Sweet Turns Sour: Mango Farmers Stare at Losses After Rain Damages Crop

MANGO farmers in Karnataka are facing a backlash once again due to bad weather. Though the yield is comparatively better than last year both in terms of quantity and quality, a majority of their crop is damaged, leading to losses.

- Gayathri Kurup @Bengaluru

"This year, the mango buds were damaged due to the harsh winter heat in January and February. And when it started getting better, the sudden rain damaged the crops further," shared Ajith Raj, a mango farmer from Gaurbidanur.

The fluctuations in the crop yield is not new to them, "It's always unpredictable," says Yeshwanth, a mango farmer from Kolar. "But the backlash everytime affects financial stability. Especially small-scale farmers who depend entirely on their mango yield," he adds.

Farmers like Yeshwanth thus sometimes shift to tomato and beans in order to adjust with the mango yield fluctuations.

"Mango farming is like gambling," he exclaims. "You don't know what will happen, sometimes it might be going well, but suddenly you would be at a loss. But we are farmers, it is our profession, we cannot abandon it due to loss," he said.