Archit Watts
Tribune News Service
Muktsar, June 9
The rain, high velocity winds and huge difference between day and night temperature at this time of the season has almost doubled kinnow dropping in orchards. Fruit growers are now expecting dip in their income as Covid-19 pandemic may also decrease the demand of fruit in faraway places.
A kinnow grower said on an average an orchard in one-acre had nearly 100 trees and one-kg kinnow from each tree has dropped as of now. "The dropping is almost double of last year. An orchard in one-acre has witnessed fruit dropping of one-quintal, which would have weighed 15-20 quintal at the ripened stage. Now, if we don't get better prices in October-November, our losses will mount up," he said.
Similarly, Avneet Brar, a kinnow grower of Daulatpura village in Abohar subdivision of Fazilka district, said, "The frequent change in weather has led to high kinnow dropping this season. Unlike past, fruit traders too are this time reluctant to make contracts of standing fruit in orchards as markets remained close."
Some fruit growers even said due to the high price of dried kinnow, some thefts from orchards have occurred.
The fruit dropping was negligible in May-June last year. However, riots in Delhi in January had hit hard the supply to the National Capital and other parts of the country, thus the prices had come down. Notably, kinnow harvesting starts in November and lasts till March.
"The growing kinnow at this stage requires hot and stable weather, but the weather vagaries are hitting it. Usually, there are no rains in May, but this time the picture is different. The price of matured kinnow depends on orange production in Maharashtra. It is all wait-and-watch game," said some fruit growers.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/3f9Df7L
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