In the past, trees of native mango varieties used to be lavishly seen almost everywhere in Kerala. In the southern parts of the State such varieties that tempted even jaded palates included Karpooram, Kilichundan, Chandrakaran, Thali, Preyoor, Moovandan, Mylapore, Kotturkonam, Polachira, and Kappa.
But later on preponderance and preference of introduced and hybrid mango varieties led to even famous native varieties getting driven to the verge of extinction. This led to such mango trees becoming the first victims to most development activities.
Of late, due to fears over chemically treated imported mangoes flooding the markets during season, there is a renewed demand for the native varieties. But these are not easily available because of a dearth of trees.
The Government Agricultural Farm at Kottukkal, near Anchal in Kollam, district is making a strong intervention to protect and propagate such varieties. Farm superintendent N. Chandrashekaran told The Hindu that the demand for saplings of native mango varieties among farmers and others are steadily picking up.
The farm has over 300 trees of about a dozen native varieties meant exclusively for propagation through grafting.
Mr. Chandrashekaran said that for various reasons the demand was very high for hybrid varieties than even the introduced varieties and topping the demand list is the H-151 variety, a cross between Neelam and Kalapadi developed by the District Agricultural Farm at Taliparamba.
Till a few years ago there was no demand for the saplings of native varieties. But now many native varieties are in high demand. Many people coming to the Kottukkal farm say that they have only heard names of native mangoes.
So during the season when the native mango trees of the farm starting fruiting, it provides a visual treat for the visitors. Mr. Chandrashekaran said many now come to the farm with this as the main purpose during season. The fruits are largely used to create root stocks for grafting.
Every year the farm sells close to about 10,000 grafted saplings of various mango varieties and about 2,500 saplings of these are native varieties since the past couple of years, Mr. Chandshekaran said.
He added that even many of such trees that have survived are threatened due to various human interventions and concerted efforts are required to ensure that they don’t go extinct.
The farm has over 300 trees of about a dozen native varieties meant exclusively for propagation through grafting.
