Weather shocks slash India’s Alphonso mango crop, farmers scramble

India’s prized Alphonso crop has been battered by weather in Maharashtra, and growers in Devgad are scrambling to keep buyers supplied as fruit fails at both flowering and ripening stages. Komal Walke, a 26-year-old horticulturist, said her family’s three-acre orchard produced almost no Alphonso mangoes this year, forcing her to source fruit from larger farms so online grocers do not cut off the family’s supply chain.

The damage began in December and January, when a sharp gap between daytime and nighttime temperatures hurt flowering and fruit set. It deepened in April and May, when hotter-than-usual weather, possibly linked to El Nino, spoiled fruit already on the trees. Bapusaheb Manikrao Lambade, a government agriculture officer in Devgad, said the crop was hit at both stages, and a government-backed survey put losses in the area at 85 percent to 90 percent. Farmers, traders, businesses, exporters and officials described one of the lowest production levels in decades.

The losses matter far beyond a single harvest. Alphonso mangoes from the Konkan region carry a Geographical Indication tag tied to their place of origin, which makes regional reputation part of the crop’s value. When output collapses in a season like this, the damage spreads through orchards, traders, exporters and the online retailers that market the fruit as a premium specialty. India remains the world’s largest mango grower, with production of 28 million metric tons in 2024-2025, so a weak Alphonso season is not just a local disappointment; it is a hit to rural income, specialty food supply and export-linked business.

The pressure is heavier because the weather shock has landed alongside an export slump tied to the Iran war, squeezing growers and traders from another direction. For small orchards in Devgad and nearby mango belts such as Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, the stakes are immediate. Missing deliveries to major clients this year can mean losing those customers next season, a setback that turns a bad harvest into a market-access problem.

The pattern is also becoming familiar. Earlier reporting in 2025 described spongy tissue, premature fruit drop and small fruit size in Konkan Alphonso orchards, problems that are now resurfacing as climate volatility makes traditional growing seasons less reliable. Images from Devgad on May 13 and May 15, 2026 showed spongy tissue in sliced fruit at the Devgad Alphonso Mango Producers Association and workers harvesting mangoes in the region, a stark sign of how quickly a premium crop can turn from prized export commodity to scarce, uneven supply.