Summer palaces for the King of fruits
Just seven decades ago, the vast areas of Kolar and its surrounding areas were barren lands, prone to drought. M H Marigoudar, considered the father of horticulture in Karnataka, suggested the farmers cultivate mangoes, a tropical fruit that requires less water.
The rest, as they say, is history. The region, especially Srinivaspur taluk, emerged as the “mango capital of India”. Farmers here are cultivating more than 35 varieties of commercially successful mangoes. Of the nearly 14 lakh tonnes of mangoes that Karnataka can grow in an “on-year” (a year of bountiful harvest), nearly 10 lakh tonnes are harvested in Kolar district alone.
Of the total, 70% of the harvest is comprised of the Totapuri variety, earlier known as Bengalura mangoes. A large quantity of table-top fruit that is cultivated in this region includes fruits that were introduced to the region from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Goa. Banganapalli, Pairi, Neelam, Kesar and Badami are some of the commercially successful varieties being cultivated in Kolar.
Given Karnataka’s diverse red soil fields, optimal rain and farmers' enthusiasm to cultivate the ‘king of fruits’, the state has emerged as the second-largest producer of mangoes.
Along with Banganapalli, Pairi and Neelam, the state also grows large quantities of Alphonso, Kari-eshada, Kalapadi, Mundappa, Sindhura, Mallika and Malgova on nearly 1.65 lakh hectares of land. In total, farmers in 25 districts cultivate mangoes.
Experts say that only a handful of varieties hit the market, since a majority of them are not grown in sufficient quantities. Some of these include aromatic mangoes like Karpura Appe and Jeerige Appemidi. Pickles prepared using some Appemidi varieties are also thought to have medicinal qualities.
Diversity of species
Data on the website of the Karnataka State Mango Development And Marketing Corporation Limited shows that the state grows nearly 63 species of mangoes, including Raspuri, Malgova, Amlet (pickle variety) and Jeerige Appemidi (unripe fruit used for pickle). Three varieties — Appemidi, Totapuri and Kari-eshada — have received a GI (Geographical Indication) tag for being unique to the location.
Experts say the number of varieties grown in the state is much higher than 63, as every region in Malnad has tens of varieties which are commercially untapped. Oratge Gidaga, Mani Bhata, Sakre Gudi, Adike Mavu and Anantha Bhatna Appemidi are some of the lesser-known mango varieties of Karnataka. In fact, in coastal and Malnad regions each local plant is considered a separate variety.
Shivananda Kalave, a farmer who has documented Appemidis, says that on his land, he has grown more than 60 varieties of mangoes, the majority of which are Appemidis. He says a few years ago, when an Appemidi exhibition and sale was organised in Sagar, they had recorded more than 550 sub-species of this tiny mango variety.
Shivananda also laments that a majority of consumers are attracted only to the “colour” of mangoes, when choosing them. Therefore, the supply is geared toward these popular varieties. However, several locally grown varieties, which have better flavour, aroma and medicinal qualities are not cultivated on a large scale.
Adopting varieties
While history is too intricate to explain the origins of certain varieties of mangoes and precisely how they came to Karnataka, the state’s farmers have ‘adopted’ certain varieties from other regions as their own and have been reaping them in large quantities, much before the origin states harvest them.
Take, for example, Kesar, a variety from Gujarat. While the fruit is harvested in June and July in the hilly region of Girnal, where it first originated, in parts of Koppal and south Karnataka, the fruits ripen by March and April. A large chunk of Kesar mangoes are exported out of India.
In Koppal, the last seven years have seen mango cover grow from just 1,600 ha of land to 5,000 ha of land. Nearly 13 varieties of mangoes are being cultivated here, and none of them are local breeds.
Alphonso, a variety introduced to Karnataka from Goa, has large coverage in the fields of Dharwad. This table-top fruit has a fan base of its own, for its sweetness, colour and texture.
“Bengalura and Kari-eshada are among the absolute native varieties of mangoes grown in Karnataka,” says S V Hittalamani retired additional director of the Horticulture Department, who has done extensive study on the mangoes of Karnataka.
“Given that mangoes are tropical fruits and Karnataka has vast red soil and laterite areas, the farmers have been able to grow the fruit in large areas,” he says.
Hittalamani says cultivation of mangoes on a large scale in Karnataka is recorded to have started in the 1950s. “Noble and rich farmers, who used to tour other parts of the country might have collected good-quality seedlings from across India and introduced them in their fields,” he says. But today, only commercially viable crops are being grafted to get desired results, he adds.
While there is a high demand for the mangoes of Karnataka across India, natural vagaries over the last decade have pushed many farmers to think whether to “pamper the king” or “desert the battlefield”, says Chinappa Reddy, president of Kolar Mango Growers’ Association.
S Shankaran, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru says they have been nurturing more than 800 varieties of mangoes in their 200 acres of bio-park. Of these, more than 250 are of Appemidi varieties and the remaining are table-top fruit and pickle varieties. They are also maintaining 35 varieties of exotic mangoes as part of their gene bank.
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