NAGPUR, January 22: The unseasonal heavy rains in winter have severely affected the orange crop in Vidarbha region this year, resulting in heavy losses to farmers and traders. However, the rains could prove to be a boon in disguise for the orange crop due next month.According to Agricultural Produce Marketing Centre sources, the production of the Ambia Bahar crop was badly hit by the rains in November and December. Hopes are now pinned on the Mrig Bahar orange crop.
The orange crop production, which was 1.48 lakh tonnes last year, dropped to 1.17 lakh tonnes this year, said the Horticulture Department. The hailstorm and the unseasonal rains dealt a crippling blow to the orange crop.
According to Meghraj T Mainani, a farmer and supplier of oranges, the losses were more than 40 per cent this year. The bad weather did not allow farmers to pluck the fruits when they were about to get ripe as most of the roads to the farms were inaccessible. As a result, the fruits were soaked and rotted easily.
Farmers
had to be content with a lower value for the oranges. While good quality oranges had fetched a price of Rs 400 to Rs 700 per thousand last year, this year they fetched around Rs 250 to Rs 350 per thousand, which was pretty bad business for all, Mainani said.
K Satpute, Deputy Director of Horticulture, said more than the fall in the production, it was the poor quality of oranges that hit the farmers. Y B Kunte, an orange expert who has developed a seedless variety of the fruit, said the rains were responsible for the poor orange crop this year. The oranges failed to develop to their natural orange colour. They also developed black spots as a result of the hailstorm earlier. This reduced the shelf-life and market value of the oranges, especially those marked for export.
The opening of an air cargo complex in the city should have boosted the export of oranges, but the bad crop dampened the prospect. The orange crop was affected by mites as farmers failed to spray their orchards before the rains, Kunte
added.
Kiran Ghiya, a small cultivator of oranges in Koradi, said the bad crop had made it difficult for small farmers to survive. In a good crop year, the profit per acre amounted to around Rs 20,000 per acre. This year, it was not even half that amount. Like most other farmers in the region, Ghiye has pinned his hopes on the Mrig Bahar crop.
However, Prashant Kulkarni, another medium-scale producer of oranges, feels losses are not as heavy as they have been made out to be. The hailstorm only hit the crops initially. The December rains were free of hails. Besides, the heavy unseasonal rains will boost the Mrig Bahar orange crop now which would be very beneficial to the farmers, he said.
Suresh Agrawal, President of Vidarbha Industries, regretted that despite being one of the leading crops of the region, there is no plan formalised by the state government to protect the interests of orange farmers and compensate them during natural crises. The state government is not taking any measure to boost orange
production in Vidarbha, he lamented.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
