Less orange in Nagpur this year

Nagpur, Sep. 16 : Poor weather conditions and an untimely rainfall witnessed in the Vidharbha region this year have created problems for the orange producers in Nagpur.

The worst affected have been the people growing the famous Nagri Oranges. Despite the large fields being full of orange trees, there are almost no fruits available this year. Fruits have either fallen off the trees or not grown at different places here.

These orange growers and farmers are faced with a dilemma of arranging fruits for the market and regular buyers ahead of the upcoming Diwali festival. Usually, before Diwali, at least one harvest is already supplied.

Nagri oranges have been a famous produce from Nagpur and is popular in different parts of the country and world for its delicious taste.

But this year, erratic rainfall in the region has upset the process of sprouting of shoots into flowers and fruits. Almost all fruits even before they could ripe. Their untimely fall off the trees has upset the hopes of the orchard owners and also of the marginal growers of oranges.

"The orange production has disrupted, it didn’t rain on time. The ready fruits are also getting ruined. It did not yield any flower. Fully ripe fruits have also fallen off the trees. The production is only 25 per cent of the usual produce. There are no fruits to cater to the market, the buyers and the general public," said Premlata, an orange grower in Katol area of Nagpur district.

"The technical reason is that, the required rainfall in June has not been up to the mark and the relative humidity required too is low. The formation of shoots into a fruit, which usually takes six months to mature, has been disturbed. It has not yielded the expected fruits. The Nagpur varieties of oranges are good quality oranges but this year due to lower yield, people will not be able to enjoy the produce," said Uday Patil, District Collector, Nagpur.

Nagpur District produces a large number of good quality oranges, grown in a total area of 12,500 hectares. There is a ready market for these oranges throughout the country. (ANI)

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