RAS AL KHAIMAH // The generations-old tradition of farming mangoes in the UAE is being threatened by the unchecked spread of a disease that thrives on the fruit. As many as 85 per cent of farms in Fujairah and Ras al Khaimah are infected by a blight that can ruin entire harvests. Now the Ministry of Environment and Water has launched a two-year programme to tackle the problem and eradicate or control the spread of the disease, and safeguard the industry. The announcement came at the beginning of the mango harvest, which provides income to thousands of people. The blight has spread to a vast majority of the family-run businesses in the past six years. Mohammed al Mehrezi, the director of the ministry's northern region, who has his own farms in Masafi, said: "Our fathers and grandfathers took much care of these trees, it was their life. Now we are [trying to] find a suitable treatment for farmers. When we get the result, the ministry can support the farms." Five scientists are identifying the blight's symptoms and will test eight fungicides at two farms in Fujairah in an attempt to find the most effective treatment. Dr Salah el Moniem, a plant protection specialist with the ministry, said: "It's not a short plan. These are established trees and you need at least two years to get results. "After two years, we can identify the improvements in the different treatments." When the research is complete after the mango trees bloom in April, the ministry plans to distribute the best treatment. At roadside markets, locally farmed mangoes have become increasingly rare, because of the blight and a recent water shortage.
Babu Kamzar, a Bangladeshi merchant at Masafi market, said: "These years we are not getting many mangoes from the UAE, now we only get a few." Mangoes from Dibba are Dh6 per kilogram but those from Bidiyya and Masafi cost up to Dh10 per kilogram, twice the price of mangoes from Pakistan and India. Ali Khamis, a farmer in the RAK side of Masafi, has had 200 of his 500 mango trees infected by blight in the past two years.
"This mango tree is from my father's father's father," he said. "I have lemons, oranges, dates. But mangoes, this is from old times." Mr Khamis will personally deliver the first mangoes of the season to Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed, the Ruler of RAK and Member of the Supreme Council. He said his mango production has fallen by around 90 per cent. Last year his 50 farms produced 2,000 mangoes. Since the blight appeared on his farms in August 2008, he said he had not planted new trees to replace those that had died for fear the disease would spread and kill them.
Mango saplings grown from local stalk are Dh50 to Dh250. While saplings from Pakistani trees are Dh10, Mr Khamis does not want to introduce any foreign plants for fear of introducing new parasites. He said about 2,000 trees had died on farms around Masafi. His farms are now covered in collapsed mango trees, many more than 12 metres in length. Those that remain have unhealthy holes and resin dripping from their trunks.
The ministry's research project mirrors a campaign against the red palm weevil started in 2007, which offers farmers free pheromone traps and light traps for weevil collection. More than 20,000 palm weevils were caught in the first three months of the study in RAK alone. The ministry of agriculture will also assist farmers with the shortage of water by adding 50 to 60 new dams in mountain areas to the existing 80 dams built over the past decade.
Mango farmers, however, may have to relocate if the blight cannot be controlled. "The trees damaged by this disease are very old trees," Mr Mehrezi said. "We advise farmers to move the trees and start new." azacharias@thenational.ae
