Excess rainfall in Nov-Dec and early heat; lime production was hit in Andhra, India's largest producer

Lime prices may be burning holes in middle-class pockets, but has that translated into super profits for farmers? Cultivators in Andhra Pradesh, the largest supplier of the citrus, are not exactly a happy lot. Their experience is another case study of how extreme weather can add to farm worries. Lime is cultivated in the state over an area of 41,858 hectares, of which 18,797 hectares fall in the erstwhile SPSR Nellore district (before its recent reorganisation), said K Srinivasulu, deputy director, state horticulture department. The state is also home to Asia’s biggest lime market yard in Gudur town, Tirupati district. Fall in production It is a part of management practice to get flowering in December, said L Srinivas Rao, district horticulture officer, Nellore. “It takes three-four months for flowers to become a fruit. Extended rainfall upto December and January delayed flowering, causing delay in production.” Flowering was not affected in trees on gravel soil which does ...