Horticulture commissioner H P Singh told The Financial Express that according to information received from the states, potato production in 1997-98 was likely to decline to 19.5 million tonne as against 25.5 million tonne in 1996-97. Untimely rains in February and outbreak of blight disease severely affected production in Bihar, Punjab and West Bengal.

He stated that mango production in 1997-98 was also likely to decline by 45 per cent over the previous year's output. As against the normal production of 110 lakh tonne per annum, production in 1997-98 was estimated at a mere 60 lakh tonne, he added.

He said the yield had fallen by as much as 40 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, which accounts for 28 per cent of total mango production in the country. Production also fell in UP, Bihar and Maharashtra. Output inKarnataka, which accounts for seven per cent production, was significantly low. In Tamil Nadu, production fell by 60 per cent in the main mango producing areas of Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Salem. However, production of varieties like Bangalori, Kalapad and Neelam was not much affected, he added.

Singh said as mango was an alternate bearing crop in north India, its decline in production was expected after a peak output in the previous year. The other factors which caused its decline were untimely rains in September-October 1997 and in January-February 1998.

Extended winter and consequent low temperatures over north India also did not allow adequate and timely flowing. Thereafter, the rise in temperature and rains in January-February resulted in increasing the humidity levels which led to breeding of insects.

In the south, continuous rains in mango growing areas resulted in flowers failing to bloom. Heavy rains also affected pollination. Absence of dew in the flowering season also contributed to thisphenomenon.

Untimely rains caused kharif failure in onion and its production in 1997-98 was likely to decline by 15 per cent, he said. Singh said that grape output was likely to decline by at least 40 per cent as grape crops in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were severely affected by powdery mildew and downy mildew diseases. Similarly, cashewnut crops were affected by untimely rains in October-November 1997 and in February 1998, he added.

Meanwhile, India's litchi exports to Europe declined sharply by 88 per cent in 1997-98 due to bad weather and inadequate infrastructure in the major producing state of Bihar.

Litchi exports fell to 3.5 tonne in the last fiscal as against 30 tonne in 1996-97, according to the Agricultural Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA). Several business houses like ITC and Arvind Mills, who had earlier shown interest in the trade, backed out due to losses incurred by them.

Furthermore, APEDA did not offer any guidance to the litchi trade, which has a verylean season of just over a month (May-June). Tonnes of litchi were left unattended because of inadequate storage and transportation facilities.