HYDERABAD: Growers fear substantial losses this year to an otherwise healthy mango crop from back-to-back storms mainly in lower Sindh region.

“The losses to orchards due to successive dust and hailstorms are 10 to 15 per cent on an average,” said Abdul Majeed Nizamani, president of the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB). He said the damage mostly occurred in the areas of Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Mirpurkhas and Umerkot and small-scale losses were reported in Sanghar and Nawabshah.

“The storms are usual but this season they prolonged. The tree branches which were laden with fruit snapped in the strong winds,” he said.

A farmer of Tando Allahyar, Aziz Memon, said that losses in his farm were colossal. “The storm was so strong that it uprooted the eucalyptus trees around the farm which serve as wind breakers,” he said.

Still, there is optimism among mango producers, exporters and contractors they will get better yield this year if all goes well by the time the fruit is ready to be picked.

Mahmood Nawaz Shah, an orchard owner, says losses are substantial. “Though losses vary from area to area but on an average they will be around 15 per cent,” he said, adding his farm had suffered 20 to 25 per cent damage.

About the steady increase in the area under orchards coverage from 2008 onwards, he attributed it to improved farm practices by orchard owners supported by foreign experts who introduced new techniques for picking, packing and processing.

Last year farmers and officials had anticipated 15 per cent loss to mango crop due to hailstorm in Mirpurkhas and parts of Sanghar district though the crop was in better shape then. The storm’s path had covered an area of around 10 to 15 miles, hitting orchards badly that came in its way.

Foreign support like the USAID and Australian government’s Agriculture Sector Linkages Programme (ASLP) appear to have proved beneficial for mango sector in Sindh.

Armed with the latest farm practices, around half a dozen orchard owners are now exporting mango directly to European market. Mahmood Nawaz Shah is among them.

Mr Shah said that he anticipated 20 per cent increase in crop yield this season before the end of storm cycle.

A brief spell of hailstorm had visited parts of lower Sindh in mid April but without doing significant losses. But the storms that struck afterwards proved damaging. Some pest also hit the crop but without doing any harm.

Babar Durrani, a mango exporter, believes Pakistan will have a bumper mango crop this year. “We will be having around 1,870,000 tonnes of mango this year which is not seen in many years. 60 per cent of the fruit comes from Punjab alone,” he says.

Sindh makes a significant contribution of 55 to 60 per cent to the fruit’s export especially ‘Sindhri’ which is very popular. Pakistan’s total mango production stands at 1.7 to 1.8 million tonnes with Sindh contributing around 35 per cent.