Though new varieties of the Dussheri are coming in each year, there has been a drastic fall in the quality of this mango due to the use of insecticides and ripening chemicals. Sangeeta Yadav talks to the Mango Man of Malihabad to know more
Ask anyone what’s the best part of summers and the answer will be mangoes. From Dussheri, langda, Sarauli, Chausa, Fazli to Alphonso, Kesar, Rajapuri, Vanraj, Jamadar, Totapuri, Neelum and many more, this juicy and sweet fruit is everyone’s delight.
The most popular of the lot, the Dussheri, is grown mainly in Malihabad, Uttar Pradesh. The acres and acres of Dussheri orchards are a delight for mango connoisseurs like the 76-year-old Padmashree Haji Kalimullah Khan aka the Mango Man of India.
Khan, who owns a 14-acre orchard loves the fruit so much that he has a tree called Jag Ped which bears 300 varieties of mango of different shapes and colours. But these mangoes are not for sale and are served to people who take a tour of his orchard. One of his mango trees has a variety that has two peels, two pulps and two pits.
“In 1919, there were 1,300 varieties of the Dussheri grown in Malihabad out of which around 600 varieties have vanished. Now new varieties are being invented each year. This season, I have introduced three — Mathura, Kalam and Amitabh Bachchan. We are now working on getting the natural red colour on the Dussheri,” Khan says.
Sadly, the quality of the Dussheri has gone down despite the variety. Though they look sturdy from the outside, the inside is a gooey mess.
The reason for this is the increasing use of insecticides with orchard insects turning resistant and harming the crop. So farmers are using more potent insecticides which have felled the quality of the mango.
“Our orchards are ridden with insects. To prevent that, farmers are using heavy duty insecticides. Prolonged usage affects the trees and then the fruit, spoiling its texture, colour and taste. If you will send your mangoes to test in labs, you will find chemicals in it that are harmful. Almost a decade back, there was no use of insecticides and the colour and the taste of Dussheri used to be so much better,” Khan tells you.
Add to this, the farmers trying in cash-in on the early bird sales by artificially ripening the mangoes in potent chemicals and selling them at a premium much before the season starts.
“Planters have started to use strong chemicals, either liquid or powder, to ripen the raw Dussheri so that they can sell it early in the market when the prices are high. It looks perfect on the outside, but inside, it is sour, ripe in patches and also over ripe and unhealthy. Forcefully ripening a fruit means you are going against Nature. This will definitely harm you,” Khan says.
Another factor he points at is the vagary of climate change. In the last few years, the climate has not been conducive for the fruit’s yield. But this year, the production is satisfactory, he adds.
“It’s a summer fruit and if there is early monsoon, the flowers get damaged affecting the production of the Dussheri. However this year, we didn’t witness an adverse climatic impact. Instead, the mango business is good. From orchard owners to wholesellers to retailers, everyone is happy making profits.
No one is bothered that the quality of one of the best mangoes in the country is falling. No one wants to go to the root cause and address the problem since this will mean that the orchard owners will have to spend money. If the end consumer is not complaining why should the owners be bothered is the popular thought,” Khan rues.