Inclement weather hits Valsadi hafooz yield

SURAT: The luscious Valsadi hafooz (alphonso) could be out of bounds for many this summer. Unseasonal rains and cloudy weather that persisted for days in the last two months have badly affected the crop in Valsad and Navsari, the two south Gujarat districts where hafooz is grown. On Tuesday , several parts of Valsad and Vapi districts saw a bout of unseasonal rainfall and cloudy weather that lasted till late afternoon.
Mango farmers in the region claim that they are on the brink of losing at least 45% of the crop.
Vinod Desai, an alphonso farmer who has an orchard of 2,500 trees in Valsad, said, “Valsadi hafooz is extremely sensitive to even a minor change in the weather. Inclement weather in the last two months affected the crop badly this year.“
Agriculture department sources said that out of the to tal seven lakh metric tonnes of annual mango production, Valsadi Hafooz accounts for roughly 4.5 lakh MT. This year, the it likely to remain bet ween 2-2.5 lakh MT.
Babu Madhwala, a mango farmer in Fanaswada village near Vapi, said, “After a spell of rain and cloudy weather, the temperatures suddenly shoot up to 42 degree Celsius.This loosens the fruits that start dropping from the trees.“
“I have 300 hafooz trees.Last year, the yield was around 10 MT. This time around it would barely be 5 MT,“ he said.
Former dean of ASPEE college of horticulture of Navsari Agriculture University (NAU), Dr NL Patel said, “Last year, hafooz sold at Rs 800 per 20 kg in the wholesale market. This time, prices are expected to touch Rs 1,000 per 20 kg. This is all due to unfavourable weather conditions in the region from the last two months.“