Cyclonic storm Aila which hit West Bengal on May 25 have caused severe damage to mango cultivations in the state, wiping off some valuable varieties.
The state horticulture department is reviewing the quantum of loss and the compensation package to be given. There will possibly be no growth on the production front this year. West Bengal, which is among the leading producers of mango in the country, produces 6.72 lakh metric tons of mango every year, almost one-third of which comes from Malda and Murshidabad districts. Some of the popular varities are Langda, Lakshmanbhog, Amrapali.
The total area under mango cultivation in Bengal is 70-80,000 hectares, almost 44 per cent of the total area in the state under food crop cultivation. Malda and Murshidabad, the worst affected districts, account for over half of the total mango production in the state. Malda has 26300 hectare under mango cultivation and Murshidabad has 16000 hectares under mango cultivation.
Speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of Mango Mahotsav 2009, Mohanta Chatterjee, minister in charge, food processing, and horticulture, West Bengal said, “Some places in Malda, Murshidabad and South 24 Paragans have been severely battered. Many of the varieties have been lost. We are trying to preserve the remaining. We are taking a review of the situation. The zilla officers have been asked to collect the CA2 forms from the farmers. A final report on the compensation package will be prepared shortly." The minister informed that this year there would be no growth in production. The production is expected to be same as last year because of severe diseases affecting the mango crops in Malda after Aila.
Every year there is roughly two percent increase in mango production which will not happen this fiscal. Sanjeev Chopra, secretary, department of agriculture, pointed out that given the huge amount of damage caused by the recent storm, the norms of agri insurance which are based on the assumption that all that is grown in West bengal in paddy and wheat, needs to be addressed to make compensation available.
This apart he emphasised on the need to induct technologies and better marketing and branding activities to gain on the export front. Gopal Krishna Gandhi, Governor of West Bengal, emphasised the need to increase export activity and induct disaster resistant technologies. “The farmers must take the expert advice of the climatologist and see how they can make their crops resistant to the changing climatic conditions,” he said.
India accounts for 54 per cent of world’s mango production with a total production of 15 million ton or more per annum, growing over 1500 varities.But very few get the international exposure. India’s mango export accounts for less than one per cent of world mango trade, there is a need to boost export activity, said the Governor.