From cotton to chilli and now mango, a farmer-breeder’s long harvest

Kongara Ramesh VIII. He dropped out of school after grade one. He never returned to formal education. Instead, it is harder to summarize what he has done over six decades of quiet, persistent research: cotton hybrids, red pepper varieties, homeopathy and now, on a two-and-a-half-acre orchard on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, a collection of mango varieties that he believes could transform what Indian farmers earn and what Indian consumers eat.

Born in Kakumanu near Guntur, Mr. Ramesh grew up watching his father develop new crop varieties with professors from Bapatla. When his father became sarpanch and asked him to leave school, the boy did not resist. Agriculture was already where his mind lived.

His first works were cotton. Farmers traveled from all over the country to buy the hybrid seeds he produced for the National Seeds Corporation. He then turned to peppers and developed varieties that cluster upwards and dry on the plant. A serious motorcycle accident interrupted this work and he moved to Visakhapatnam to recuperate. Pepper varieties were finally registered under the Indian Germplasm Registry (INGR) with the support of NABARD.

Recovery has turned a new page. “To overcome the current challenges, I started growing different varieties of mangoes,” he says. Mango’s short season was a challenge. Another was the common practice of picking raw fruits and ripening them with chemicals. He wanted mangoes that would ripen naturally on the tree without falling and could then be frozen and stored for months or even years.

The solution lay in understanding how maturation begins. In most varieties, it loosens the grip on the fruit, starting from the stem end. Mr. Ramesh selected and bred trees where ripening starts from the bottom; this allowed approximately 70% of the process to occur in the tree before harvest. The result: fruits that can be frozen, stored and sold year-round without significant deterioration; It saves farmers from painful sales pressure during the short harvest period.

Amrutham and Swagatham

Two of the varieties he developed have names: Amrutham, chosen for its long shelf life and taste, and Swagatham, an early season variety with a pleasant aroma. Both are awaiting registration under the Plant Varieties Protection and Farmers’ Rights Authority with ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticulture Research collecting the required field material. The tests are being conducted at the same institution in Karnataka.

“Support from the government in the form of a 30-year land lease for growing new mango varieties will be extremely useful.”Kongara Rameshfarmer-breeder

His new works include a variety he says resembles the prized Japanese Miyazaki mango, known for its intense sweetness and ruby ​​red color, and another variety with about 90% pulp content. It has gone through nearly 100 varieties and is screening 15 to 20 varieties that show particularly promising characteristics in terms of nutrition, flavor, storability and appearance.

Mr. Ramesh, 72, continues his work as both a farmer and a breeder. “Having reached this stage as a natural farmer, government support in the form of 30-year land lease for growing new mango varieties will be extremely helpful,” he says. “These mangoes can be exported throughout the year. This value should reach Indian farmers,” he adds.