It is reported that substantial damage to mango crops as a result of wind storms in Hyderabad from May 3 to 4 in the districts of Tando Allahyar and Mirpurkhas.
This whole region is known by the rich mango orchards. The powerful summer winds generally visit the region at the end of April or early May. These storms proved to be quite hostile for mango crops at a time when the contractors of the mango garden, as well as the owners, began to prepare to send some varieties to the fruit market in early May.
From what it seems, this summer has not been a good omen for the mango harvest of Sindh from the first day. The fruit suffered initial losses due to the shortage of water that were interrupted by massive pest attacks in the trees. Now, wind storms have undermined crop prospects.
The Department of Meteorological had registered the speed of the storms at 30 nautical miles, or 54 kilometers per hour, in Hyderabad on the night of May 3, followed by another the next morning in Mirpurkhas, where wind speeds were recorded at 28 nautical miles, or 52 km per hour, when the storm moved to the east in Mirpurkhas.
The wind storms caused the fall of considerable immature mangoes, locally known as Kairi. The wholesale market dealers and the owners of Huertos said that the losses in the orchards are significant and led to the arrival of vehicles loaded with Mango Insecle in the Whoderab whoderabad market in large quantities.
Farmers and contractors of orchards are prepared for financial losses, since wind storms further interrupt the crops of hungry and pest hungry mango
“Dozens of vehicles that Kairi were carrying after the storms, which is unusual in May. Otherwise, immature mangoes take some time to be marketed,” said Asif Arain, a fruit merchant in the wholesale market. He said his arrival had crashed the market as prices collapsed at RS300 to RS400 per 50 kg bag, which were RS2,000 to RS2,200 for 50 kg before the storm.
These damage to immature mangoes, according to mango producer Taha Memon, based in Mirpurkhas, would translate into larger monetary losses for him and other producers, since fruits configuration had been reduced after pest attacks. “Actually, this malformation due to diseases is increasing, which is attributed to climate change, and is becoming more and more worrying for us every season,” he said.
From the point of view of the producers, the supplies of irrigation water in early February and March are of essence, since this is the critical moment in which flowering begins to become fruits in the trees. “I used tube wells to water the garden in the absence of flood irrigation water supplies. But my experience is that the water of the subsoil is not a better water substitute on the channel that transports silt and is beneficial for the ground and trees,” said Mir Shah Mohammad in Tandocam, one of the worst areas with a storm in the Hyderab region.
Mohammad said that immature mangoes remained smaller, and if this is the case in other orchards, then it will have a negative impact on the export potential. A lower production is already afraid, he said.
Given the situation, Mango Orchard contractors have revoked their contracts unilaterally claiming that they would incur financial losses if they continue with the contract; They believe they will not be able to obtain enough profits to recover their investment at the end of the day.
“The owners promise that they will cooperate with the contractors, but most of them do not. A contractor has the loss and has to pay the amount committed even if he does not obtain the necessary production,” said Haji Umar Daraz, who has multiple orchards per contract while confirming that the damages related to the storms are immense.
The contractual system is common among the owners of mango orchards, in which a contractor pays a fixed amount to the owner to administer the garden, harvest the fruit with workers and sell it. These contracts involve millions of rupees annually. In general, contractors are blamed for not making serious efforts to administer orchards. But gardens also avoid handling this laborious work.
Mango orchards, in general, are managed under conventional practices without government support to promote innovation, research and development in farms. “We have been told that high density mango agriculture is good and offers better yields with minimal losses of miscellaneous nature. But the Horticulture Horticulture Research Institute does not create such a model,” said Orchard’s owner, the owner of Orchard.
According to Mr. Shah, mango producers are acting in a vacuum. The farmers themselves have taken initiatives to plant high density mangoes without any institutional support, and this agriculture is intensive in capital. Since it is a paradigm shift in mango agriculture, farmers have to wait for five to seven years to know if it is good.
In addition, Mr. Shah agrees that the current panorama of the orchards is not sustainable. “A mango festival has become an annual ritual that, for me, is a cosmetic exercise. It does not benefit anyone. An owner of an ordinary garden needs practical guidance on the effective management of the orchards to positively impact yields,” he said.
In a high density farm, up to 800 to 1,300 trees in an acre are recommended, since plant-to-plant spacing is considerably reduced compared to 30-40 trees in an acre in a conventional farm. Nadeem Shah, owner of a garden based in Matiari, is one of the few farmers who had attempted high density agriculture and abandoned it. He explained that, taking into account the cost-benefit ratio, he could not keep high density farms intact, since he implied expensive labor.
However, Ghulam Sarwar’s experience with high density agriculture is giving good results where maximum trees in an acre offer greater yields than minor and larger canopy trees in an acre. “The oldest trees also face the natural aging process, which compromises their yields,” he joked.
Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, May 12, 2025
