The State Government and the Alirajpur district administration are looking to patent ‘Noor Jahan’ mango, a rare variety, which has been imported from Afghanistan and is grown in Katthiwara area of the district.
Alirajpur Collector Shekhar Verma while talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday said, “We have approached the State Government for its consent to get Noor Jahan patented as MP’s property. The district administration and MP Government will jointly apply for patenting of fruit.”
Verma further said that State Government wanted to promote Noor Jahan for commercial production. Unlike the dainty image the name evokes, Noor Jahan variety is all about weight and size, apart from its sweetness. One mango weighs between four-and-a-half kg and is nearly one-feet long.
The ‘Noor Jahan’ mango has won many acclaims including national award at Indore Mango festival in 1999. The Katthiwara region, neighbouring Gujarat, houses two mango farms with five trees where nearly 100 mangoes grow in one tree.
According to locals, Noor Jahan is not only popular in India but gets demand from abroad as well. Each mango fetches around Rs300 to Rs500. Owner of one of the farms, Shivraj Singh said his father Thakur P Singh had brought sapling of Noor Jahan from Valsad in Gujarat to Katthiwara in 1968.
He said the lone tree in Valsad, is now dead. The tree of the variety measuring 10 to 12 feet grows in sandy soil and requires cool climate.
The Noor Jahan mangoes have its origin in Afghanistan and were brought to Gujarat from where it now has presence in Madhya Pradesh.