Mango production reduced by nearly 65 percent

Altaf Abro
KHAIRPUR: Mango production reduced by around 65 percent in the current season in khairpur area due to weather change and some other factors, including closure of canals, electricity loadshedding and diesel shortage, at a very crucial time for the crop.
Severe temperature variation from March 10 to March 22 from 37 degrees centigrade to 42 degrees centigrade, contrary to 32 degrees centigrade routine temperature in last years, affected the mango fruit to a greater extent, said the Director of the Mango Research Institute (MRI), Abdul Ghaffar Garewal, in Multan.
Similarly, the temperature in April also remained high compared to the ones in previous years, and it also aggravated problems for the growers.
Abdul Ghaffar said that the mango production was affected by nearly 65 percent as the flowering stage could not bear the severity of the weather.
Besides climate changes, some other factors also damaged mango production. He stated that growers could not irrigate mango orchards at the time of fruiting due to shortage of canal water, electricity loadshedding and diesel shortage.
The growers could not operate their tube-wells due to power outages. Rafique Kandahar, a farmer, of piryaloi area khairpur also expressed his concern over low production of mangoes.
He said that climate change was one of the important factors. About other reasons, he added that political instability during March-April, and “poor performance of the bureaucracy” also damaged the mango crop.