Mumbai: The farmer from Solapur, Maharashtra, achieved remarkable farming success by producing mangoes that reached weights up to three kilogrammes each, and he chose to name them after former Chief Minister Sharad Pawar. Farmers employed different grafting approaches to develop these mangoes, which now achieve great success because of their massive size as well as their farmer’s pioneering agricultural methods.
Dattatray Gadge of Aran village, located in Mhada Taluka, crossbred Kela with Kesar as well as Jhadhi to produce new mangos. A single mango from this successful crossbreeding receives exceptional weight at 3 kilogrammes. Dattatray Gadge dedicated this hybrid mango to Sharad Pawar through a naming tribute because Pawar initiated the fruit garden programme when he led Maharashtra as the state chief minister.
A Tribute to Sharad Pawar’s Fruit Garden Scheme
According to Dattatray Gadge, the production of 3-kilogram mangoes originated from grafting operations between diverse mango strains on one tree. The fruit garden scheme of Chief Minister Sharad Pawar served as a main inspiration behind his decision to conduct experimental farming. Gadge used the scheme to place his 8 acres of land with 10,000 Kesar mango saplings.
The farmer detailed the development process of “Sharad Aam” through the combination of techniques that included grafting Kesar with Jhadhi and Kela mango varieties. Through this process, researchers developed a mango variety that presents large dimensions and distinctive flavour characteristics. Gadge sent the first mango crop from the farm to Baramati Agricultural College for professional scientific review.
The patented characteristic of the “Sharad Aam” stands out because of its unique property. Dattatray Gadge earned official recognition for this innovation, which established the new mango variety as both an agricultural achievement and a symbol of Maharashtra agricultural progress.
The patented nature of the mango, along with its singular origin point, has piqued agricultural researchers’ attention about developing advanced methods for creating new varieties of large-scale fruits during their experiments.
The Significance of the Fruit Garden Scheme
During his time as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar launched the Fruit Garden Scheme, which motivated Gadge to conduct his experiment. Under this programme the state government wanted to boost both fruit cultivation and multiple fruit production, particularly mangoes, throughout the entire state territory. Through his success in breeding “Sharad Aam”, Gadge honours the lasting agricultural ideas of the Fruit Garden Scheme launched by Sharad Pawar.