Bumper orange crop may provide silver lining in NagpurHome

Because of the weather and a conscious decision of the farmers to change the cultivation pattern might well lead to a bumper orange crop after five to six years in the region. It could be the proverbial silver lining for the region that has had its soyabean and paddy crop damaged due to adverse weather and for the state, what with Marathwada in the grip of severe water scarcity.

Good rains in June, no hailstorm from February to April and no fruit drop from June to August have helped secure a good crop for orange growers. But farmers as well as scientists give more credit for the bumper ambia bahar crop, which brings fruits from October to January, mainly to the gradual and conscious shift of orange growers over last few years from mrig bahar crop, which was rain-fed, to the irrigated ambia crop.

Javed Khan, another major orange grower from Warud in Amravati district, has about 7,500 plants and is expecting about 350-400 tons of yield this year. Jawanjal predicted the ambia crop value to touch Rs500 crore this year, considering that out of the 1.5 lakh hectare under orange, 1 lakh is under ambia.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com /