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The Hindu
7 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Why are mangoes covered with fruit bags? How much do they cost?
Farmers in Telangana are embracing a technique — fruit bagging — to protect and enhance quality of mangoes. These specially designed double-layered bags, with a brown or beige outer layer and a black inner layer, cost around ₹2 to ₹2.5 each. They are proving to be a game changer as they keep away fruit flies, ensure a blemish-free, uniformly coloured mangoes, and reduce the need for pesticides — a major concern for consumers. A farmer from Mahabubnagar, Muralidhar Reddy, who exports mangoes said: 'I was specifically asked by an exporter if the batch of mangoes being sent were bagged'. In India, 'King of fruits' are mainly cultivated in States like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Gujarat. What damages mangoes? According to the Fruit Research Station (FRS) in Sangareddy, the mango crop is vulnerable to fruit flies, unseasonal rains, increased humidity and other changes in temperature. Fruit flies lay their eggs in the flesh, and when the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the flesh causing significant damage to the fruit. To prevent this damage, farmers commonly use pesticides. How are fruit bags useful? Information from the Centre highlights how the bagging technique is a safer and sustainable alternative as it protects the mango crop from insects such as mango hoppers and fruit flies, and the vagaries of weather — heat, wind and rain. The bags prevent pesticides from coming in contact with the fruit and allows the fruit to grow without any spots or marks making it ideal for exports. The bagging technique is effective on mango varieties such as Banginapalli, Himayat, Kesar, and Daseri. However it is not suitable for all varieties of mangoes. Senior scientist and head of the FRC, V. Suchitra said that for varieties such as Suvarnarekha and Tommy Atkins, the bagging technique is counterproductive. 'For these varieties, the bags must be removed around a week to 10 days before harvesting.' Ms. Suchitra also highlights that without inspection of the mangoes the bagging technique should not be used. She said: 'The fruits must first be checked for signs of infestation.' She warns that covering infested fruits can worsen the problem as was observed in Jagtial. Bags distributed in Mahabubnagar This year, under the Cluster Development Programme, fruit bags were distributed to farmers in Mahabubnagar at subsidised rates. Telangana Horticulture and Sericulture department, Director, Shaik Yasmeen Basha said that the distribution of fruit bags to mango farmers will be expanded to other districts in the coming months. Timing for bagging the fruit K. Venugopal, District Horticulture and Sericulture officer (Mahabubnagar) said that timing is very important when using the bagging technique. The ideal stage for bagging is when the fruit is 3 cm in diametre. The centre's information manual details the height at which the bags have to be tied and sealed. Mr. Venugopal highlighted that Himayat mangoes (mature but unripe) that were not bagged, were green in colour, whereas the fruits that were bagged were golden yellow in colour.
The Hindu
24-05-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Fickle weather ravaging Telangana's traditional mango varieties
It's the middle of May. In one of Narsapur's sprawling mango orchard, the air is damp and the black soil, wet and soft. Instead of the hot and dry summer breeze known as 'loo', a mellow earthy aroma permeates everywhere. Standing in the shade of a 20-year-old Banganpalli (a.k.a. benishan and safeda) mango tree, orchard owner Srinivas looks at the still ripening mangoes. 'The best taste of Banganpalli is in the final days of May. They become sweeter if the air is dry and hot. But now...,' his voice trails off. The nine-acre orchard adjoins the highway in Narsapur, about a 100 km from Hyderabad and one of the driest parts of Telangana. Madhu Reddy, another mango orchard owner, says he is yet to harvest his fruits. 'This unseasonal rain pushes the harvesting time. A late monsoon last year delayed the winter. Flowering came thrice, but most did not stay on the trees, so fruit formation has been very low this year.' The stories of Madhu and Srinivas represent a trend in mango cultivation: fickle weather, a product of climate change, pushing farmers of traditional mango varieties to a corner. At the Fruit Research Station (FRS) in Sangareddy, scientists are developing mango varietals resistant to climate change. 'We began a study titled 'Effect of Climate Variability on Mango' 20 years ago. It's an ongoing research, and we found that frequent weather changes have limited effect on Suvarnarekha [a mango variety], while Banganpalli and Himayat are very sensitive, especially during the flowering stage,' says V. Suchitra, head of the FRS. The institute has a germplasm collection of 477 mango accessions. 'Our research is focussed on Dusseri, Himayat, Banganpalli, Kesar, Suvarnarekha and Totapuri. The research can be extrapolated to find other safe varieties as the weather pattern is becoming unpredictable,' says Suchitra. 'The mango crop is most vulnerable at the flowering stage, where it requires cool night temperatures and bright sunshine during daytime for at least 15 days between October and December. This has been disrupted,' says Suchitra. The result has been a drop in yield of some varieties and loss of taste, leaving orchard owners in the lurch. Making mango cultivation even less remunerative in Telangana is the fact that the State does not have a port of exit for the fruit, which is currently being transported through either Bengaluru or Mumbai. This also skews the data as the exports are recorded as being made from these two ports. Across the country, farmers are switching from mango to other crops, and the area under cultivation has fallen by 0.76% to 23.32 lakh hectares (57.62 lakh acres) from 23.5 lakh hectares (58.06 lakh acres) in 2022-23. 'I will get ₹5 lakh or ₹6 lakh this year from my mango crop, which is almost the same as last year. It's my passion for farming that is keeping me here,' says Srinivas. It is the same passion that once turned Telangana into one of the biggest experimental sites for mangoes. The nobility and royalty vied to create one exotic variety after other by grafting and cultivation. The result was varieties with such names as Azam-us-Samar, Asif Pasand, Mahmooda Vikarabad, Shakkar Gutli, Nawab Pasand. Now, as demand for commercial varieties soars, these delicate and choice mangoes are being pushed out of the market by more popular and commercial varieties. And with their disappearance, a slice of India's botanical history goes under. The royal connection Choice mango varieties have anecdotal tales that hark back centuries. They also show the ebb and flow of different reigns. Some of them are: Taimur Pasand Amrapali Bobbili Panasa Bennet Alphonso Kensington Latif-us-Samar Hamlet Nazeem Pasand Mombasa Begum Pasand Mahmooda Vikarabad
