Three districts along Maharashtra’s Konkan coast are known for the Alphonso mango; the Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Raigad districts. Unfortunately, they have already started reporting fruit drop. Mangoes are a four-month-duration crop, from the time of flowering to harvesting of the mature fruits. The orchards in Sindhudurg start flowering from November, followed by those at Ratnagiri in December and further north at Raigad in January. Harvesting, then, takes place in March for Sindhudurg, April for Ratnagiri and May for Raigad.
But as the heat rose in February, more and more fruit began to drop. In a normal year, some 750 mangoes might be harvested from a single tree, with the individual fruits weighing 300-350 gm. But with the mercury touching 38 degrees Celsius in the areas, the fruits that have now reached about 200 gm are starting to drop off the trees.
Source: indianexpress.com