Crop Failure and Market Collapse Force Kolar Farmers to Log Mango Orchards
Plunging market prices and erratic weather patterns have driven mango growers in Karnataka to clear their estates. Farmers are shifting to millet and vegetable cultivation to recover from three consecutive years of financial losses.
A deepening agricultural crisis in Kolar district, the heart of Karnataka's mango production, has led desperate farmers to clear thousands of fruit-bearing trees. After three years of consecutive financial deficits, landowners in regions such as Srinivasapur, Sugatur, and Holur Hobli are removing orchards to make way for alternative crops like ragi and various vegetables.
Economic Distress and Falling Yields
Kolar currently manages between 42,000 and 45,000 hectares of mango cultivation, representing roughly 60% of the state's total output. However, the economic viability of this sector has collapsed. Local farmer T.V. Ramesh recently cleared two and a half acres of his land, stating that persistent losses, particularly from the Totapuri variety, threatened his entire livelihood. Many smallholders with two to five acres are making similar decisions to avoid total bankruptcy or land forfeiture.
Market and environmental factors contributing to the decline include:
- Catastrophic Pricing: The Totapuri variety has seen prices plumment to just ₹3 per kilogram.
- Stunted Fruit Quality: Benisha mangoes, which typically weigh between 300 and 500 grams, have dropped to a mere 100 to 200 grams this season.
- Weather Instability: Unpredictable rainfall and shifting climate patterns have fostered diseases that ravaged the recent harvest.
The Barriers to Diversification
Murali Thotli, who removed a legacy orchard planted by his father on four and a half acres, explained that the physical structure of mango farming prevents mixed-crop systems. The dense canopy blocks sunlight from reaching the ground, while diseases frequently migrate from the trees to any secondary crops planted beneath. To seek a more stable income, growers are pivoting toward tomatoes, cabbage, and brinjal, provided they can secure adequate water supplies.
With no demand for the wood in furniture manufacturing due to its lack of durability, the felled trees are being repurposed. Farmers are shipping logs to brick kilns near Bengaluru as fuel; some growers are giving the timber away for free simply to clear their fields for the next sowing cycle.
Government Concerns and Future Production
S.R. Kumara Swamy, Deputy Director of the Kolar Horticulture Department, warned that this mass removal of trees could significantly reduce the state's mango output next year. While the department has lobbied the central government for support prices, officials argue that felling established orchards might be a short-term reaction to a cyclical price dip. Despite these warnings, farmers maintain that the current cost of cultivation far exceeds the market returns, leaving them with no viable alternative but to terminate their mango operations.
Source: The Hindu — National
