It may be strange but a farmer in Bihar has named a new variety of Jardalu mango “lockdown” after the Coronavirus pandemic. Ashok Kumar Choudhary, who is called ‘Mango Man’ in Bihar, says that hybrid variety “lockdown’ is good in taste and also lovely in colour that one will forget corona after eating a slice of it.
Sixty year old Choudhary, is a law graduate turned farmer from Maheshi-Tilkapur village in Bhagalpur district. He is popular for his campaign to save the rare varieties of mangoes and develop new ones using grafting. He is also popular for gifting baskets of ‘Jardalu’ variety of mango every year to President, Vice President and Prime Minister.
He had earlier named two of his mango variants after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The mango man said that the new pink Jardalu mango variety was developed amidst lockdown. Hence the name lockdown seemed to suit the variant, he said.
Choudhary told the media that he initially thought of naming the hybrid mango as corono warrior. But this name was not suited as it could not have attracted the buyers because of the name attached to the deadly virus. He said that the name lockdown was finalised at last as an honour to the people who stayed indoors and helped in containing the virus.
He has a 15 acre mango orchard with a 100 variety of mangoes. The mango man is popular for his efforts in popularising and conserving some of the old mango varieties.
