JOIN USThe appemidi (mango variety) is Malnad’s speciality. It is a symbol of Uttara Kannada’s rich culture.
River banks and tank bunds in the region have traditionally been known to be treasure houses of the appemidi variety. However, the appemidi yield has been really low this time round. This is cause for much concern, because it is known that this mango variety produces a rich yield every alternate year. What is however cause for concern is the fact that many varieties of appemidi are vanishing in the mad competition among middlemen to supply them to pickle factories. It is because the appemidi is a special variety that the government has given it a geographical indication (GI) tag.
It was an appemidi mela held in Sagar four years back that propelled the government to issue the GI tag to the mango variety. According to environment writer Shivanand Kalave who has been researching the subject for the last two decades, the Western Ghats region has many strains of appemidi including malanji appe, chouti appe, hosagadde appe, genasinakuli jeerige and kanagalakai appe. Siddapura taluk’s ‘Anantha Bhattana appe’ is a variety that is popular in the entire region. Though efforts have been made to conserve this variety by way of distribution of lakhs of saplings, they have not seen much success.
“It is important to identify varieties that take to certain soil kinds and then grow them there,” Kavale explains. Kalave has grown as many as 50 varieties himself. It is crucial that these rare varieties are conserved. Village forest committee and the Forest Department should join hands to save the appemidi.