Heat Wave Shrivels Mango Crop for Egypt’s Farmers

Heat Wave Shrivels Mango Crop for Egypt’s Farmers

A farmer arranges mangoes after the yield dropped due to fungus linked to global warming, in Ismailia, Egypt, July 26, 2021. (Reuters)

The mango groves of Egypt's Ismailia province, normally humming with harvesting activity in July, have been quiet this summer following an unexpected heat wave that has ruined much of the crop and hurt farmers' livelihoods.

Farmer Adel Dahshan, wearing a white galabeya stained with mango juice, said his farmed areas have yielded just a tiny fraction of their normal bounty.

A sudden heat wave swept the province of Ismailia, which borders the Suez Canal, in early winter and then again in late March, and those hot days and cool nights have disrupted the fruit's development.

"The weather at night isn't warm, it's cold"¦ that affects the growth of the flowers, of the fruit," said Dahshan, 49. Ayman Abou Hadid, an environment and agriculture professor at Ain Shams University said the irregular temperatures were caused by climate change.

Those fluctuations and increased humidity levels, along with a deadly crop disease that thrives in warmth, have slashed mango production by 50%-80%, according to Hadid, a former agricultural minister.

Standing below a nearly barren mango tree, farmer Yasser Dahshan holds a branch, its once waxy, green leaves