Rao Anwar (40 years) and Rao Ahsan (36 years) are two farmers in the Saharanpur district in Uttarprady, who are trying to maintain happiness while maintaining their grandfather, which is more than 100 years old. Anwar has a postgraduate title and Ahsan and MBA. Ahsan worked in a pandjab with a federation of milk marketing just before the pandemic hit Covid-19. He joined the family profession in the hope that Mango, one of the most popular fruits in the world, will help him survive. But things weren’t as easy as he imagined.
Raos took over the set about 10 years ago from his father. According to them, this year “the rate was much lower than last year and the consumption was also bad”. They are the fourth generation gardeners from the district known for the sweetest Chaus, Dasheri and Langda. Mangoa is indigenous for India.
One of the reasons for declining demand could now be the appearance and taste of mango, says Ahsan. “Previously, mangoes were clear, tasty and sweet. Now this taste is missing, probably because of overuse of pesticides and chemicals,” he says. The Mango season, which once extended to September, is now shorter.
Saharanpur is the second largest district for manga production in the state. In the years 2022-23, UP had 3.19 lakh hectares of mangoic sets and produced 45.78 lakh metric tons of mangoes. A cluster with the highest yield in the state is the Malihabadi belt, including Lucknow, Unnao and Sitapur; The second cluster is Western Up, including Saranpur, Bijnor, Meerut, Amrah and Bulalandshahr. Saharanpur has about 27,000 hectares of orchards and produces about 2.6 lakh metric tons of mango with an average yield of 18 tonnes per hectare.
Raos complains that “they receive only 8 ₹ -10 GBP per kg Dasheri”. Another challenge is that for chausa, they must wrap fruit to prevent the skin from shaking during rain.
“Each bag costs 3.5 GBP and the cost of working to cover each manga is 1.5 GBP. The retail price of the Chaus for consumers is 150 GBP today. Farmers receive less than 50 GBP.
The problems, as they say, began ten years ago and reached their peak during Covid-19. Now farmers are considering their possibilities.
The cost of growing manga
About 12 years ago, farmers began to use pesticide containing chemical paclobutrazole, plant growth regulator. “We have been told that it will create a fruit festival. No one informed us about its side effects. We got the output. Trees that were produced by 100 mangoes began to give 300 mangoes. But after 6-7 years we realized that the taste and size of manga were endangered.
Kharbuza Daal Kaa Achha Hota Hai, Aam Paal Kechha Hota He: This is the popular belief in Saranpur, which means that the melons will be good if they are on their own and they taste better if they are artificially matured. Ceranging mango using calcium carbide is the same for the course. This excessive use has led to decreased exports and consumers who have moved to ecological products. But for farmers who move to organic production, it will take at least 10 years. Instead, farmers move to poplar tree plantations and replace mango orchards. Alarms are used in the plywood and wooden boards industry and the region has many of these units.
Saharanpur is a green belt. The main source of income is Bagh Baani (Management Orchard). The soil is sandy and the orchards are doing well. This district borders with Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The area called DOAB (Two Rivers) is inserted between Yamuna and Ganges. Traditionally, farmers are grown by varieties like Gulab Jamun, Dasheri, Langda, Chausa, Malda and Rataul. Mangoes usually go to Ludhiana and Delhi.
Rao Anwar (left) and Rao Ahsan in his orchard in the village of Raipur, district Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. | Photo Credit: RV Moorthy
“My grandfather told me when we were children, it was very difficult to keep the mango tree because of lack of water,” says Ahsan. Until then, the irrigation system has not developed. “Of the 20 trees, only two used to survive. The situation changed with the advent of the graft at the age of 70,” he adds.
Lakshmi Chand, 55, has been working for more than 30 years in Raos. He will take care of plants and wrap the mango at the time of the daily wage, even though he has been owned by their grandfather. “Maintaining a tree is difficult. None of my (four) children do this work,” Chand says.
Fifteen years ago, RAOS would win 15 GBP for kg Dasheri. “If we add inflation, it should be at least 40 GBP per kg. Input costs have increased. We spend about 2,000 ₹ -3 000 GBP only for pesticides in Bighe (0.6 acres) set. Sales are bullying,” says Ahsan, adding that the government should ensure a good rate for its crops. “We need a food processing industry here. We need a cold storage.”
Manga
Haji IQBAL, owned by Rana Fruit Company in the Saharanpur Mirzapur district, has been a trader since 1991. He also manages sets on contracts and owns as well. He says traders also face big losses.
He remembers a time about ten years ago when the diseases were minimal. “When I started trading, the manga was bigger and beautiful. Now they start ripen earlier and aren’t sweet. Chausa looks good, but if you cut, don’t look or taste the same,” he says, accusing excessive use of pesticides.
When mangoes naturally ripened, the crop in Saharanpur was prepared to harvest 15 to 30 days after the Malihabadi belt. But IQball now says that the harvest time is almost the same.
“We have previously seen good production in alternative years. Now the culture (Paclobutrazole brand created by the Swedish Syngenta Society) has increased production, but has affected the taste,” he said, adding that Covid-19 changed market dynamics.
Mehmood Hasan, another trader, also believes that Kultra has destroyed the mango market. “Cultures should be regulated,” he says.
QAZI above Akhtar is Shehr Qazi of Saharanpur, which takes care of all the religious duties of the Muslim community in this area. It is also a bridge between the administration and the community and owns themselves.
“The best part of Saharanpur is that if the rest of India stops producing mangoes, we can give you mangoes by 15 September,” says Akhtar. He adds that for too long they grow the same varieties and some research must go into the development of new strains. He also wants teams in this area.
“One and a half million people are dependent on agriculture here. Of this, several hundred thousand people have mango sets. If we connect, we can get considerable help from the government,” he says. “Cooperatives can remove suppliers, and farmers can decide on the value of what they produce,” he says.
Defense of scientific use
In the traditional way of growing mango tree, it takes 20-25 years to produce mangoes. “The sowing of the tree is sacred and is protected by another pious process. We have learned that we will not destroy the tree in the war,” says Akhtar. He uses this example to say that the sets are now running more like businesses.
Rao Talha is a member of the progressive farmer who started the gardening department in Saharanpur to promote scientific agriculture, which is against excessive use of any product. “Up to 95% of sets are now filed on the contract. That’s a big problem. In 2022 I founded an online platform to address direct customers. I could get a very good price for all varieties, but I couldn’t enlarge it. I used to get a lot of Redorders. It is now sold via Facebook and WhatsApp.
That year he began sending Mango from his set for Lucknow’s Aam Utsav, one of the biggest competitions for Mango farmers in northern India. UTTAR Pradesh organizes it and the main minister participates every year. “My mangoes came first in 2022, 2023 and 2024. This year the data changed and we couldn’t get this color and taste for our manga,” he added, adding that he has managed the sets since he was in college. He joined company work and ran companies among them. During COVID-19 locking, he returned to the field.
Talha says Bagging helped maintain regular tastes of mango. As a member of the progressive farmer’s club, the 95 -year -old Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) research organization is constantly affected. He sends pictures to scientists in ICAR if there are problems in his orchard. “They provide the right advice,” he says.
Mangic Agriculture Management
Agriculture based on pesticides is difficult. “The amount you spend increases every year, but if you accept the latest techniques, things will change,” Talha says. They talk about the varieties of mango developed icar, such as Arunima, Arunika and Ambika.
“I had some space among my mango trees. After my college studies, I planted a new orchard in 2001. This set is now prepared with these new varieties that are dwarf varieties that are fruitful every year. They can be planted in much less space.
Ik Kishwaha, who holds PHD in the pathology of plants and is a leading scientist who is in charge of Krishi Vigian Kendra controlled ICAR in Saranpur, says the production and cultivation of Chaus is the highest of the varieties.
The biggest problem is how farms are managed. Since it is managed by suppliers and not farmers, there is a disgusting use of insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers, he says.
“Some problems cannot be solved, but they must be managed,” he says, referring to careful use of pesticides. It also acknowledges that the overuse of plant growth regulators is a problem.
“Mostly suppliers promote this medicine. Cultures have resulted in drying trees and crops. We asked farmers to prepare their sets and use suppliers for harvesting, managed sets. Now only 50% of farmers use suppliers to manage their orchards.”
Gampal Singh, Saharanpur’s district garden officer, reflects Kishwaha. He adds that “the government provides subsidies of up to 30,000 GBP per hectare for bagging”.
Chowdhury Gajendra Singh, a 66 -year -old farmer from the district, had 80 Bighas of Orchard Land over the last 55 years. “My father planted it, but if I get permission, I will plant poplars instead. The alarms are so easy to manage and farmers also get good prices. I began to hate mango orchards,” he says.
jigeesh.am@thehind.co.in
Edit Sunalini Mathew
