In India’s western state of Maharashtra, mango farmer Komal Walke is scrambling to meet orders from India’s online grocers after her family’s three acres of orchards produced almost no Alphonso mangoes this year.
Walke, a 26-year-old horticulturist in the coastal town of Devgad, has been forced to source fruit from larger farms to keep her father’s business afloat.
“If we don’t deliver on our orders, the big clients will not return next year,” she said.
India is the world’s largest grower of mangoes and produced 28 million metric tonnes of the fruit in 2024 to 2025, data from research and rating agency CRISIL showed.
Maharashtra is renowned for its Alphonso mangoes, but officials say hotter weather has ruined this year’s crop of the variety known as the ‘King of Mangoes’.
A sharp difference in day and nighttime temperatures in December and January hurt flowering and fruit setting, while hotter than usual weather in April and May, probably due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, then spoiled the fruits themselves, said Bapusaheb Manikrao Lambade, a government agriculture officer in Devgad, one of Maharashtra’s top Alphonso-growing areas.
El Nino is a climate pattern that alters global weather and can trigger extreme conditions.
A strong El Nino is expected this year and forecast to have an adverse effect on crops across Asia, South America and Africa.
A government-backed survey by scientists and field officials earlier this year, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, estimates this year’s crop losses in Devgad at 85pc to 90pc.
The weather has also caused losses in mango-growing areas elsewhere in the state.
India’s entire mango crop was worth $2.3 billion last year, according to Indian research firm Mordor Intelligence, which expects the market to grow to $3.4bn by 2031.
While much of the fruit stays in India – mangoes are popular during the blistering summer heat – about $56 million worth of mangoes and $80m worth of mango pulp were exported in 2025.
Reuters spoke to more than a dozen farmers in Maharashtra, as well as traders, businesses, exporters and government officials, who said losses had been severe and production among the lowest in decades.
The weather damage has coincided with a slump in exports as a result of the Iran war.
India is one of the world’s largest exporters of mangoes, competing with countries including Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam.
The UAE, the US, UK, Kuwait, and Qatar are among the biggest importers of Indian fresh mangoes.
The disruption has rippled across the supply chain, also hurting businesses linked to the seasonal mango trade.
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