Mangoes in Sayed Ghani Khan’s farm do not merely smell like mangoes. They have the fragrance of sweet lime, apple, jeera and even fennel seeds. This 36-year-old farmer has been innovating his farm in Mandya, by organically growing over 116 varieties of mangoes.

The tale of mangoes started when Khan was 14. When his father fell sick, Khan took to farming. A few years later, he joined college and pursued BCom. However, he discontinued and studied BA in archaeology and museums at Maharaja College in Mysore.

“My grandparents used to narrate stories of Tipu Sultan, who had a small but strong army in Mandya. The ruler was highly in gardening and had ordered mango trees from all over the world. Most of these trees are now dead, but I have conserved around 116 varieties. All the trees I have are close to 200 years old,” he said.

Khan had also registered many of his mango trees with the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resource and has code-numbered them. “I have also registered it with Indian Institute of Horticulture so that these trees are conserved,” he said.

Interestingly, all his crops are grown with absolutely no insecticide or pesticides.

However, this innovative farmer has been facing the wrath of expensive organic manure; Khan is looking out for options to help conserve his collection. “I have 450 varieties of rice. I like to collect and exchange seeds with other farmers. This way, I have collected 450 varieties of organic rice,” he said.

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / Daily News & Analysis / Home> Bangalore> Report / by Deepthi MR / Place: Bangalore, Agency: DNA / Saturday, April 07th, 2012