This year, about 90 percent of Maharashtra’s famous Alphonso mango crop has been lost to the weather. The extreme heat and unseasonal temperatures caused by El Nino have left the mango orchards deserted. At the same time, the ongoing tension at the international level has also broken the back of exports, which has a direct impact on the pockets and tastes of common farmers and common people.
The coastal areas of Maharashtra, especially Devgarh, are considered the stronghold of Alphonso. But this time nature had decided something else. The huge difference in day and night temperatures during December and January did not allow the mango trees to bear flowers. Whatever remained, the scorching heat of April and May completed the task. According to Agriculture Officer Bapusaheb Manikrao Lambde, 85 to 90 percent of the crops in Devgarh have been destroyed due to El Nino effect.
According to the report of Economics Times, local farmers are suffering the biggest brunt of this devastation. The family of Komal Walke, a 26-year-old horticulturist from Devgarh, is also facing the same crisis. There have been hardly any mangoes in his three-acre orchard this year. To fulfill the big orders of online grocery companies and save his father’s business, he is now forced to buy mangoes from other big farms so that he does not lose customers.
The entire mathematics of the market has gone wrong.
India is the largest mango producing country in the world. According to data from research agency CRISIL, a total of 2.8 crore metric tonnes of mango was produced across the country in 2024-25. Last year, India’s total mango market was worth $2.3 billion, which is expected to reach $3.4 billion by 2031. Every year millions of dollars worth of fresh mango and mango pulp are exported. But this year the crop shortage has spoiled the entire mathematics of the market. The entire supply chain has collapsed due to both quality and production being affected.
Mango business burnt in the fire of war
The international situation has become an itch for the farmers and businessmen who are facing the brunt of the weather. India’s mango exports have been badly affected due to the Iran war. It has become difficult to deliver goods to major buyer countries like America, Britain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Qatar.
Shridhar Pathak, co-founder of Shrivali Agro, says that the freight cost has more than doubled. Their business has declined by about 40 percent due to delays or cancellations in shipments to Dubai and Oman. The interesting thing is that the mangoes kept for export are now being sold in the local markets under compulsion. This is the reason that despite the severe shortage caused by El Nino, the prices of mangoes in the local markets did not show the same surge that is usually seen during shortages.
From box maker to laborer in distress
Mango business is not limited to orchards only, an entire economy revolves around it. 52-year-old Sanjay Nare, who runs a mango carton manufacturing factory in Malvan, about 50 kilometers from Devgarh, has a stock of about one lakh empty boxes this year. He says that the entire economy of this coastal area is based only on mango and fish farming. If the mango trade comes to a halt in summer, the local people are left with no other major source of livelihood.
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