Tipu Sultan’s legacy lives on, in this farm. In his famed war against the British, the Tiger of Mysore set up a system of vigil called Kiru Kaavalu to keep an eye on enemies. Today, this town in Malavalli taluk of Mandya region is called Kirugavalu. During that period, some men who served in Tipu’s army were gifted with land and encouraged to grow mangoes. The best mangoes were taken to the palace. It was during this period that one member, who served in Tipu’s army, Syed Ghani Khan, received a gift of about 20 acres of land from the Sultan himself. He grew several varieties of mango trees on his farm. Four generations later, the farm is now with Ghani Khan, a young and energetic man, also smitten by mangoes.
Rare varieties, 120 of them
Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan both encouraged their citizens to develop gardens and orchards. This 250-year-old farm is a living museum of mangoes. There are about 160 trees with about 120 different varieties of mangoes – Mosambi ka aam – sweet flavoured like sweet lime, Seb Ka Aam – is apple flavoured and looks like an apple, Cheekam aam, which is suitable for diabetics, as it is less sweet, Karpuravalli, perfect for aam ras, Metika, Sebka, Manga maari, Peekam, Shakeer, Moti ka aam, Aate Ka Aaam, and many more. The taste of each variety is distinct. Then there are the all-time favourites like Tothapuri, Badami, Raspuri, Banganapalli, Malagoba and Sindura.
Some of the trees here are more than two centuries old and continue to yield fruit. In fact, the yield from these old trees goes up to three tonnes at times. There are also varieties that he harvests twice a year. “These trees require minimum maintenance, and I also cultivate paddy and sugarcane along with mangoes,” says Ghani Khan. Bada Bagh was part of a larger mango orchard from Tipu’s regime. Historically, farmers in this region are known to have grown mangoes. Most farms donated by the Sultan were all mango orchards but many have now abandoned them in favour of more lucrative commercial cultivars. Ghani says that when the canal system was introduced to irrigate land in the area, farmers turned to paddy cultivation bringing about a drastic decline in mango orchards.
Organic cultivation methods
Ghani Khan has completely changed to organic cultivation over the last five years. “But I am proud to have inherited such a farm,” he says. Meanwhile, an unfazed Ghani Khan has been quietly maintaining and documenting this ancient farm, steeped in history. He has distinguished the trees by fruit morphology - size, shape, colour and qualitative traits - fruiting time, fibre content in flesh, aroma and taste. Tree canopy structure and shape and size of leaf are also important characteristics to distinguishing cultivars. Based on these, Ghani has distinguished the trees and maintained the documents.
Recognising the rich diversity in his orchards, Sahaja Samrudha, organic farmers’ collective in collaboration with Root Cause and Dept of Horticulture have come forward to conserve the genes of these mangoes. The best varieties have been selected and a nursery has been developed for propagation of mango varieties.
At a mango mela organised in Idukki town of Kerala this year, mangoes from Ghani Khan’s farm were exhibited and won a lot of appreciation. Even when he visited Hyderabad for a seminar, the mangoes from his farm were most sought after and came to be popular as ‘Tipu’ mangoes. Later many people visiting from Hyderabad sought to know about Tipu mangoes.
This mango season, Ghani has come up with a new idea and has thrown open his orchard for visitors from the cities. You can picnic at the spot, and choose mangoes of your choice. Ghani has always sold the produce in the local market without any marketing support for such rare varieties. It was not possible one year ago when there was only a local mandi to sell his produce and he was at the mercy of the local vendors to decide the price of his produce irrespective of the quality. But now he has many organic outlets in the city placing orders for mangoes from his farm.
Courtesy by Deccan Herald
