heatwaves, which badly impacted the mango crop. The heat, the official explained, destroys the female flower before pollination and fruit formation.
A second consecutive year of poor yields could have a devastating effect on Goa’s rural economies, where many families are dependent on the summer horticultural crop harvests.
Goa has nearly 57,000 hectares of cashew orchards, much of which lie across forest lands that the department auctions for the harvest season. The average yield (cashew nuts with kernel) is roughly four quintals per hectare.
The mango output in Goa, on the other hand, is pegged by the department at 10,000 tonnes, with approximately 5,000 hectares under mango cultivation.
