Sultry weather a blessing is disguise for mango growers
LUCKNOW: The sultry weather, which has created a May-hem in April itself, is proving to be a ‘blessing in disguise’ for mango-growers.
Calling it as “best-suited weather”, the mango-growers of the state capital have predicted bumper growth.
“This year, the mangoes would be in abundance and may come as cheap as potatoes,” predicted Padma Shri Haji Kaleem Ullah Khan, who is also known as ‘Mango Man.’
“It’s the best crop I have seen in my 70 years of mango farming,” said Khan who is also known for growing different varieties of mangoes.
“Flowering booms as winter’s recedes. It’s very crucial time for the mango crop as the delicate flowers needs care and suitable weather conditions,” said Khan while adding: “Initially the price of the mangoes may be high but in later days it should sell at around Rs10 to Rs 15 per kilogram.”
Unlike last year there has not been any hailstorm, hails or non-seasonal rains — another reason why the flowers remained intact and resulted into a full bloom crop, which is expected to hit the market by May 16.
“I am sure this year both rich and the poor alike can relish their favourite mangoes,” said Vijay Singh, a mangogrower from Mall tehsil.
Singh, however, blamed the district authorities for not providing adequate water and electricity facility, which he said might hamper the crop.
“We need proper water supply and electricity. If not watered properly, the size of the mangoes could remain small,” Singh said.
District magistrate Raj Shekhar said special arrangements had been made for Mall and Malihabad.
“In both the tehsil, water will be provided to mango orchards on priority basis. We will also ensure the refilling of ponds that could assist farmers in watering crops. Kakori too will get the adequate water supply. As per the schedule received from the irrigation department, the water will reach Malihabad, Kakori and Mall through canal by April 26,” Shekhar added.
Lucknow’s three tehsils— Malihabad, Mall and Kakori —are together known as mango belt and have earned the state capital the title of ‘mango capital.’
In all three tehsils, the records of the horticulture department suggests, mango is produced on total 23,589 hectares of land. “And this year, the mango crop is one of the best crops, the entire mangobelt has got ever,” confirmed RS Verma, horticulture officer, Malihabad, Lucknow.
Mallihabad is said to be the largest contributor to the total mango production (from the mango belt) with over 10,000 hectares of land engaged in mango farming, the farmers called suitable climatic conditions behind high-density mango production.
LUCKNOW: Paying tribute to the former president of India, late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Padma Shri grafting expert, Kaleem Ullah Khan has developed a special mango variety that he has named ‘Kalam aam’.
“It’s perhaps the best way I could pay tribute to a great human being, a great scientist and a great teacher, who changed the lives of many,” said Kaleem Ullah, who is credited with grafting a series of special varieties of mangoes, several named after celebrities like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar, and politicians like prime minister Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi and chief minister of UP, Akhilesh Yadav.
But ‘Kalam aam’ is distinct from others in taste, says its creator. “Just as Dr Kalam sahib was a unique and multitalented personality, the Kalam mango has been developed in a way to give it a different taste. It has skins of different colours and even the pulp is of two different shades,” he shared.
Other than the Kalam variety of mango that Kaleem Ullah informed would take almost a month to mature, he has recently also developed two other mango varieties, naming them after Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.
“I visited Rampur a couple of years ago and was amazed to see the development the district has witnessed,” he said, adding that he then decided to dedicate a variety to Azam Khan. Kaleem Ullah has also worked on a variety in the name of Amitabh Bachchan, which he says is still to ripen.
Based in the mango-belt of Malihabad, Kaleem Ullah is known for growing unique variety of fruits, especially mangoes. A seventh standard dropout, the mango man has been looking after his family business since 1957. “It’s our ancestral business. We have been into mango business for the last 150 years,” he said.
Kaleem Ullah was felicitated with the Padma Shri for growing more than 300 varieties of mangoes of different shapes and sizes on a single tree. The tree is about 100 years old and Kaleem Ullah started working on it in 1987, growing different varieties on one tree.