All-Season Mangoes

Mango crops usually occur only once a year, but a progressive farmer from the desert state of Rajasthan is reaping fruits from an all-season mango variety ‘Sadabahar’ that he improvised. ‘Sadabahar’ as the name suggests a regular and continuous fruit bearing variety throughout the year. This variety is developed by Shrikrishan Suman (52), a farmer from the Kota district of Rajasthan.

‘Sadabahar’ mango trees are immune to most of the major diseases and common disorders. Farmers from Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana and some other States are growing the variety and appreciating the sweeter taste of the fruits.This mango variety has been developed by adopting a selection method followed by grafting, which bears fruits throughout the year beginning from the 2nd year of grafting.

The fruit is sweeter in taste, comparable to langra and being a dwarf variety, is suitable for kitchen gardening, high-density plantation, and can be grown in pots for some years too. Besides, the flesh of the fruits, which is borne round the year, is deep orange with sweet taste, and the pulp has very less fiber content which differentiates it from other varieties. The bountiful of nutrients packed in mango are immensely beneficial for health. This variety has a higher yield (5-6 tons/hectare).

During the year 2000, Shrikrishan Suman identified a mango tree in his orchard which had a good growth trend, dark green colored leaves and the tree bloomed in three seasons. On closely observing the traits he prepared five grafted mango trees. It took him about fifteen years to develop this variety. On preserving and preparing the grafts, he noticed that the grafted plants started bearing the fruits from the second year of grafting.

For performance evaluation purpose, National Innovation Foundation (NIF) has planted Sadabahar variety in Grambharti, Gandhinagar. Recently NIF has also facilitated the plantation of Sadabahar variety at Mughal Gardens in Rashtrapati Bhavan.Shree Kishan Suman was conferred with an award during 9th National Grassroots Innovation and Outstanding Traditional Knowledge award function.

Poverty led Suman to drop out of school after class two and take up the family profession of gardening (Mali). He had an interest in floriculture and orchard management while his family was focused on growing wheat and paddy. He realised that the success of crops like wheat and paddy was dependent on external factors like rainfall and animal attack, limiting their profits.

He started growing flowers to augment family’s income. The first ones being different varieties of roses, and sold them in the market. Along with this, he started growing mango too.

The innovative attributes of the mango variety have been verified by the NIF, an autonomous institution of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. NIF also facilitated an on-site evaluation of the variety through ICAR – Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bangalore, and a field testing at SKN Agriculture University, Jobner (Jaipur), Rajasthan. It is in the process of being registered under the Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Right Act and ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi.

For this evergreen variety developed, Suman was conferred the NIF’s 9th National Grassroots Innovation and Traditional Knowledge Award and subsequently recognised at various other fora. Through various channels, NIF has been making efforts towards dissemination of the information about the variety amongst farmers’ networks, government organisations, state agriculture departments, NGOs, etc.

Shrikishan Suman received over 8,000 orders of Sadabahar gratings from India and abroad during 2017- 2020. He supplied over 6000 plants to different farmers spread across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Delhi and Chandigarh during 2018-2020. Over 500 plants were transplanted at Krishi Vigyan Kendras, and research institutes in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh by the innovator himself, and over 400 grafted plants were provided at different research institutes in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat.