Kaal Baishakhi (nor’wester) in much lesser intensity has come as a boon for the mango growers of the State. Moreover, with no hail storm so far, mango orchards have not been affected in Kakraban area of Gomati district – in fact, mango trees are burdened with loads of buds.  Kakraban area has the arguably largest mango orchards in the State.

With the ‘favourable’ weather on their side, so far, Mango growers in the state of Tripura are expecting good yields this year like previous years. The role of Kakraban Agriculture officials is also playing a crucial role in boosting the earnings of the mango growers.

Sharing their optimism for good returns, mango growers of the area also pointed out and hailed the supportive role of the State Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department officials.

Sirajul Islam, a mango farmer in the area, said, “If everything goes well, we will earn a good profit by selling mangoes this year”. He said there are about one thousand trees in his mango orchard covering a total area of 2 hectares. All the trees are of Amrapali variety.

According to him, Amrapali variety of mango is suitable for the soil of the state – so the farmers prefer cultivating this variety of mango.

He added about 20 tonnes of mangoes were produced in his garden last season. On an average, mangoes were sold at Rs 30 per kg. In all, he sold mangoes worth around four lakh rupees.

“As gusty winds of Kaal Baishakhi and hail storms have not hit the orchards, the yield is expected to be good this year – so also the earning compared to the last year”,  an optimistic Sirajul commented.

Habil Mian, another farmer of the same area, has a mango orchard on about 1 hectare of land in which he planted a total of 650 mango trees.  Last year, he sold around 1,750 kg of mangoes from his garden.

Several other mango growers of the area like Uttam Deb and Manu Mian are also optimistic and said, mango lovers will be happy that a good yield of mango is on the card.

Assistant Director of Agriculture, Santanu Majumder supported the optimism of the mango growers.

“Mango is a high value cash crop and apart from the Kaal Baishakhi, the production of the mango could be affected for multiple reasons. Our task is to disseminate technical information, prevent and combat attacks of pesticides and most importantly, ensure that mango plants are getting proper nutrients”, Majumder said.

Besides, he said the Agri department made drip-irrigation facility available in two orchards this year.  In this connection, he revealed the Agri department is working on an experimental project to provide nutrients to the trees through drip-irrigation facility. It is still on experimental stage and not implemented, Majumder pointed out.

Augmented production would surely be a good news for mango lovers.

#Bindusmita Bhowmik may be contacted at bindusmitabhowmik17@gmail.com