Agriculture: When mangoes go awry

While mango season begins next month, the crop has survived initial shocks due to climate change-driven variations in weather conditions coupled with ongoing water shortages in the canals feeding orchards. It is, however, premature to comment on the fruit’s production prospects.

Growers and researchers agree that recent shocks caused by malformation and attacks by pests, like thrips and hoppers, have not gone down well with mango trees.

A recent field survey report of mango orchards by agriculture research officials has revealed invariably 15 per cent to 25pc malformation in mango trees of Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Matiari, Tando Allahyar and Shaheed Benazirabad districts. All these districts are known for their rich mango production. The team had visited 10 orchards in the Mirpurkhas district, a hub of mangoes; five in Tando Allahyar; six in Hyderabad; and five each in Benazirabad and Matiari in the month of March following pest complaints.

These districts are fed by the Rohri and Nara canal systems (of the Sukkur Barrage), where severe water shortages were reported.

Mango growers struggle with malformed fruit as unpredictable weather, water shortages, and a rise in pests negatively impacts flowering trees

In areas fed by the Nara Canal, the areas have witnessed water shortages since January due to the execution of the Nara Canal lining project.

It was completed in early February, but then came the water shortage, which hit two canal systems as Pakistan’s dams hit dead levels in March. The Rohri and Nara Canals, till April 9, had a flow of 5,400 cusecs, and it only increased gradually to 8,000 cusecs by April 17.

The survey report recommended, as part of management practices, “Cutting and destroying all malformed panicles, shoots and infected tissues from trees; using sterilised tools to prevent spreading the infection from tree to tree; cleaning the orchard floor of weeds and unwanted vegetation that may host thrips or hoppers.”

It further called for keeping orchard boundaries clean to limit pest migration; conducting light pruning to improve airflow and sunlight penetration, which would help dry canopies faster and reduce fungal growth; avoiding overirrigation during infection; and applying a balanced amount of fertiliser based on soil analysis to support plant recovery and reduce stress.

The visiting officials also discussed climate change’s impact on the malformation problem. They believed that significant temperature fluctuations at the mango flowering stage had an adverse effect on fruit setting. Sudden rises in daytime temperatures followed by drops during the night caused flower shedding in many orchards.

Due to unfavourable weather, the efficacy of pesticides/fungicides was notably reduced. Timing and environmental conditions at the time of spray applications may not have supported the optimal absorption and effectiveness of chemicals. This further contributed to the persistent presence of insect pests and diseases despite growers’ efforts to manage them through chemical control.

Information gathered from seasoned orchard owners/producers and researchers indicates that mango tree malformation is becoming an increasingly regular phenomenon during flowering and fruit settings. This year, it appeared to be widespread.

“When flowering started, the disease problem was quite serious, but I feel that growers are able to contain the disease. The crop has indeed suffered early shocks. It now seemed to be recovering,” said orchard owner and Sindh Abadgar Board President Mahmood Nawaz Shah.

For many growers, he said malformation used to be a disease mentioned in books, but now they felt that it was making its presence felt regularly, thus prompting them to go for increased spraying of fungicides and pesticides. “Some research-based initiatives can help growers avoid it in future through preventive measures,” he said.

Nadeem Shah, a mango grower of Matiari, said the disease could threaten next year’s crop in trees if remedial measures are avoided. “Dryness in orchards caused by water shortage aggravated the pest. We are still facing severe water shortages, which are going to impact this year’s crop,” he believed.

A retired government horticulture researcher, Lehman Kumar, explained that part of the branch affected by malformation needs to be cut by at least six inches, and then it was either to be buried or burnt away from the orchard. According to him, hoppers were a primary disease that blackens fruit through secretions and entered the secondary stage of sooty mould fungus to cause shedding of new flushing in trees. It hosts malformation which becomes evident in flowering trees, he explained.

Mango orchards in Sindh are usually managed by contractors and not by actual owners and veteran growers, like Nadeem Shah, who believe that contractors don’t take management responsibilities as seriously and avoid investing in the use of medicines needed at different stages before trees show signs of flowering.

“Hopper attacks on trees are massive. It appears that warm winds in early April have controlled the pest more than medicines did. My personal mango orchard, and the one I manage as a contractor, was hit by pest attacks,” said Rasool Bux, a mango orchard contractor.

Over the last decade, Sindh’s loss in mango orchard acreage was evident from figures. Sindh had the highest mango production of 404,869 tonnes in the 2016-17 season when orchards stood at 62,238 hectares. The second-highest production of 402,514 metric tonnes was recorded in 2013-14, while orchards stood at 63,144 hectares.

Later, the production showed a declining trend. Orchards stood on 59,150 hectares in 2018-2019 with a production of 387,884 metric tonnes, and since then the production and orchard acreage stood at 387,200 tonnes and 58,900 hectares until 2023-24, according to the Director of the Horticulture Research Centre, Hanif Ujjan.

Widespread damages to orchards were reported in the 2011 torrential rains in the mango orchards of the lower Sindh region, covering Mirpurkhas, Tando Allahyar, Matiari and Nawabshah districts due to accumulation of rainwater. In the absence of an effective drainage system, the stagnant rainwater had damaged the trees. Some mango growers even terminated many trees in their orchards.

DG Agriculture Research, Dr Mazhar Keerio pointed out that this year’s malformation was attributable to changing weather patterns driven by climate change. “Factors like a sudden drop in temperature in winter and subsequent rise in temperature coupled with water shortages have led to increased pest populations in orchards,” he said. Malformation affects flowering, and when flowering is affected, the fruit setting is bound to be affected, according to him.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, April 21st, 2025