Maharashtra: Sweet lime production may drop this year due to scanty rainfall, infection in fruits

Scanty rainfall in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra so far this year, dried-up soil, rise in temperature and infection in fruits are the factors due to which the production of sweet limes might drop drastically, an expert said on Wednesday. Rainfall in the Marathwada region has been low this year, which will impact the sweet lime production, the expert said.

Scanty rainfall in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra so far this year, dried-up soil, rise in temperature and infection in fruits are the factors due to which the production of sweet limes might drop drastically, an expert said on Wednesday. According to officials, Maharashtra tops the country in the cultivation of sweet limes with 21,525 hectares of area being used for the purpose in Aurangabad district, while 14,325 hectares in Jalna district.

The state government has recently sanctioned a project named Citrus Estate for research in sweet lime and sanctioned Rs 36.44 crore funds for the purpose, they said. Rainfall in the Marathwada region has been low this year, which will impact the sweet lime production, the expert said. ''There is scanty rainfall this year, due to which the dryness of the soil and soil temperature have increased. As the tree cannot extract necessary nutrition for the fruit from the soil, the fruit is falling from the tree. Besides that, infections are also being spotted in the sweet limes,'' Sanjay Patil from the Agriculture Research Station based in Badnapur of Jalna district said.

''We are visiting the fields extensively to monitor the growth of sweet limes and check the losses. As of now, around 25-30 per cent of the fruits have fallen. If the no-rainfall condition continues, the losses may go up in the near period,'' he said.

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