BHAGALPUR: Every year the unique variety of Jardalu mangoes of Bhagalpur find their way to the homes of dignitaries across the country, including the PM, the President and the Vice-President, as the flavourful fruits are selected from a specific orchard in the town and sent as gifts by the Bihar government.
The man behind popularising the Jardalu variety, which got the prestigious Geographical Indicator (GI) tag in 2018, is Bhagalpur’s ‘Mango Man’ 60-year-old Ashok Choudhary whose Madhuban Farm has been yielding these juicy mangoes that are gifted to the dignitaries every year.
Choudhry has now developed several new varieties of mangoes in his orchard and given them topical names such as ‘Corona Warriors’, ‘Lockdown’, ‘Jai Ho Modi’ and ‘Jai Bihar’ among others.
“The new varieties of mangoes have been grown with the help of ‘Irwin’ and ‘Sensation’ varieties of mangoes from Florida, USA and several other varieties from other states in India,” said Choudhry, adding, “These new varieties are my tribute to those fighting the deadly virus in our country.”
Choudhary, a mathematics and law graduate, left his job as a teacher and started working for the conservation of about-to-be extinct varieties of mangoes in 1992 in his ancestral mango orchard located at Maheshi-Tilakpur village under Sultanganj block.
At his Madhuban Mango Farm, Choudhary developed new varieties of mangoes using grafting technology also known as multi-variety propagation as well as through cross-pollination methods.
“Only those new varieties, which are exceptional in terms of quality- rich in pulp, juiciness, aroma, sweetness and external appearance, have high yield and sustainability are used for propagation and commercial farming,” said Choudhary, adding, more than 80 different varieties of mangoes have been grown at his farm.
The annual production of mangoes in Bhagalpur, mostly Jardalu variety, varies between 85,000-1,00,000 tones.
The man behind popularising the Jardalu variety, which got the prestigious Geographical Indicator (GI) tag in 2018, is Bhagalpur’s ‘Mango Man’ 60-year-old Ashok Choudhary whose Madhuban Farm has been yielding these juicy mangoes that are gifted to the dignitaries every year.
Choudhry has now developed several new varieties of mangoes in his orchard and given them topical names such as ‘Corona Warriors’, ‘Lockdown’, ‘Jai Ho Modi’ and ‘Jai Bihar’ among others.
“The new varieties of mangoes have been grown with the help of ‘Irwin’ and ‘Sensation’ varieties of mangoes from Florida, USA and several other varieties from other states in India,” said Choudhry, adding, “These new varieties are my tribute to those fighting the deadly virus in our country.”
Choudhary, a mathematics and law graduate, left his job as a teacher and started working for the conservation of about-to-be extinct varieties of mangoes in 1992 in his ancestral mango orchard located at Maheshi-Tilakpur village under Sultanganj block.
At his Madhuban Mango Farm, Choudhary developed new varieties of mangoes using grafting technology also known as multi-variety propagation as well as through cross-pollination methods.
“Only those new varieties, which are exceptional in terms of quality- rich in pulp, juiciness, aroma, sweetness and external appearance, have high yield and sustainability are used for propagation and commercial farming,” said Choudhary, adding, more than 80 different varieties of mangoes have been grown at his farm.
The annual production of mangoes in Bhagalpur, mostly Jardalu variety, varies between 85,000-1,00,000 tones.
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