The king is in trouble because of weather conditions! As weather men predict heavy rain and hailstorms due to western disturbances and effects of convection due to overheating of the surface. Mango is facing the question of survival with no help from the department of Agriculture. Worst, changes in the weather is also a cause of concern for farmers of the fruit. Mango crop has been hit badly because of hailstorm in certain parts of Jharkhand. Gumla where Mango is among the chiefly produced fruit is hit by the inclement weather condition with initial estimate putting the damage between 40 to 45 per cent whereas damage to the crop in Bokaro remained around 20 to 25 per cent.
However, loss of crop is never compensated by any insurance scheme as the fruit is out of the purview of any crop security scheme thus always a cause of concern for farmers. Ironically, the Horticulture Mission takes pride in only information dissemination for crop protection and preventive measures that in no way protects the interest of a farmer against inclement weather. “There is no scheme for insurance of Mango. But we have teams that provide information about a crop to farmers who approach them,” said Director, State Horticulture Mission Prabhakar Singh. As the weather becomes ominous for fruits with remarkable consistency every year experts now believe that the time has come to review crop insurance policy to provide succor to a farmer affected because of damage to crop due to natural calamity. Although, experts claim that production in normal circumstances is not affected to a great extent yet with great impetus on weather based crop system in Jharkhand the need for wider crop insurance scheme is necessary.
“Rain as such doesn’t affect mango crop but if it is accompanied with wind then loss is imminent. Western disturbance is still there and convection effects are also present so the threat is very much real for the fruit,” said Weather Scientist, Birsa Agricultural University A Wadood. However, farming experts opine that the damages to the crop could only further widen the gap between domestic demand and supply of the crop. The call for widening of the crop insurance scheme has become necessary as the production area of mango has increased more than six-fold in eight years. In the 2012-13 period, the fruit was cultivated over 50,000 hectares across the state as against 8,000 hectares in 2004-05.
Higher yield by higher acreage seems to be the mantra for the State Horticulture Mission. Crop area for mango is likely to be expanded by another2000 hectares in the current financial year but sans any policy changes from the department’s end and is the only way for the department to make Jharkhand meets its demand of the king among fruit. Moreover, renovation of old orchards is also on cards. “We are consistently behind our demand but the good thing is that the gap is getting narrower. Still we five to six years away from matching demand with supply,” said Agriculture Scientist at BAU, KK Jha.