Kerala's mango conservation drive branches out to other states

Thiruvananthapuram: An initiative by a group of mango lovers in Kerala to preserve indigenous varieties of mango trees is now branching out to other states like Karnataka.

While Dakshina Kannada based veterinary surgeon Dr Manohar Upadhyaya has already planted over 400 saplings, Shreesh Kumar, a chartered accountant from Bhatkal, is planning to plant saplings in public places of his village.

"I already planted around 100 varieties and now plan to plant saplings at public places in my village. But planting is just five percent of the work. Protecting and preserving it is a major challenge. Compared to the initiatives of people like Dr Upadhyaya, my efforts in preserving indigenous varieties is very limited," Kumar, who stays in Bengaluru, told DH.

Many like Kumar and Dr Upadhyaya got inspiration from Shyju Machathi, founder and coordinator of Kannur-based 'Nattumanchottil' (under the shade of indigenous mango trees).

Mohan Kumar from Salem in Tamil Nadu, Subhadip Das from West Bengal, Sudhir from Thelangana, Rajendra Borkar from Goa and fruitarian from Andhra Pradesh Charan Gadham were the other mango enthusiasts who turned up for the ninth annual gathering of 'Nattumanchottil' held on May 4 at Kannapuram on the suburbs of Kannur.

The event also witnessed participation of UAE-based farmer Abdul Hakeem Kamkar who is on a mission to find mangoes that could be cultivated in the climate of Gulf countries.

"The participants could taste around 140 indigenous varieties of mangoes preserved from various parts of Kerala. Different variants of 'Bappakai' mangoes was an attraction as sweetness of some variants was as high as 31 brix," Machathi said.

It was an effort to preserve a 200-year-old 'Vellathan' variety of mango tree that was being axed by the landlord ten years back led to the formation of the 'Nattumanchottil' group of mango lovers. They collected the pieces of the tree and grafted it to retain the variety. 'Nattumanchottil' could so far preserve over 250 saplings of which around 150 are of different varieties. 'Nattumanchottil' had received the centre’s Plant genome savior community award.

Kannapuram panchayat on the suburbs of Kannur was declared as a 'Indigenous mango heritage area' by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board in 2020 after around 100 varieties were spotted in the panchayat. Impressed over the overwhelming response from mango enthusiasts, the team led by Machathi, who is a police official, had spread their activities to other parts of Kerala and now to other states.

As part of the tenth anniversary of 'Nattumanchottil' in 2026 a host of initiatives like showcasing all known and unknown mango varieties of Kerala at one place, publishing a publish a detailed reference book on these varieties and carry out an 'Aam Yatra' to other states to promote conservation of indigenous varieties are also planned.