Headline, June 01 2022/ ''' '' NO MANGO -INDIA- NO MANTRA '' '''

''' '' NO MANGO 

-INDIA-

 NO MANTRA '' '''

THE TRUTH IS - EVEN MANGO GROWING AND EXPORTS, PROUD PAKISTAN, is just about nowhere. And I think I best leave it at that. No political party, no government went beyond any comprehension or the zero milage.

In the years ahead, Pakistan and its future generations will only learn to lament and shrivel as the climate change and hot temperatures strike lethal and so very existential.

M A LI H A B A D INDIA : HEAT ENSURES FRUITLESS. HARVEST. In India, mango farmers say soaring temperatures threaten their way of life.

INDIA is the world's largest mango producer, accounting for nearly half the global crop. Much of it is consumed domestically, but the country exports tens of millions of dollars worth of mangoes each year to the United Arab Emirates, Britain, Germany and the United States.

Over the past decade, India has also been trying to penetrate markets in other European countries.

Export growth has been limited by the fact that Indian mangoes are more expensive than those from countries like Brazil, Peru, Israel and Pakistan. India has been striving to increase productivity, which would lower costs.

No fruit in India is as universally loved and as eagerly anticipated as the mango, which for one brief window each year, cools and sweetens the long days of summer.

Mangoes are added to kebabs, used to sour dishes and pureed with mint to make drinks. Connoisseurs argue about which of dozens of varieties - each with a distinct flavor, colour and texture - are best and disagree politely about the correct way to eat the fruits : by cutting into slices or by sucking the juice straight from the top.

But this year the centuries-old ritual has been imperiled. Blistering heat has struck northern India weeks earlier than usual, and mango crops have been devastated, threatening a way of life for the thousands of small farmers who grow the fruit and millions more who consume it.

The heat wave is a vivid example of the challenge India faces in ensuring its food security as the effects of climate change intensify, compounding its difficulties in agricultural productivity to feed a growing population of nearly 1.4 billion.

The dangers of a hotter future are apparent on a small farm in Malihabad, a prime northern mango-growing district, where Mohammed Aslam tends about 500 trees.

A few months ago, his mango trees were a picture of health, their deep green leaves glistening above the well hydrated soil and their branches bearing perfect cluster of white flowers.

Then India experienced its hottest march in 122 years of record-keeping, with temperatures averaging nearly 92 degrees of Fahrenheit, or 33 degrees Celsius, and soaring as high as 104. The mango flowers withered and died before bearing fruit.

Almost none of Mr. Aslam's trees, spread over four acres, produced mangoes. In a normal year, they would have yielded more than 25,000 pounds of fruit.

''I have never witnessed this phenomenon before in my lifetime,'' he said. as he looked over his farm in the state of Uttar Pradesh, lamenting the thousands of dollars he stood to lose because of the failed harvest.

Mr. Aslam is one of hundreds of farmers who have suffered as the intense heat of March continued into the hottest April in 50 years and lingered in May. Climate scientists, in a report issued this past week, said the chances of such a heat wave in India had increased by at least 30 times since the 19th century.

The heatwave has far exceeded the optimal temperature for the fertilization of mango trees, which is around 77 degrees Fahrenheit, said Dheeraj Kumar Tiwari, a scientist at an agricultural university in Uttar Pradesh.

The Malihabad district in Uttar Pradesh is known for delectable varieties like the Dasheri, which is named after a village in the area. The district is home to numerous families who have been growing the fruit for at least three generations.

Most farmers in Malihabad own small plots of land and depend solely on mangoes for their livelihood.

Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah, who runs a farmers' market, started a mango festival in 2013 in Malihabad to revive the tradition of eating mangoes straight from the orchards so consumers could be directly in touch with the farmers.

''Food is intrinsically linked to a people's culture, and mangoes play a major role in not just the food of the region but art and textiles, in the form of motifs and poetry, too,'' Ms. Habibullah said.

''The emotional and psychological connection of mangoes is not just with its taste but its linkage to the culture of the place and a legacy we cannot let die.''

In the mango orchards that lies with the side of a highway in Malihabad, farmers who had gathered at a roadside stand expressed anxiety about the future. They discussed diversifying to grow other fruits and vegetables - and even selling their land.

Nadeem Ahmad, a third-generation mango farmer, took a deep breath as he walked onto his small farm next to the highway. He pointed towards trees that would normally be laden with fruit at this time of the year.

''With a heavy heart, I will have to start chopping these trees down if this pattern continues,'' he said. ''The soul of a farmer shudders at seeing these fruitless trees.''

Across from Mr. Ahmad's farm, Mr. Aslam said he was living in ''acute tension'' over a mango crop yield that was just 5 percent of previous years'. His 14-year-old son does not want to carry on the family business when he grows up.

''There will not be enough fruit even for my children,'' Mr. Aslam said. The hardships had prompted him to postpone his daughter's wedding, he said, before adding, ''No mango, no life.''

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Heat Waves, Climate Change and the Future, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Suhhasini Raj.

With respectful dedication to all the Mango Lovers of the world, and then Grandparents, Parents, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless