Bhopal: Famous for being the birthplace of India’s war of freedom revolutionary Chandrashekhar Azad, the Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh, is now gradually gaining the distinction of turning into a ‘mango district’ in the central Indian state.
Spanning from the king-sized Nur Jahan mangoes (which weigh between 2.5 kg to 4 kg) to the sweetest Kesar, Langda, Chausa, Hapus (Alphonso), Rajapuri, Vanlaxmi, Rumani, Haathi Jhool, Totapari and Malgova mangoes, the mango plantations spread in around 3700-hectare area in the west MP district are home to around 104 varieties.
“Though 70-80% of the around one lakh mango farmers own trees of desi mango varieties, 20% farmers have developed their own mango orchards, which house plantations of best quality kalmi (crafted) mango varieties, with Kesar being the mainstay. For the last two years the Alirajpur district administration has been showcasing the district’s mango varieties at special Aam Mahotsava. This year the exhibition, which saw participation of around 200 farmers, had on display 400 samples of around 100 varieties,” assistant director (horticulture) Kailash Chauhan told this newspaper.
While there are around 1000-1500 mango farmers owning orchards of different sizes, some mango farmers, including three cousin brothers (associated with erstwhile royal family of Katthiwada state) who are owners of six trees of the king-sized Nur Jahan mangoes, besides Yuvraj Singh Thakur whose orchards house 32 varieties and Kunwar Singh Seja, whose orchard houses 18 mango varieties are the leading mango farmers in the district.
Three cousins, including the erstwhile Katthiwada state’s king Digvijaya Singh and his two cousins Shivraj Singh and Bharatraj Singh are preserving 1500 mango trees in three orchards spread over around 25 hectares in Katthiwada block, which is close to Gujarat.
The mainstay of these 1500 tree-strong orchards is the Nur Jahan mango variety, each of whose fruits weigh from 2 kg to 4 kg and is booked in advance by big buyers from across the country, particularly based in Delhi, Mumbai and other big cities.
“The big-sized Nur Jahan mango variety’s first tree was planted by my father in the early 1980s out of sapling brought from Gujarat and subsequently the same trees were planted in orchards of our cousins’ family. This year regular spells of dust and thunderstorms and hailstorm damaged around 25-30% of the crop in the flowering and fruiting stages only. While it has reduced the number of fruits, its price has increased because of a dip in supply. While we sold a maximum of 3.8 kg Nur Jahan mango for Rs 2400 last year, the maximum weighing 3.3 kg Nur Jahan mango has been booked by a buyer this year for Rs 3000,” Shivraj Singh said.
But it’s not just the king-sized Nur Jahan mangoes that form the 1500-trees strong three orchards of the extended Jadhav family in Katthiwada. Other varieties, including Shah Jahan and Jahangir (weighing up to one kg) and red and pink coloured Sridevi and Madhuri (named after two illustrious Bollywood actresses) and Maharana variety, also are rare possessions of the three orchards of Katthiwada only.
“My father named two varieties developed out of Gujarat’s Vanraj mango genre, as Sridevi and Madhuri, based on the red and pink colours, that resembled the cheeks of the two Bollywood queens,” added Shivraj.
Three other leading mango farmers, including Yuvraj Singh Thakur, Yashpal Singh Thakur and Pradeep Thakur in Alirajpur and Jobat blocks of Alirajpur district, too are engaged in mango farming in a big manner.
Among them, Yuvraj Singh is the most successful mango farmer, who since last season has supplied around one tonne (1000 kg) Kesar and Hapus (Alfonso) mangoes to large online grocer Big Basket. “Though 25% of the crop in the 10-hectare area has been destroyed this season by inclement weather, still I’m hopeful of meeting the demand of Big Basket in Indore this season also for Kesar and Alfonso mangoes,” Yuvraj said.
Another farmer, Kunwar Singh Seja, owns an orchard spread over 2.5 hectares, which is home to 18 varieties, 14 of which were showcased at the recent mango festival in the district.
“I haven’t ever traveled to Gwalior in the MP, but the Kesar, Fazli, Neelam, and Totapari mangoes from my orchard have traveled there. Mango varieties from my orchard are already being dispatched to Indore and Bhopal, besides Vadodara in adjoining Gujarat,” he said.