Traditional mango growers: The issue of dwindling field technologies

Mango cultivation system in India varies from traditional to ultramodern depending upon type of farmer, location and age of the plantation. the characteristic features of traditional mango farming include widely spaced elderly trees, usually under contract system with non bred elite land races (varieties) and tall and wide spread tree canopy. Factors like availability of inputs, crop regularity, production knowledge, technology backup, infrastructure, marketing, biotic problems, post harvest management, manpower availability, mechanization, value chain and weather abrasions affect the net income from mango crop. Key avenues of increasing mango growers income are cost (of production) and loss (biotic) reduction, quantity of marketable produce, value addition, waste utilization, space utilization, crop seasonality and marketing avenues. Among these, cost of cultivation and losses are two key factors that determine the profit margin to mango cultivators to a great extent. Centred around the traditional mango belt problems, some of the prevailing practices and their consequences have been explained in present paper. over the period, there has been change in mango growing ecosystem especially in traditional mango belt. the pest spectrum of mango is distorted and new chemicals and molecules are dominating the list of pest management tools. Maintenance of soil quality, nutrient recycling and its balance, pollination and pest management are seldom considered in traditional mango production system. Clean cultivation is being over emphasized despite the fact that the diversified farming system ensures substantially, greater biodiversity, soil quality, carbon sequestration, water-holding capacity, energy-use efficiency and resistance. Inaccessible tree canopy and tree height posses various operational difficulties like pest monitoring, spray, fruit thinning, harvesting etc. Suitable machines and tools for this tree height are not available. there has been low adoption of rejuvenation technology due to various reasons. there are reports to use growth retardant excessively in mango in the absence of right advice. Compromising the fruit weight and food safety and meager technology source and lack of demonstrative orchards are some of the issues in traditional mango belt. to overcome the situation, certain futuristic research and extension needs have been suggested such as handling new pest and disease problems, infusing more bio rational control measures, improving soil health, tree nutrition and orchard diversity etc. Looking to the farmers’ weaknesses in terms of adoption of mango technology, the role of the farmer as a researcher in testing and refining of sustainable technologies is also highlighted.