Worry is visible on Omkar Kulkarni’s face as he gestures toward a large mango tree in his orchard in Nivendi village, close to Ganpatipule in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. “This tree has been here since my grandfather’s time. Not long ago, it would produce around 70 crates of Alphonso mangoes, but this year I’ll be lucky to get just 10,” he explains.
Meanwhile, about 200 kilometers away in Malvan, in the neighboring Sindhudurg district, farmer Sanjay Nare shares similar worries. Normally, he sells about 25,000 boxes of these beloved mangoes, each containing a dozen. This season, however, he’s concerned he might only manage to sell 5,000 boxes.
