Malda: A prolonged winter in Malda hindered the budding process of the mango trees triggering the chance of a lower yield than that of last year. As a result, farmers are also anxious.
Even in the second week of February, there are very few buds in the trees, making the farmers a worried lot.
Last year in February, every mango orchard in the district was covered with buds. A record mango yield was also achieved last year due to timely budding. The officials of the district Horticulture department think that this year may be an ‘off-year’ due to an unsteady nature of the weather. Mango growers fear that if the buds do not come even in the third week of February, this year will be completely considered as mango off-year. Both the weather and trees are also indicating in that direction.
Last year, there was budding in almost 50 per cent of the trees in Malda in the second week of February but till now only 30 per cent of trees achieved that. Even in the last week of February in 2023, the fruit has started to come in some of the trees.
Experts say that the budding of mango panicles needs gradual increase in temperature but this season in December 2023, temperature rose to the good but then it decreased sharply in January and continued till February first week. This caused the damage of no-budding in maximum trees.
Mango experts say that this winter is more durable. At the beginning of the season came the heat with the bite of winter. Later, winter returned. As the bud comes late, now the mango farmers have emphasised on tree maintenance. Spraying is going on vigorously in the mango orchards of Malda.
Sentu Mandal, a mango grower in Sahapur, said: ‘’West wind has started blowing so there is a possibility of budding. However, this time the buds are less than last year. This is a cause for concern.’’
Samanta Layek, deputy director of district Horticulture department, said: “We are hopeful that the buds will come to the tree if the weather improves. We are not expecting a bumper yield this time due to adverse weather conditions. So now this year may well be marked as an ‘off-year’.”