Alphonso Mango Update from Aamrai, Ratnagiri

The trees in AAMRAI are heavy with alphonso mango fruits of different sizes ranging from a
pea to a cricket ball. The early flowering of November has borne fruit now and should be
ready in the next fortnight or so. Unfortunately the heavy November rains destroyed most of
the early crop which we would have got in the first/second week of March. Hence we might
be left with only a few boxes of mangoes.

The good news is that the temperatures are rising at the farms and from mid March onwards
we can start expecting our first sizeable harvests. Typically the harvest picks up after Holi
when the day and night temperatures remain high, which helps accelerate the fruit growth and
maturity.

Also the flowering has been abundant this winter and we expect that this season should yield
a much better harvest compared to the previous years. Of course as always we remain
dependant of favourable climatic conditions and subject to the vagaries of nature. The effect
is even more pronounced in our organic farms which are more sensitive but at the same time
hardier and more resilient as well.

Text – Aamrai
Pic credit – Omkar Ranade & Siddhesh Vaidya