Visakhapatnam: Mango lovers in the city have to shell out more this summer as there is a drop of 40 per cent in its producation in north coastal Andhra Pradesh, compared to the previous year.
The price of the popular varieties of the fruit is ranging anything between Rs 300 and Rs 400 a dozen and other varieties of the mangoes are yet to hit the markets.
The horticulture department said scanty rainfall, delay in flowering and depleting groundwater table led to substantial fall in production of the mangoes and also affected the quality of the fruit in Vizag, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts.
Though the Banginapalli, Lalpari (known locally as Suvarnarekha), Totapuri (collector), Rasalu and few other varieties of mangoes hit the markets, these are expensive this year. The high temperature also led to premature dropping of mangoes, they added.
Vizag gets its mangoes mostly from Vizianagaram and parts of Godavari districts and Krishna districts and to a lesser extent from Srikakulam district and rural pockets of Vizag. The mango growers and traders, however, complain of poor sales due to rise in prices.
North Andhra produces around 5 lakh MT of mangoes of over 20 varieties every year, but this year the three districts produced only 2 lakh MT of mangoes.
“We had a bumper crop last year and exported over 200 MT of mangoes to Odisha, but this year the poor harvest has hit our income,” said V. Lakshman, a mango grower from Viziana-garam district.
The mangoes are very attractive but prices are on the higher side compared to previous year. The available varieties, Banginapalli and Rasalu, are also expensive ranging between Rs 300 and Rs 500, a dozen, while it was Rs 150 to Rs 300 a dozen last year, said G. Naresh Kuma, a mango lover in the city. Due to the high prices, our family cut down on consumption of the fruit, he added.
It is learnt that Alphonso, the most popular variety of mango, will arrive in Vizag from parts of Maharashtra this year. Mango lovers will either have to cut down on consumption or spend more to savour it.
