pune it is a double whammy for alphonso mango growers in ratnagiri and devgad after the excessive heat it is the pests now which have spoiled the party for the farmers who were banking on a good harvest this year to tide over the losses incurred due to the untimely and copious rainfall last yearas per the estimates of statelevel monitoring agencies the primary mango growing belt of ratnagiri district is staring at a 40 drop in its produce owing to the sudden and prolonged high temperatures in devgad it is the seemingly invincible pests which have destroyed almost half of the cropand it is not just the quantity but also the quality of the mangoes which has taken a beating this year hitting both exports and finances of the growers the situation is so distressing that some of the small and marginal farmers are even considering shunning the business altogetherparineeti borande in charge of crop monitoring in ratnagiri for the maharashtra state agriculture marketing board said the mango crop requires equitable temperatures in february and march which was missing this year