Erratic weather in this belt has hit hard flowering of Mango trees in Malda district, famous for the king of fruits.
Erratic weather in this belt has hit hard flowering of Mango trees in Malda district, famous for the king of fruits. Flowers have been seen in only 20 per cent of trees and the development could hit hard the economy of the district, district's mango development officer Samarendra Nath Khanda said.
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Such low flowering in an on year is unheard of in recent times. Mango, an important aspect of Malda's economy, is produced in abundance every alternate year.
Such a year is called an on year while the less producing one is an off year. Khanda said the low flowering could be attributed to absence of cold conditions as well as fog.
"Moreover, the absence of west wind could also have hit the production. Only new tress have flowered and there was no chance of any more flowering," he said. The only silver lining is that the Lakshmanbhog variety has started showing flowers. Every part of the district has been affected and the worst hit areas are Ratua, Manikchak, Chanchal and Englishbazar.
Despite being an off year, last year's production was a record 1.90 lakh mt, which has nearly touched the average yield of an on year - two lakh mt. About 2.60 lakh people are directly and indirectly involved with the production of mango in the district, where orchards can be found on 26,000 hectare of land.
A number of varieties of mangoes - Aswini, Himsagar, Langra, Fazli, Gopalbhog - are found in Malda district and its earning from export, mainly to Bangladesh, is about Rs 120 crore, Khanda said. Token exports were also being made to countries of Europe and Middle East.
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