It appears that mango orchards are not out of the woods. They are facing the same problem of malformation in this season as well. Orchard owners and contractors have been trying to overcome the problem with necessary treatments as best as they can. The same issue of malformation had caused productivity losses in mangoes in 2025; though hoppers had multiplied the problem back then.

There is another worry for orchard owners and contractors now — the closure of the Afghanistan border. War clouds are also looming over The Middle East, as the US looked poised to take military action against Iran with the US president warning Iran of ‘bad things’.

So, it was a double jeopardy for mango orchards owners and contractors this year. Orchard contractors were in a fix. They seemed reluctant to sign contracts with owners in view of these regional conditions that were directly related with fruit’s trade.

Nowadays, mango trees are confronting malformation caused by batoor disease in Lower Sindh orchards. It has understandably worried owners and contractors. The contractors who are engaged in long term deals with farm owners were making efforts with required sprays on trees to tackle the problem. However, those who sign contracts in February annually are opting for a wait-and-see policy.

‘The tendency of outsourcing is the root cause of various issues hitting orchards every now and then’

For mango growers that malformation, known as batoor or kharboor in local language, is becoming a regular feature. Those letting out farms to contractors every year leave it to them to fix the issue, however, some contractors intending to mean business do try to control the issue for a better harvest.

That said, a few men, like Imdad Nizamani from Tando Allahyar, a seasoned progressive mango grower, works differently. He takes care of the orchard personally, although he has worked with contractors for two decades. His orchard, like last year, is once again facing the batoor disease this year again. He first noticed signs of batoor at the initial stage last year after harvesting, “It’s a battle, you know, with the disease. We had to dissect the diseased stem. People should not lose sight of the fact that spores of batoor always remain in trees and tackle accordingly,” Mr Imdad Nizamani said.

He has been in the business of mango orchard farming since the mid-80s. Until 2002 he used to hand over his farm to a contractor but then since then he decided to deal with marketing and harvesting the fruit on his own. He was averse to farms’ outsourcing outright, noting that mango growers should give up this tendency. “The sooner they do it the better. This will help them save their orchards,” he quipped.

He believed that a contractor would never pay attention to the orchard the way a farm owner would do. “The tendency of outsourcing is the root cause of various issues hitting orchards every now and then. So, productivity losses or issues will always be a foregone conclusion,” he said.

Farmers and contractors remain complacent after fruit’s harvest in a year. But Mr Imdad warned against such complacency. “Soon after the harvesting of mangoes, growers should pull their socks up and start paying visits farms. It would enable them to nip the trouble in the bud after noticing indications of batoor. If they missed the time, it would devour branches in every single tree,” he insisted.

Last year the contractors had to re-negotiate their deals with owners after incurring malformation and hopper-driven productivity losses. Contractors like Haji Mukhtiar confirmed that if they were expected to have 3,000 maunds from an orchard, they lost 1,000 maunds to the disease last year. However, he was handling malformation timely to minimise productivity losses in this year’s harvest.

“A friend had to give up Rs20 million out of his Rs60m deal with the contractor because the latter was not in a position to pay it to the owner,” said Nawab Zubair Talpur, President Sindh Abadgar Ittehad discussing last years losses.

Fresh contracts are usually signed for orchards around February — when trees begin flowering which gives an idea to contractors about the likely size of the crop. But this time around things are working differently for different reasons. Mango orchard contractors were reluctant to sign new deals with orchard owners.

Besides malformation issues, they also fear export-related issues would undermine the trade in the wake of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border closure since October 2025 and Iran facing war-like conditions; both the countries are potential export markets of Pakistani mangoes.

“The orchard owners are even willing to offer a deal at last year’s prices, but contractors are reluctant right now,” commented a contractor, Asif Nizamani.

The research wing officials of Sindh’s agriculture department have started their survey of orchards — an annual exercise by them to assess the health of mango trees and likely production of mangoes. Their findings about flowering in trees and orchards’ health should be available by the end of February.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, February 23rd, 2026